Olympic Hot Springs & South

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Wandering around Victoria it feels fitting the last place I am spending time in Canada is also the first place I visited here. I say goodbye to Mike, Roger and Canada and jump on the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. I’ve been living in Canada for over two years now and have throughly enjoyed myself, but I feel that it’s time to move on.

I’ve picked up Mike’s cold and I am tired, hungry and grumpy when I arrive in the USA in the dark – what better place to cheer me up than a Hot Spring? I camp inside Olympic National Park and make my way to the spring first thing in the morning. The walk in is a beautiful couple of miles through thick forest. There are around ten natural rock pools strung out for a few hundred yards above a bubbling creek below. Most pools are about ten feet across, a foot or two deep and right in the perfect body temperature range.

Olympic Hot Spring 1

I soak for hours in the cool morning, thinking about nothing in particular.

Olympic Hot Spring 2

I move slowly down the Washington coast with a couple of days of annoying on-again, off-again rain and before long everything is soaked, even my cold affected mood. Every chance I get I’m drying things on the hood of the Jeep which is very effective – my tent takes only 20 minutes from soaked to bone dry which is a relief.

I get a message on my website from Shane and Amy who spotted my Jeep in a shopping center parking lot. They spent a year driving around the USA and were very keen to meet a fellow road-tripper. On their site, www.ayearatthewheel.com you can read how they drove around the country just before the election gathering thoughts and opinions from people from all walks of life. They did all this with less than $200 in their pocket. We chat all afternoon and long into the night about everything and nothing all at the same time. It’s very inspiring to meet people that are so aware of their surroundings and the choices that can be made every day.

Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia river

I continue south into Oregon and camp a night near Astoria, a beautiful seaside town on the mouth of the Columbia River. The Oregon coastline is every bit as beautiful as I remember and I’m in no real hurry to go anywhere.

Swell rolling into the Oregon coast

-Dan