Pacific North West USA 2023

We left home for our drive down to Heathrow earlier than we needed to, first we have been suffering the UK's late summer heatwave and couldn't wait to get into the air conditioning in our car and we had a warning email from British Airways to say the queue for security may be long due to the closure of the First Wing security and priority lanes (due to the escaped terrorist and extra border scrutiny). 
 

The drive down to Heathrow went without a hitch, we parked up in the long stay car park and the transfer bus came immediately to the bus stop with a zero wait.
 

Although the First Wing security was closed, we were still able to check-in there. We had received a text on the way to the airport offering us an upgrade (paid) and decided at £549 each it wasn't worth it (we have enough First PJs and amenity kits to last us a life time). The North priority lanes were actually open so we breezed through in 10 minutes and we were enjoying the delights of the First lounge with 5 hours to eat, drink & relax before our 16:10 scheduled departure.

Featured photos from the lounge...

(1) Jarvis (see Instagram @jarvis_the_bear) 

(2) Alan 'enjoying' a glass of Don Julio 1942 Tequila (because it was free)

(3) Liz's afternoon tea, which included a massacre of two scones with jam & cream, lol. 

We caught the 4:30am shuttle back to the airport and the rental car shuttle to collect our car just after 5:00am. We had booked a Ford Escape sized SUV, but Alan’s Presidents Club membership with Avis allows him free upgrades (if available) and he was offered a Jeep Grand Cherokee instead. Its colour maroon and an upgraded version of a car we had in 2018 which we called Macca so Alan decided to call it Grand Macca (also known a Big Macca).

After setting the car up for us both we made our way out of  Sea-Tac and headed towards Mount Rainier National Park. We took a route south using WA167, WA161, WA706 through Ashford. The plan was to drive through the national park and out of the east entrance (fortunately we were doing this on a Sunday, as Stevens Canyon Road is currently shut from Monday to Friday for roadworks). 

It took us just two hours to get to the park and it felt very surreal to be walking trails in this beautiful national park so soon after starting the trip. We made several scenic stops and a few short hikes. The weather was a tad warm for hiking, but just about bearable for the short hikes. The best of the summer flowers were over but there was still some colours to see and the start of the autumn colours in places. We saw a couple of hoary marmots on the Paradise trails, along with many chipmunks eating the berries.

We left the park via the east entrance and the drive through to the east entrance was stunning. We turned left on WA12, went around Yakima, along WA24 and through the Hanford Reach National Monument, around Othello, onto WA17 to Moses Lake.

We checked into our lake side hotel at 2:30pm, shopped at Walmart for some road trip supplies and grabbed a Subway for our dinner, we had hardly eaten anything all day but weren’t that hungry (probably because of all the food we ate the day before!) The Subway hit the spot and after getting more organised for road tripping and watching the sunset across the lake we were sleeping like babies by 8pm.

313 miles

We woke at about 2.30am and after an abortive attempt to go back to sleep, decided that was that for rest.

Breakfast was at 5.30am, so we aimed to be packed and ready, and after a pretty good Best Western breakfast including made to order omelettes, we left about 6.15am, and drove East on I-90 into a beautiful sunrise.

We joined WA261 at Ritzville, and then headed south to Washtucna, and then Perry, before arriving at our first stop, Palouse Falls State Park, a short 3 mile gravel road drive off 261.

We saw an RV heading out, but on arrival we had the place to ourselves. We paid our $10 day use fee, and strolled around the view points for abut half an hour to watch the 198 foot drop of the Palouse River over the basalt cliff, on its way to join the Snake River. It’s also a good birding spot and we saw several in the canyon and a raptor looking for snakes, but alas we saw no snakes despite all the warning signs.

From Palouse Falls, we headed East and South to US 12, and onwards via Clarkston. Then we turned south on WA129 and OR3, a wonderfully scenic mountain drive with awesome views and challenging switchbacks and curves, to Enterprise and then Joseph. We stopped for a while at Wallowa Lake, then continued to drive the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, stopping at the Hells Canyon Overlook. 

After a drive along the twisting forest road, we joined OR86 and turned west to drive the 60 odd miles to Baker City and our stop for tonight.

386 miles

I was tired yesterday and ‘let’ (OK I insisted) Alan help me by writing up Day 3’s activities. Sorry, I’ll try not to ‘let’ him do any more of the trip report ;))

Yesterday’s forecast was for a full cloudy day, however, it actually turned out really nice. From today and for the next few days has the forecast showing mostly clear blue skies and increasingly hotter days.

We started the day with an included breakfast prepared by the same staff that cooked our dinner at the hotel restaurant last night. Alan didn’t mention the meal, he had spaghetti bolognaise and I had a burger, both were excellent. I was so hungry I forgot to take any pictures! Our hotel during our stay in Baker City was the Best Western.

We set off from the hotel at 6:30am and drove back to the Oregon Trail Ruts (National Historic Oregon Trail – Interpretive Center), we were too tired to stop on our way through yesterday. The Center is closed for renovations but you can still walk the trails and view the trail ruts and we did a little walk to view some for them as the sun was rising over the hills. You could imagine how difficult it must have been for emigrants as they fought there way through shoulder-high sagebrush after spending days ascending Burnt River.

Next on to Sumpter (approximately 30 minutes from Baker City along OR7), a small town buried deep in the Blue Mountains. Gold mining dominates its history and the landscape around it is scared by the gold dredgers. There are three dredgers you can see, one maintained for viewing. An impressive piece of mining equipment that wound its way through the neighbouring valley, digging up earth as it went, the dredge was able to travel in a pond it created for itself with its 72 dredging buckets processing 9 cubic feet of material a minute! $4.5 million worth of gold was extracted here. We were here early in the morning and had the place to ourselves, the local ranger opened up the dredger for us at 8am and he stopped for a chat with us telling us about the history of the town and dredger. He also told us the local area had had more rain than usual this year, which has been good news for them given the forest fires other towns have experienced in the north west. We took a nice stroll around the area, saw some deer and stood on the Sumpter railroad platform, it would be a long wait for the next train though as it isn’t due until 23^rd September.

17 minutes further along OR7 you arrive at the Whitney Ghost Town, not worth a journey in itself, but as it was along our route we stopped to read its history. Founded in 1900 the community thrived along the narrow gauge Sumpter Valley Railway, the Oregon Lumber Company built the first sawmill in the area but the town was devastated by fire in 1918 and never fully recovered again.

Onwards along OR7, onto US26 through John Day, approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes later we stopped at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Sheep Rock Unit) near Kimberley. This modern facility has a fossil ‘lab’ where you can watch the palaeontologists cleaning up the fossils they have discovered.

Another 30 minutes along US26 took us to the Painted Hills Unit of the fossil beds NP near Mitchell. This was probably the highlight of the day and we took our time walking up to various view points to admire the red, tan, orange and black stripes. Although best lit in the late afternoon, it was pretty stunning early afternoon too! 

Back to US26 and another hour and 20 minutes drive we were at our next stop, Smith Rock State Park. The pedestrian bridge spanning the Crooked River was still closed during our visit but it is due to reopen later in September and we could see the construction work progressing. This did stop us from crossing the river put it didn’t stop us from enjoying the stunning views of the canyon.

Our final stop, 11 minutes from Smith Rock on US97 (north of Richmond) was Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint. If you love civil engineering this will be a delight, Crooked River Railroad Bridge, Crooked River High Bridge and the Rex T. Barber Veterans Memorial Bridge span the Crooker River canyon here.

Just another 30 minutes along US97 took us to our base for the next two nights, Bend, where arrived just before 4pm. After a quick freshen up we went to Worthy Brewing for a well deserved beer or two and excellent value dinner.

290 miles