Olympic National Park - Guess What We Saw at Rialto Beach! (National Parks Trip #3)

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course of five and a half weeks during the months of July and August.

Alan, Kyra and I were up and out early on Day #30 of our West Coast National Parks trip.  Our pace was grueling, but we were trying to see and do as much as possible in the five and a half weeks we had.  The main event of the day was a “hike” to the “Hole-in-the-Wall” at Rialto Beach, and our timing had to be perfect.  The best time to safely walk out to and back from the Hole-in-the-Wall was at low tide.  Not only would going at low tide allow us access to a large number of tide pools, it would also ensure that we could walk back rather than swim.  You don’t want to challenge the tides, people – you’ll never win.  As Geoffrey Chaucer said, “Time and tide wait for no man.”

Olympic National Park - Let the Exploration Begin! (National Parks Trip #3)

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course of five and a half weeks during the months of July and August.

After picking up the West Coast National Parks Trip series of posts again in mid-May, I realized that I had forgotten to include the “day number” in the last two posts.  Our last day on the Oregon coast plus the time we spent at Mount Rainier National Park and our arrival at Salt Creek Recreation Area in Port Angeles, Washington, covered Days 25, 26, 27 and 28.  The two days we spent at Olympic National Park (the first of which is documented in today’s post) were Days 29 and 30.  It was hard to believe that we had been on the road for a full month already.  They say time flies when you’re having fun.  Well, it really flies when you’re having fun AND trying to jam as much as possible into each and every day.

Mount Rainier National Park - A Wild Time Among the Wildflowers (National Parks Trip #3)

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course of five and a half weeks during the months of July and August.

“Think outside the box.”  This fairly common expression is probably familiar to most people.  It’s a concept that my very logical mind often has difficulty converting into anything useful.  But, when it comes to finding good campgrounds, my brain has figured out that it never hurts to think outside the box.  And that means . . .  power companies.  Back in 2021, when Alan and I spent an extended period of time in Idaho, we camped at two facilities run by Idaho Power.  (Our campsite at Woodhead Park in Hells Canyon remains one of my all-time favorites.)  In researching a good base camp for our visit to Mount Rainier National Park, I discovered that Tacoma Power in Washington operated four facilities with campgrounds – and one of them was less than 20 miles from Mount Rainier National Park.

Celebrating National Park Week 2019 – Why It’s Impossible for Me to Choose a Favorite Park

National Park Week 2019 runs from Saturday, April 20^th, through Sunday, April 28^th, with a “fee-free” day on the 20^th to kick off the week of celebration.  Other “fee-free” days during 2019 are August 25th (the birthday of the National Park Service), September 28th (National Public Lands Day) and November 11^th (Veterans Day), so mark your calendar accordingly.  Spring is a perfect time of year to get out and enjoy our national treasures, and many of our National Parks have special events scheduled during the week.  Plus, the National Park Service has assigned a theme to many of the days during National Park Week such as Junior Ranger Day on April 20^th and Bark Ranger Day on April 27^th.  (Yes!  Some National Parks and Monuments do allow pets!)  National Park Week focuses on the beauty and benefits of these glorious public lands – OUR public lands - and the countless opportunities that exist for us to enjoy them.

Photo credit:  www.nps.gov

Many of you know that our love affair with our National Parks began back when Alan and I honeymooned by tent camping across the country on a journey to visit several of the iconic Parks in the American West.  Currently, there are 61 National Parks in existence, but properties managed by the National Park Service number 419 and include National Monuments, Battlefields, Military Parks, Historical Parks, Historic Sites, Lakeshores, Seashores, Recreation Areas, Scenic Rivers and Trails, and the White House.  We’ve made a dent in that list, but we still have a long way to go to see them all.  (Interesting tidbit of information:  The largest National Park is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska at 13.2 million acres, and the smallest is the Thaddeus Kosciuszko Memorial in Pennsylvania at 0.02 acres.)  With all of those Parks to choose from, (okay, Mike, I admit it should be “from which to choose”), the question that inevitably comes up is, “Which National Park is your favorite?”