Makah Indian Nation and Cape Flattery

I was out at the beach house with my son, Austin, mid week in late March 2010. I was newly self-employed and Austin was newly homeschooled (or "unschooled"), so we are both available to fit in impromptu trips. We decided to return home around the north end of the Olympic peninsula to catch some new sights. The weather did not look promising and the weather report was not favorable, but we knew we could at least visit the Makah Indian Museum as an indoor activity.

We set out just after 11am (we are not early risers). We stopped at the Quinault Fish Hatchery on the Moclips Highway, since a guide there had told us the salmon run from October through March. It turns out that they run through March in other areas, but only through December on the Quinault River system. We'll have to visit again later in the year. We passed Lake Quinault, but did not give it any time, since we have visited there many times. After a little over an hour, we reached Queets at the north end of the Quinault Indian Nation - its second city after Taholah. We drove briefly through the "town" past the general store, but quickly saw that it was a depressing, run-down place.

Shortly after Queets, highway 101 reaches the coast in the Kalaloch area, which is within the Olympic National Park. We stopped by one of the southern beaches reached by a path through the forest. The spruce trees here near the beach are misshapen with burrs or tumors that grow into huge oval balls in the middle of the trunks. The trail lead to a pretty stream, up and over a big pile of driftwood, and then you notice that the stream runs out through the bottom of the wood pile and out of the sand.

The next stop was the Big Cedar just beyond the Kalaloch Lodge. This looks similar in age and decrepitude to the Quinault Big Cedar with a hollow trunk you can walk into to. The Quinault Big Cedar looked to have more life to it than this mostly dead Kalaloch Big Cedar. It's a very short walk from the parking lot, so it's worth a stop if you are in the area.

Just beyond we arrived at Ruby Beach, and here the sun broke out nicely. We ended up with a much nicer day than forecast. We visited Ruby Beach about a year before and it was interesting to see how the ocean and creek had changed the landscape: the creek had moved to the nearer side of a big rock and a big, memorable pile of bright, red cedar logs had been cleared away.

By now we decided we had better pick a destination for the day and begin to skip some sights. We passed by the entrance to the Hoh Rain Forest and the road to Rialto Beach - we'll save those for a future trip. When we reach Forks, the skies let loose with a tremendous rain shower. We briefly lost hope for the rest of the day. As we drove through the town we looked for signs of the Twilight craze from the road. There's an enormous store named Twilight Dazzle. However, another Twilight storefront was boarded up. Not much else was to be seen without getting out of the car into the rain.

Next, we made for the Makah Indian Nation, which is quite a ways off of highway 101. It's about an one hour drive to Neah Bay from Sappho. I would have visited here many years before with my wife, but I had forgotten how pretty it was. The area is hillier than what we had come through from the south, and the hills are of course covered in a beautiful green forest. Passed Clallam Bay (another spot I would like to spend more time in future - an old man at a rock shop once told me you can find "agates as big as eggs" on the beach here), the road reaches the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The road is very windy and you make slow progress, but the view is great. There are even a couple impressive seastack rocks off this northern coast.

By 3pm we reached the Makah Museum. For such an out of the way place, this is really a world class museum. The heart of the collection comes from a village at Ozette that was partially buried by a mudslide caused by the year 1700 earthquake (estimated at 9.0 on the Richter scale). The Makahs have had a continuous culture on this northwest corner of the Olympic peninsula for hundreds of years. Some things that impressed me were the wide variety of specialized tools made from wood, bark, and rock. The Makah had four standardized sizes of canoes with a complement of tools from a fishing canoe for a single person up to an eight seater for whale hunting. They used the cedar tree for many purposes: tools, baskets, ropes, canoes, and even clothing. They would strip the cedar bark off the tree, soak it, pound on it until it was soft, and then they could make a kind of fabric out of it. They also raised dogs, collected their loose fur, and made clothing out of that. I imagine the dog fur was more comfortable than the cedar bark.

After an hour at the museum, we hurried along to Cape Flattery. Since my first visit to this area, the road had been paved and the trail much improved (boardwalks instead of mud pits). We hit a perfect two hour sunbreak on our hike out to the cape (a 3/4 mile walk).

The view at the end of the trail is tremendous. One of the special places you must visit during your lifetime (we have so many of those in Washington state!). The Makah have made four viewpoints standing on the cliff's edge 200-300 feet above the water. To the southwest are many offshore rocks and small islands and deeply eroded bays in the mainland - all topped by a cedar forest. Austin thought it looked like the floating islands in the movie Avatar. Directly northwest lies the barren Tatoosh Island with a lighthouse. To the northeast you can see into several sea caves being dug out at the base of the cliffs. You begin to wonder what is directly below you? Are you standing on a thin layer of soil suspended over the swirling waves churning through a sea cave?

We made one more stop to the south of Cape Flattery at Hobuck Beach on Makah Bay. This was a beautiful, sandy beach with interesting tide pools and rock formations. The rocks were stood up on end like waffles and were all pitted with holes an inch across. I poked into one of the holes that I thought was just filled with dirt and the thing moved!, startling me. It was an anemone, filling up the hole. Perhaps they excavate holes over time into the rock? Other holes were filled up with barnacles and mussel shells.

We left the beach at 6pm. We drove into Port Angeles on gasoline fumes and filled up, heading for the ferry at Kingston. We were passing many interesting sights in the dark, but we'll have to make many more visits to cover the whole area. We arrived home at about 11pm, so that made for a very full day.

Makah Museum

Photo Album

Walking south from Taholah until the beach disappears

My goal this day was to walk south from Taholah along the beach as far as possible towards Point Grenville. This photo shows the end point of the beach hike. You can see Point Grenville from the north side, but you are stopped from approaching further because the waves here are beating against the cliff. It looks like it would be possible to get around that nearest point on a low tide. This was a fairly high tide.

This was an amazingly beautiful and interesting hike. First of all, we had the beach almost to ourselves - just a few people out near the town and some teens hanging out near another beach entrance road. Secondly, the terrain is very interesting. Down around Copalis Beach, Pacific Beach, and Moclips the cliffs look permanent - like they haven't changed in years. Here south of Taholah, huge chunks of the cliffs have fallen off. In fact, in some places there is a constant stream of sand and small rocks running down, and you get the idea that the massive cliff above you is not so stable. A couple times I moved the kids along quicker or told them to walk nearer to the waves.

The next most exciting thing we encountered on this walk was a dead seal. I startled an eagle as I approached and it flew off in a hurry. The eagle had eaten out the eyes and was working on the brain next. On the return walk we noticed two bald eagles waiting patiently on the top of a dead tree - 200 feet up the cliff and another 200 feet up the tree. They were waiting for us to pass so they could get back to their meal.

The weather was marvelous - sunny and near 60 degrees in the first week of March (3/6/2010). We walked about four miles round trip, which is quite arduous over beach sand. We returned to the town after five hours accompanied by a beautiful sunset.

Photo Album

Bob

http://www.BobsPacificBeachHouse.com

Copalis Ghost Forest

Thanks to Don Trapnell and Dave Agner for informing me about the Copalis Ghost Forest. I had commented on these extensive stands of dead trees along the Copalis River in my earlier post about kayaking on the river. These trees were once mighty cedars and spruces killed by a massive earthquake in the year 1700 (estimated at 9 points on the Richter scale) that caused the land to drop and saltwater to reach the forest.

The Friends of the Copalis River Committee of the North Beach Community Improvement Association is planning a small festival on July 25, 2009 along the river and some future improvements (kayak launch, nature trail). The Copalis Ghost Forest, it turns out, is one of the finest examples of its sort in the world.

http://www.nbcia.org/projects/projects.shtml

http://www.nwnature.net/earthscope/copalis.htm

We Saw a Whale!

Finally, after all these years of hearing about whales along the coast, we catch sight of one (sort of). This was late in the afternoon on Sunday, June 7, 2009. We drove down the beach from the Roosevelt Beach Road to the Iron Springs area. We had been painting the deck all day, so I wanted to let the kids have some beach time before driving home. We brought our bicycles on this trip and rode around.

Suddenly, a fisherman standing out in the surf started yelling excitedly and pointing out onto the ocean. Once I paid attention to him, I saw a cloud of spray above the waves, which must have been the exhaled breath of a whale. For a fraction of a second after that, I think I saw a fin. My wife watched the scene longer and saw several exhaled breaths.

This was perhaps a straggling Pacific Grey whale from the spring migration. It must have been small, since it seemed to be fairly near the shore.

Kayaking on the Copalis River (Upstream)

We had planned to kayak on Lake Quinault this day and drove all the way out there, but learned from the lady at the Rain Forest Resort that all boating on the lake was prohibited until April 25th.  Boating on Lake Quinault is regulated by the Quinault tribe.  The two campgrounds with boat ramps were also closed.  It was frustrating that I didn't find this information anywhere online.  It was a shame, since the lake was especially beautiful this day with glass calm water.

Since the weather was iffy, we decided to look for a kayaking destination close to home (Pacific Beach), in case the rain let loose.  We ended up at the Copalis River.  The weather improved throughout the day, so the rain was no problem.  We launched from an empty lot in the middle of town with a little beach across from the abandoned hardware store.  There isn't much "town" left in Copalis Beach.  Most businesses in the area are located in Pacific Beach.  At the end of our trip I scouted out and found another launch point in the Griffiths-Priday Ocean Beach Park off of Copalis Beach.  If you drive all the way to the "road closed" sign, the river is just beyond.  You can launch here and park nearby.

We headed upstream from the town away from the beach.  We passed under the highway 109 bridge, past a few riverside cabins, and then we quickly reached a wild, roadless country.  For a mile or so the banks of the river are occupied by wide mats of grass and skeletons of dead trees.  The forest stands at some distance from the river.  Perhaps salt water has reached up this far on a high tide and killed any trees.  What appeared to be an island was covered by this matted grass with tall dead trees dominating the landscape - we named it the Island of Dead Trees.  Beyond the island, the next landmark is the Bridge To and From Nowhere: a series of posts standing in the river that evidently once supported a bridge, but there is no sign of human activity on either side of the river.  Evidently, it was part of some old logging operation.

Eventually, the forest closes in on the river, the river narrows, and you start to run out of room to maneuver.  We struggled past a clump of fallen trees and branches, only to be stopped a little further ahead by a tree that blocked the entire river.  I think we traveled about 2 miles inland in total.

We saw a little bit of wildlife: two river otters and lots of ducks.  The ducks were very skittish and didn't let us approach closely at all.  Duck hunters must be active in the area?

We had planned to return to our starting point and continue on down to the beach and land near Copalis Rock.  But the wind had kicked up on our return journey downriver and we were cold and tired as we reached the car.  We'll save the downriver route for another trip.

Photo Album

http://www.BobsPacificBeachHouse.com

(Great ocean view, short walk to beach, 3 king beds, kayaks available to guests)

Whalewatching at Westport

Monday, April 6, 2009 we drove one hour from Pacific Beach to Westport for whalewatching.  The weather was unusally warm and sunny for early April.  Besides the weather, one thing after another went wrong this day.  First, we sat down at the One Eyed Crab for a meal.  The weather had brought a moderate crowd out, but the restaurant couldn't cope.  They only had one waitress and one cook on duty.  We realized that we would miss our boat, if we waited, so we left the restaurant, hurried on down to the ticket office, and found a greasy spoon nearby where we could get a hamburger.

Our boat was the Lucky Pierre.  You don't choose a boat, but rather a central ticket office assigns you to one.  We had two boats going out at the same time for the 2:00pm cruise.  As we were boarding, my son and I realized that we had left the camera's memory chip at home in his computer: no photos on this trip and thus no photo on this blog entry.

I enjoyed the first 25 minutes of the trip immensely.  The harbor was full of wildlife: big sea lions and lots of birds.  The weather was clear and we could see the entire Olympic mountain range to the north.  A giant sand bank lies just below the surface across the harbor mouth, and this causes 20 foot waves to suddenly well up all around the boat.  These waves are big enough that you see the boat climb up the wave, coast down the other side, and then it reaches a trough between two waves with nothing else in sight - just like in the movies!  It was an awesome sight.

And that's when my tummy went all funny.  I sat down for the next half hour, but pretty soon I had to deposit my greasy hamburger in the ocean.  In total I ran to the side of the boat four times, heaving up bile once my stomach had emptied itself.  After this, I spent much of the next 3 hours lying down.

The boat cruised up to the reliable "whale hole" - just offshore from the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino.  Here plankton well up from the deep and the whales stop to feed.  All the boats in the area keep in radio contact and cooperate over locating whales.  But today we were out of luck.  Somebody saw a single whale spout blow, but no whale was in sight by the time we reached the spot.  We cruised slowly back towards Wesport, hoping a whale would put in an appearance, but it never happened.

On this return trip my family were all freezing to death.  We had underdressed for the occasion due to the nice weather.  Out on the ocean you always need long pants and a heavy coat.

One of my kids got sick like me, but the other people on the boat were fine.  I've read that missing the whales like we did is very unusual.  Perhaps I'll take a dramamine and try this trip again in future with a functioning camera.

Kayaking on Duck Lake, Ocean Shores

On this day, April 5, 2009, we had unseasonably warm weather in the 70s - about 35 degrees warmer than just a few days before. We headed down from our beach house at Pacific Beach to North Bay Park on Duck Lake in Ocean Shores. This little park packs in lots of attractive features: boat ramp on the lake, fishing dock, playground, basketball court, tennis court, group picnic pavillion, baseball field, and a view of the Olympics and Grays Harbor across the nearby municipal airport.

We sent out twins, Austin and Konrad - age 14, out on their first kayak trip together. Austin sat in the back, controlling the rudder. He started them out going in circles for a while, until our shouted instructions set him straight. Then they headed off south down the lake and disappeared around a bend. They were gone for an hour and a half - a little bit worrisome.

Meanwhile, my wife, Elizabeth, our little boy, James - age 5, and myself enjoyed a picnic, played in the park, walked over to the airport for the view, and watched a family on the fishing dock catch one big trout after another. The park and boat ramp were uncrowded. Few people were expecting such nice weather at the beginning of April. We watched one family launch a brand new motorboat, while a retired couple launched brand new kayaks from Costco.

At length, the twins returned. I noticed that Austin had been holding his paddle upside-down the whole time. They had a great time, exploring two segments of the lake, passing under a bridge, through a canal, and around an island. They were very hungry.

Next, James and I launched. We headed the opposite direction to the north and took the camera along. We passed under two bridges with cars driving above us, a short canal, and explored two segments of the lake. We reached the northernmost extent of the lake. Vacation homes lined the shore all around the lake. We saw several birds, including a group that looked like ducks, but with longer, slender necks (loons?). They looked well adapted for fishing. We spotted a raccoon that followed us along the shore and kept an eye on us.

James had a kid size paddle, but didn't take much interest in paddling. He talked during most of the trip about what we were seeing or what we would do afterwards. I thought he was bored, but he says that he liked kayaking.

See photo album:

http://www.BobsPacificBeachHouse.com/pictures.html