The A-MAYES-ING Adventure: Olympic National Park Part 1

Thursday morning, June 11th, and Day 16 of our trip we left Porland, OR and drove north up to the Washington peninsula.  Highway 101 circles around Olympic National Park and we drove around the park in clock-wise direction.  Our first destination was Kalaloch Campground.  We set up our campsite and then we drove north to the Hoh Rain Forest.  We walked around the Hall of Mosses and then on the way back to our campsite we stopped at Ruby Beach and walked around and looked at the beautiful sea stacks.  We went back to our campsite, cooked dinner, and then walked to the beach to watch the sunset!

When we showed up at our campsite we saw a bald eagle flying over us with a fish in its mouth!

The Hall of  Mosses

So mossy!

Our first view of Ruby Beach!

Here's our campsite at Kalaloch!

Walking to the beach to watch the sunset.

Epic tree.

The sun set at 9:15 at nigh!  So late!

The A-MAYES-ING Adventure: Mount Hood

On June 9th and Day 14 of our adventure, we packed up camp and headed north on Highway 97.  Our destination was Mount Hood to meet up with my uncle (Jay) and cousin (Jacob) and explore Mount Hood together!  At this point in our journey, we had driven over 3,500 miles and it had been even more miles since our last oil change.  Therefore, we stopped in Bend, OR to get an oil change!  We had a wonderful time with my family I hadn't seen in over 10 years while exploring the beautiful Mount Hood area.  Afterwards we headed north and connected with Interstate 84 where we traveled west along the Columbia River Gorge.  This part of the drive was breathtaking.  We arrived in Portland that evening and spent some time with dear friends of ours for the rest of the night and all day June 10th. 

Heading north on Highway 97.  There's Mount Hood in the distance!

Getting closer!

And closer!!!

And closer!

We took the ski lift up a little ways and then hiked back down!

Looking southwest.  You can see another mountain in the distance.  There's a range of these volcanic mountains popping up every so often.  These volcanic mountains are part of the Cascade Volcanic arc.  The volcanic mountains extend from Oregon all the way up through Washington and into British Columbia.  This arc of volcanoes is formed by the subduction along the Cascadia subduction zone.  You can read more about it here!  The former Mount Mazama (now Crater Lake since its collapse), Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Rainer, and Mount St. Helens are all part of this Cascade Volcanic arc.

Rollin was giddy to dive into and slide down the snow field!

There's my uncle and cousin!!!

Yay!  It made me sooo happy to see my uncle and cousin.  Especially since it had been over 10 years since I last saw them!

Here we are along the Pacific Crest trail!

Leaving Mount Hood!  This is a gorgeous angle of the mountain!

Mount Adams (I think?!).  And that mountain is in Washington!

The Columbia River Gorge.

Multnomah Falls.  Right off the interstate!