Bear Gulch Trail

The motorhome is now parked at Thousand Trails Thunderbird RV Resort along the bank of the Skykomish River in Monroe, Washington. I’ve been here a number of times over the past years and always enjoy it here. My scheduled departure date is September 23rd.

I’m just hanging out taking maximum advantage of my Thousand Trails membership and very agreeable weather.

Mary’s personal to-do list plate, which can only be handled by herself, continues to over-flow. I’ll next likely see her when I arrive at her home in mid-October. A friend recently expressed a concern about the status of our relationship. Not to worry…it continues to function per our original agreement when we met in October, 2008. That is…I remain on the road and she will join me when her other life allows. We talk every day on the phone…sometimes more than once. It’s just the way life is!

 

On September 20, 2011…Mary and I took an afternoon walk on Bear Gulch Trail which runs along a ridge above the campground. It was a delightful day to take some photos.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case you are wondering…no…we did not see any bears.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Yesterday was a cloudy/sunny and 72 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 78 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2015

Rancho Oso Photos #1

The motorhome is now parked at Thousand Trails Rancho Oso (Bear Ranch in Spanish) RV Resort. In reality the park has a Santa Barbara, California mail address, but is physically located about 25 miles north of Santa Barbara in the Los Padres National Forest.

Mary continues to be occupied with personal business. I am now not expecting to see her again until I arrive at her home in Murphys, California about the third week in April. It’s just the way things are and we just have to deal with it.

I’m now in what I’m calling my “pacing mode”. Last October I had cataract surgery at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, California. My surgeon wants me back in mid-April for a six-month post-operative eye examination. Palo Alto is only about 275 miles from my current location. So, in the meantime, I’ll “pace” my forward direction travels hoping stay in 65-75 degree temperatures all the while.

Yesterday I wandered around this 310 acre park for two hours and took a bunch of photos. Brilliant mid-morning sun and deep shadows makes for difficult photography conditions. I’ll share them with you over a six-day period. Today is #1…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

More tomorrow…

Even though we are a week away from the beginning of Spring…yesterday it was 85 degrees without a breeze of any kind. Too danged hot! All sites face south which means having to close the front curtains all day. I fired up the air condition and read most of the day.

You can read all about the park (includes two videos) by clicking this link…http://www.thousandtrails.com/california/rancho-oso-rv-camping-resort/

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

Yesterday was sunny and 85 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 84 degrees.

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/110455945462646142273?authkey=Gv1sRgCKrvzqm8-IKGdA

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2015

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK-HURRICANE RIDGE

Glaciers still survive on Mount Olympus, but fast melting has certainly affected the area.

Normally at this time of year, this vast ridge is snow-covered. We enjoyed the scenery and the beautiful drive up to Hurricane Ridge even so.  Olympic National Park has a fantastic film about the flora and fauna, the rainforest aspects, the water shed and natures balance. Once neglected, “…nuthin’ up there but stunted trees…” made it possible to save species known to exist only  here, the marmot is one.  Unfortunately, people have introduced invasive species, the natural predator, the wolf is gone, black bears are gone and deer have to be thinned. Maybe someday, the predators can be reintroduced.

Two major paved trails, Hurricane Hill and The Meadow were available. We chose the Hurricane Hill trail, from which you can see Vancouver and the entire sound. We got to within an hour and a half of the top before it got too steep for us. There are many trails, unpaved, off the two main ones for avid hikers and back packers. And, many deer. We met this one on the trail walking toward us, quite unafraid.

She simply walked around us…

…and returned to the path behind us.

As we hiked, the mountain to our right as we climbed, is a mountain that gets less rain on its western slope.

I spotted a Christmas tree.  It looked as though someone took the time to add silvery glitter to the top of the tree. It sparkled in the sun. Could it be ice? Or…?

A close up reveals the source. It is sap. We noticed this sap on several trees after this one.

As we hiked in a strong breeze, we noticed the wind sculptured trees. We warmed and I peeled my hooded sweatshirt off and wrapped it around my waist.

This lone alpine blue bell was on its last bright show.

It was a beautiful day to visit. We enjoyed a little over four hours at the park. If you go, bring plenty of water and a picnic lunch.

As we drove away, we saw another herd of deer along the road. Several are out of sight in the bushes.  If you want to see all of my pictures, click on the link below.

2014-9-8-Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge

PACIFIC CITY, OREGON

From Newport to Pacific City, another 60 miles of scenic beauty; misty headlands, rocky shores, ocean waves, pine and fir covered hillsides made a pleasant drive as we push north.

We passed Defoe Bay river marina a colorful spot,  one of three small communities nestled into this almost deserted section of coast. Pacific City is a small community of about 900 people located on the Pacific where two rivers dump into the ocean. While some people consider it remote, others consider it their best kept secret. They come for the quiet, the whale watching and cool weather.

We found Pacific City Thousand Trails full of bunnies. They scoot when you try to catch a picture, but they are everywhere. We saw one giant black rabbit as big as a full sized dachshund. There are bear warning signs posted. The park is huge and roomy with access to the beach.

Steep and wooded, the beach trail is a pleasant hike. We smelled animal musk in a two spots along the trail leaving us to wonder if we might encounter a bear.

Our little cove had this rock point on our left-

…and this one on our right. A great climbing rock.

The bluff we hiked to the beach behind us had many small rocks at its base. This is agate country and we looked for agates  but didn’t find any. Its expected to rain a good bit while we are here. We have a decent signal with our cell phone/internet amplifier. Without it we wouldn’t be able to blog or make a phone call. We  enjoy the quiet retreat, but we like to have the ability to get on the computer and phone when needed.  We’ll be here for three days at this very enjoyable park.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK-C0NTINENTAL DIVIDE

The narrow canyon above is just past the Devils Spine and is the gateway to the Rocky Mountain Crossing on Highway 34.
From Evans, Colorado to Steamboat Springs on Highway 34 and 36 West is a reasonable day’s drive. I drove about 13 miles and I could see Jim was getting nervous so I pulled over short of Estes Park, another 22 miles up the road.  Jim reasoned that the highest road in America, at 12,183 foot elevation,  was not the place for a beginner. And, he was right. I drove the last hour to give him some rest. We stopped short of our goal, both of us tired, at the small town of Kremmling, Colorado.

Estes Park is a tourist destination, a skiing mecca in winter, it attracts backpackers,  mountain stream anglers and bikers. Many rustic and fancy cabins entice people to get-away to the fresh air and fragrant woods. It sits on the edge of the Eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We have a destination with ‘miles to go before we sleep’ so most of my pictures were taken from the motor home window. This rock formation was beautiful whether the pictures give it credit or not.

The pines have suffered from bark beetle infestation. In fact the park campground on the western slope is completely treeless because all of the trees died and had to be removed. Here you see the many dying, still standing trees. The grey ones are completely dead, the brown ones are on the way.

As you climb higher, the trees become smaller, stunted. In the visitor center it showed trees 100 years old bent and twisted by winds; small from barely sufficient nutrition. They were only two feet tall.

Suddenly you realize you are above tree level, looking down into moonscape canyons. The narrow roads and twists and turns made for some tense driving with a motor home pulling a 4,000 pound “toad”.

This vertical cut right through the rock gave our motors passage and has a beauty of its own.

The park is one of two places in the U.S. that has tuffa.

The road just traveled high on the right. The road we will travel in the center, without the twists as we seem to sit on top of the world.

Now we encounter pockets of snow that do not melt during the summer. We learned from the visitors center those pockets are filled with pure ice and are therefore  mini-glaciers.

Valleys like this, full of color and beauty provide forage and water for wildlife. Antelope, a smaller growing moose than the Canadian and Alaskan herds, deer, weasels, fox, big horned sheep, marmots, chickerees, and other small animals and birds make their home here. Plenty of signs show where to view antelope, but we didn’t see any wildlife as we drove by.

This spot marks the Continental Divide where river water now flows toward the west. It is significant, but, not that you could tell from this spot.

On the way down the Western slope, we had several miles of gravel road and roadwork. Signs promised no wait would exceed 60 minutes.

And, none did. But we sat in this parking lot and another for a lengthy time; enough time to turn off the engine and get out and walk around. Thus, I got pictures of some flora and fauna from the roadside woods. No one seemed upset. The air was fresh, the place restful and beautiful. But, at one point we were so close to a huge paving machine we slid by it within a few inches. I had my head out the window as we crawled by with my window beads clinging to my face, laughing all the way.

Don’t know what these plants are called.

The aspens are just turning color.

Its a beautiful drive. As usual, I took many pictures. If you would like to see them, click the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/91310OverTheRockiesOn3436#