Alaska Sunday XVII

Trip Log - Part II

May 31 - June 12

The second installment of the trip log of 'The Drive from Texas to Alaska and Back'.

As mentioned previously, this log does not contain too much commentary. It is mainly sequential locations, dates, mileage traveled, photographs showing the trip progress, and how the landscape changed. The Alaska Trip Log is divided into two week intervals (parts) and I am posting it on consecutive Sundays. Past and future posts of Alaska Sunday (apart from the trip log) will have more detailed information, and more photos of each specific area. A small number of the photographs were previously posted when describing specific locations. Most are new photos not previously seen.


We resume our trip after staying 4 nights camped at the mouth of the beautiful Klamath River. We had originally planned to stay here just 1 night, but plans change. Our only goal for this trip was 'to wade in the Arctic Ocean' and tentatively 'to return home by Sept 1st'. As you can see from the Part I trip log last Sunday, this was a magical area with the color of the Pacific and the beautiful drives through the giant Coastal Redwoods and drives along the cliffs on one lane dirt "roads?" overlooking the Pacific with it's wildlife, ocean views, and a profusion of wild flowers.

So, we'll finish May and on to the month of June.........

Be sure to click on the photographs for full screen views.

One last photo before we leave California. After we returned home, I was lamenting the fact that I did not have a photo of a Douglas Iris from the trip. Martha informed me that she had found one on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean and photographed it. Sure enough, buried in the 18,000 photos was this beauty. Thank you Martha.

Douglas Iris
Also known as:
'Thompson's Iris' on the CA-OR Border

Click here for more information on this rare and interesting plant.

5/31 Klamath, CA to Union Creek, OR 219 mi

Crater Lake - Early Summer
Not your typical photo of Crater Lake

The road to the visitor's center had just been opened by snowplows through snow 10 feet deep in places. As you can see from the photo, some of the lake's surface was frozen. The lake has only been frozen over completely twice. Click here to see an article on its history of freezing. Most of the campgrounds and RV parks in the Cascade Range were not open for camping this 'early' in the year due to the deep snow. WOW, all that snow and to think it was 105^oF when we crossed the desert just a week ago.


6/1 Union Creek, OR to Fairview (Portland), OR 272 mi

Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Oregon
Abstract Beauty in a Stark, Harsh Environment

Click here for info on Newberry NM.


6/2 through 6/4 Day Trips out of Fairview, OR 488 mi

Columbia River Gorge
Martha held the umbrella while I made the shot. Team Photo.


Mount Rainier, Washington


Just in time for the Portland Rose Festival
Washington Park, Portland, Oregon

6/5 Fairview (Portland),Oregon to Hammond (Astoria),Oregon 75 mi

Ft. Clatsop National Monument, Oregon
Where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1805-1806

Near the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean
Martha is pointing to the Pacific
Click here for information on the site.
I know it's not a beautiful scenic photo, but it had always been a dream of mine since I was a child to see where they found their goal and where they camped during this hard winter.


6/6 Day Trips 60 mi
Columbia River, Pacific Beach, Lewis and Clark sites.

Cape Disappointment, WA
Lighthouse

The lighthouse is visible on a small headland, just inside the mouth of the Columbia River which makes a sharp right hand turn, after entering the mouth of the river. This small spit of land juts out into the Columbia from McKenzie Head. It is part of Ft. Canby State Park. There is a lighthouse (North Head Lighthouse) across McKenzie Head on the Pacific side (no photo).

Looking back across the Columbia River toward Clatsop Spit in Oregon.
Click here for information.

Map of the Entrance to the Columbia River

6/7 Hammond, OR to Port Angeles, WA 550 mi (long day)

Oyster Shells

Now I know where those sacks of oyster shells, at the Farm Store, come from.
This was one of many 25' high mountains of shells near Aberdeen, WA.


6/8 Day Trip to Hoh Rain Forest 160 mi round trip

This is where Martha found her big tree.

Sitka Spruce
Rain Forest Monarch

6/9 Port Angeles, Washington by Ferry to Victoria, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
25 car miles, 30 miles by Ferry (MV Coho) to 'Ft. Victoria RV Park'

Looking back to Washington in the Rain
Ferry Crossing - On the Strait of Juan de Fuca

6/9 Day trip to the beautiful Butchart Gardens 25 mi

6/10 Day trip to Witty's Lagoon Regional Park, Vancouver Island 25 mi

We had a great day at Witty's Lagoon and walked down to the beach. We could see across the Strait, with cruise ships navigating the strait, and the majestic Olympic Range rising above the clouds. Lots more about Vancouver Island can be seen at the excellent site of Island Rambles. Click here.

View Across the Strait of Juan de Fuca
Olympic Range

6/11 Toured the beautiful city of Victoria and visited Sidney to pick up Ferry tickets. 50 mi.

6/12 Rest Day. Martha did laundry, cooked a nice lunch at the camper, and took a nap.
I organized photos, burned DVD's, answered e-mails, and also took a nap.
It was a beautiful RV Park and nice to have a rest day. For dinner, there was a five star restaurant just down the road.

That's all for Part II of the log.
5173 miles to date.

Part I of the Trip Log is here.

If you are enjoying the log and/or the photographs, leave a comment.

Also, please let me know your favorite photo.

Next Sunday, back to the Mainland.

Thanks to Martha for keeping such good records.

Photography by Troy and Martha

Alaska Sunday XVI

Trip Log - Part I

May 20 - May 31

This is the first month's log of our trip which Bilbo Baggins would have titled,
"There and Back Again - The Beginning".

Quite a few people have asked me in e-mails about our route, known as 'The Drive from Texas to Alaska and Back'. There is not much commentary included in this log, just sequential locations, dates, and mileages when available. The Alaska Trip Log will be divided into four months (parts) and posted on the next four consecutive Sundays. Past and future posts of Alaska Sunday (apart from the trip log) will have more detailed information and more photos of each specific area.

UPDATE: The log will contain 2 weeks per post. I didn't realize how time consuming it would be to look at trip records, mileages, and sorting photographs for each post. Not to mention deciding which photographs to post.

So here is a condensed version of the trip, with a few photos out of the 18,000 that we kept. A few of the photographs have been published, but are re-posted here to give a flavor and progress of the trip, and to see the landscape change.

Be sure to click on the photographs for full screen views.

5/20 Ft. Worth,TX to Santa Rosa, NM 498 mi
5/21 Santa Rosa, NM to Flagstaff, AZ 495 mi

Painted Desert - Arizona
Enriched colors due to
Perfect angle of near horizontal light and a rain shower

5/22 From our Campground in Flagstaff to Grand Canyon and back to Flagstaff, stopping at Marble Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs along the way. 445 miles

Marble Canyon - Colorado River
from the bridge over the river at Lees Ferry
Those small yellow dots on the river are the large tour rafts

Vermillion Cliffs (a Stitched Panorama)
Note Hwy 89A (bottom right) for perspective & scale

Grand Canyon in the Rain
North Rim

5/23 Flagstaff, AZ to Bakersfield, CA 480 mi

Mojave Desert
Looking Toward Death Valley

5/24 Bakersfield, CA to Oakhurst, CA 200 mi

5/25 Yosemite (Adventure in the Sierra Nevada High Country) 124 mi

Half Dome - Yosemite
Glacier Point Road
Perhaps Ansel Adams stood on this very spot
and made a Black & White Photograph

5/26 Oakhurst, CA to Redding, CA 332 mi

5/27 Redding, CA to Trinidad/Arcata to Klamath, CA 190 mi of serious winding road

The Pacific at Trinidad/Arcata
Hazy Day
Time to turn North on Hwy. 101

5/28 thru 5/31 Coastal Redwoods, Fern Canyon, Pacific Overlooks, and Area 460 mi

The Pacific at the Klamath River
A Perfect Day

Fern Canyon
A Magical Place of Five-fingered Ferns
(Enlarge and scroll up and down)

Please comment and tell us which photograph you like best and why.

3224 miles logged during the 12 days of May
Next Sunday's Trip Log will be for the Month of June....
Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska
A lot of ground to cover and sights to see in the next 30 days.

Photographs by Troy and Martha

Zephyr and Zebra

Zephyr Definition:
A Gentle Breeze or
A West Wind

A Gentle Breeze off of the Pacific Ocean from the West

Fulfills both Meanings

Where the Klamath River runs into the Pacific Ocean.

Zebra heliconian
(Notice the lack of yellow - Rare)

To play, visit ABC Wednesday, mrsnesbitt's place. Click here.

Troy and Martha

Glitter Patch

Sky Watch Friday

I would watch the Sky,
If I were you,
Watch the water too,
Especially if it’s the Pacific,
You'll find a view that's terrific.

(Sorry for the bad verse)

Glitter patch
(Click on the photo for a better view)

Looking towards the Sun’s (or Moon’s) reflection across a broad stretch of wind-ruffled water, we see a brilliant elongated path of sparkling light called “glitter”. Glitter is the ensemble of countless sun glints. Each glint is an instantaneous flash of sunlight reflected from a wave with just the right slope and position to send light our way.

As the Sun begins to set, and the altitude is less than the maximum wave tilt, the wave shadows itself and decreases in brightness. When the Sun is almost on the horizon, only the tops of the very highest waves are illuminated and the glitter virtually ceases to exist.

Several factors can distort glitter, such as a gust of wind causing a sideways bulge in the glitter.

While the Sun’s glitter us usually too bright for enjoyment, the Moon’s glitter is just right. Here the glitter is composed of rapidly moving points of light that scurry around the surface in closed loops called moon circles, and are most prominent when the Moon is high and the water only gently rippled. A camera is the best way to capture these as they come and go about as fast as the eye can respond.

To participate in Sky Watch Friday visit Wiggers World.

Troy and Martha

Few Clouds Allowed Here

Sky Watch Friday IX

This photograph is looking across the Mojave Desert towards Death Valley in the distance. The haze that you see is a heat haze and not moisture in the air. It was a balmy 105^oF while I was photographing this. The distances are deceptive here. The farther mountains in the photo are probably well over 100 miles away. I wish we could have spent more time here. It has some interesting geology, history and climate.

Mojave Desert & Death Valley
It has a stark beauty of it’s own
(Click on the photo to see the colors)

I love the way the colors change and fade with distance. Up close you can see the browns, then blue/brown, then just blues with distance, receding to even lighter shades of blues, and finally a very pale blue. The blues tend to make it look cool. Don’t believe it. Even a short hike can be deadly if proper precautions are not made, such as having plenty of fluids and something to replenish lost electrolytes. Yes, we drank a lot of water and Gatorade.

Can you smell the baking dirt and bone-dry grasses, feel the shimmering heat waves, and almost hear the crackling in the air? If you have been there, you probably can. If you haven’t been there then you really do need to go and see what this is all about.

The Mojave, locally referred to as the High Desert, occupies a significant portion of southern California and smaller parts of central California, southwestern Utah, southern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, in the United States. Named after the Mohave tribe of Native Americans, it occupies well over 22,000 square miles (57,000 km²) in a typical Basin and Range topography.

The Mojave Desert's boundaries are generally defined by the presence of Joshua Trees — they are considered an indicator species for the desert. The topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi together with the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges. The mountain boundaries are quite distinct since they are outlined by the two largest faults in California: the San Andreas and the Garlock. The Great Basin shrub steppe lies to the north; the warmer Sonoran Desert (the Low Desert) lies to the south and east.

This desert is believed to support between 1,750 and 2,000 species of plants.

Death Valley is the lowest, driest and hottest valley in the United States. It is the location of the lowest elevation in North America at 85.5 m (281 ft) below sea level. It holds the record highest temperature in Western hemisphere and world's second highest. The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek (then known as Greenland Ranch), during a sandstorm (according to National Weather Service records), on July 10, 1913. Located southeast of the Sierra Nevada range in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, it constitutes much of Death Valley National Park. It runs north-south between the Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 square miles (~7,800 km²). Millions of years ago, there was an inland sea located over where Death Valley is today, but as the area turned to desert, the water evaporated, leaving behind the salt. Many of Death Valley's narrow, serpentine roads were built in the 1930s and cannot be driven on at high speed. Badwater, located within Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest point in North America. (Surprisingly, the highest point in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney, is just 76 miles (123 km) west of Death Valley). At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, Death Valley shares most of the characteristics found in other places around the world that lie below sea level. Ref: WikiPedia.

Map and Co-ordinates of the Mojave Desert
and Death Valley National Park

Scroll down to the next post to see a different type of sky (with clouds)

To participate in Sky Watch Friday visit Wiggers World.

Troy and Martha

Project Green I - Nature's finest

N is for Nature - ABC Wednesday

Five-fingered Ferns

Fern Canyon, California - On the Pacific Coast
(Click on the photo for a better look at the ferns)

A lovely Green Scene,
Walking in Ferns with Martha.
Oh, just admire it...


An even greener scene of Moss and Ferns tumbling click here.

Troy and Martha

To participate in Project Green visit Anna Carson Photography
To participate in ABC Wednesday visit mrsnesbitts's place