Heading North Towards Canada

May 31 - June 4

On the way out of Twain Harte we stopped to visit with my brother-in-law George; he lives just a couple of miles up the hill from Chuck and Margaret. It was good to see him again. We then headed down into the San Joaquin valley and north up I-5; our ultimate goal was to meet the ferry heading to Southeastern Alaska. But we wanted to do some sightseeing along the way.

Mt Shasta, in northern California, dominates the drive north on I-5 for many miles.
 

After passing Mt. Shasta we found a lovely little campground along the Klamath river just south of the Oregon-California border. The Klamath is a National Wild and Scenic River and we suppose that it is popular with whitewater rafters since several campers in the campground had inflatable rafts.

The next stop was in the Cascades in Oregon. We turned off I-5 at Eugene and headed east into the Cascades in search of a place to camp on a high mountain lake with snow-capped mountains across the water, but had to settle for a high mountain lake without a view of the mountains.  The mountains were there, but whoever planned the campground put it on the wrong side of the lake; he must have been a fisherman!

After the Oregon Cascades we went back down to I-5 and headed north into Washington with the goal of camping in Mt. Rainier National Park. We passed by Mt. St. Helens, or at least what is left of it since it blew its top in 1980. It is still an impressive mountain. This view is from 24 miles away.
 

Mt. Rainier, as seen at sunset from near our campsite. The last time we were at Mt. Rainier was 35 years ago; we drove all around the mountain, but never saw it because of the clouds and fog. This time the weather was much, much better and the views of Rainier were magnificent.

A view of Mt. Rainier in the morning. A halo-like cloud is encircling the mountain, which is poking its peak up through the clouds. This view is from Paradise, which is about 9000 feet below the summit. At Paradise the average annual snowfall is 50 feet; we went for a short hike and found ourselves walking on top of at least 4 to 5 feet of snow.
 

After Rainier we headed for Olympic National Park; we were there 35 years ago, but couldn't see the Olympic mountains because of the fog and clouds. This time we were luckier, and had good views of the mountains. This is the view from Hurricane Ridge.
 

Tomorrow we catch the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C.