The sun is out and I want some.
Its not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To....
Any fans of the Ramones? So where are we?
Anyhow. We were offnet yesterday, because we chose not to go back to La Push:
After a short drive to the rainforest up the Hoh Chi Minh Trail, we took a walk amongst the trees (calling them trees is a disservice. More like Ents). These three hundred foot monsters are shrouded in hanging mosses and lichens, and the light filtering down through the canopy has a strange effect at ground level. Quite impressive if you like trees.
We don't.
No. To be fair, it was extremely interesting. If you like trees. And moss. Being honest, as soon as you start thinking of these trees as something part way between Tolkien's Ents (complete with beards) and the birthchamber of the 'mother' in Alien, it tends to remove some of the natural awe that it probably deserves. Oh well. Here's some pictures of the Hoh Rainforest, including what I think is my passable impression of a Tree Hobbit.
The Hoh Rainforest is in the middle of the Olympic Park in Washington - the drive up there is very attractive (if you like trees (I must not be...)). But having driven 40 miles to get there we didn't fancy going back towards La Push, so we got back on the US-101 and headed South along the coast. We didn't have any idea where we would be stopping for the night; but a few hours later we came across a State campground on a bluff right on the beach. Very cool. Essentially there are about fifty sites on the beach; taken on a first-come first-served basis. We arrived with a handful left, and stuffed our ten dollars in the numbered box for one of those, and pitched up. Very hippy.
We even started up a campfire with driftwood off the beach (shh, don't tell anyone; I don't think you're supposed to use the diftwood!). Of course, this place meant no internet, but we watched the sunset over the Pacific instead! Hence we're a day behind with the blog.
Still, I don't know where we were (somewhere on the Washington State Coast in Indian country), but it was pretty special.
Went to sleep early - with no idea what the date, day or time was (great, eh?). Then woke early and headed South still on US101 toward Oregon. More on that next time.
I'll just leave you with another one of my favourite signs so far; this one visible at the exit of a car park as you approach the main road:
