7.11.26 Travel Day! Thousand Trails/Grandy Creek KOA, Concrete, WA
On our way we stopped at the Smokey Point Rest Area and look what we found! I know you want all the details! LOL
This stump was
so huge that a hole big enough for a car was tunneled through it in 1916. The
stump quickly became a subject for postcard photographers, and Arlington
realized that it had something more than just a big dead tree.
In 1922 the stump became an official attraction when a group named the Snohomish County Pioneers had it cut from its roots and dragged by a team of horses to a concrete slab next to the new two-lane Pacific Highway. A sign erected above the hole called the stump, "Relic of a Vanquished Forest," and claimed that it was 1,250 years old.
In the 1930s
the stump, cut apart and reassembled like a 3-D jigsaw puzzle, was moved onto
the shoulder of an even bigger road, US Highway 99, the main north-south
thoroughfare through Washington State. The Big Stump was now the world's most
visible and convenient drive-thru tree -- and briefly the most famous, after
Crown Prince Olav of Norway and Crown Princess Martha of Sweden drove through
it on May 27, 1939. Picture postcards continued to document the stump during
these years, always with the latest model car carefully posed emerging from the
hole.
In 1971, when the I-5 Smokey Point rest area (with real bathrooms) was built the stump was placed in a parklike grove of trees beneath a protective roof. It remains there today. The Big Stump is now walk-thru rather than drive-thru, and it still has a lot of visitors; the Smokey Point rest area is the busiest in the entire state.
The marker placed next to the stump reads; "This famous stump remains as evidence of the giant trees which once forested this area. Over 23 feet in diameter and 200 feet tall, the huge 'Western Red Cedar' is believed to have been more than 1,000 years old. Discovered by early American settlers of the area."
Saw a Stellers
Jay bird at the visitor center just chillaxin on the rail. His cray sounds
like “SHACK! SHAACK!” But it can also mimic other birds including hawks and
warblers. It weighs 4-5 ounces and is 13 inches from tip to tail.
and walked down a little path...
Cascades and Water Color
Some lakes
have a color so spectacular and it seems Photoshopped. Lakes like Diablo Lake appear
a milky turquoise color that can shift more blue or green depending on the
lighting. The color in those lakes is caused by something
called glacial flour. The lakes are fed by water that runs off of glaciers, and
that water carries with it fine particles of rock and minerals that have been ground up by
the massive weight of the glaciers. (Think of a glacier acting like sandpaper
over the underlying rocks.)
When that
flour ends up in the water, it’s so fine it stays suspended. This glacial flour
affects how the sunlight is absorbed — mostly absorbing the purple/blue colors
of the spectrum. And because the water is absorbing the reds, oranges and
yellows, what you end up seeing is mostly green with some blue — hence the
spectacular colors.
Some lakes
are so clear you can see the bottom. The clearness can mostly be attributed to
what’s not in the water. In this case, not a lot of silt or biological
material. These clear lakes are often at higher elevations or in very cold
areas. These lakes have fewer nutrients and a shorter growing season, so they don’t
get as much algae or other biological material growing in them. That means that
the water tends to be clearer.
It doesn't look like Colleen is too worried about that bear behind her! LOL
The trip here with a big camper was a little sketchy but it was well worth it, it's beautiful here!
We found a pull out next to the Skagit river, the color is so spectacular!
Al went for a short hike...
This trail went from the Cascade Visitor Center down to the Skagit River.
In our travels we have encountered several trees like this that were struck by lightening and burned on the inside.
...and we wandered on down the road.
We stopped at Annie's Pizza...it was worth the hour wait!
7.12.26 North Cascades Loop, Ross Lake, Ladder Falls
We wandered down Trail of the Cedars in Newhalem, WA
The arrangement above shows the stumps of three trees called
The Children's Cave.
Sunday afternoon May 28, 1967, children playing with candles set the hollow area in the middle of this grouping of cedars on fire. The arrangement of the three trees formed a natural chimney and the fire roared upward. The trees, too tall for the fire hoses to be effective, had to be felled in order to extinguish the fire.
It's hard to imagine how old some of these trees are!
I have so many pictures of the color of this water. I just couldn't get enough. I think it's so beautiful!
Marley was our tough little body guard and he barked at all the dogs...and some people. We can't figure out how he chooses which people to bark at.
Al went for a short hike down the Falls and Garden Trail. I stayed back with Marley because there were many steep steps!
Photos can never depict how awesome these waterfalls really are!
This was an overlook of the Skagit River above the Gorge Powerhouse Dam in Newhalem.
Just gorgeous. This water is real.
Diablo Lake
While driving the loop, we came across Sauk
City, Washington! Here is a little summary...
Sauk City is
a former unincorporated community in central Skagit County, Washington, on the
south bank of the Skagit River just below its confluence with the glacier-fed
Sauk River. The town was established in
the late 1880s as a landing point for riverboats transporting supplies to
remote mining areas, before declining in the early 20th century and becoming
abandoned.
The name
"Sauk City" derives from the Sah-kee-me-hue, a local Native American
band associated with the area along the Sauk River, which originates in the
Glacier Peak Wilderness to the south and carries heavy silt loads from its
mountainous headwaters. Early settlement efforts included post office proposals
dating to 1885, with an initial population estimate of around 100 residents by
that year, growing to approximately 220 by 1888 as prospectors and laborers
arrived.
By the turn
of the century, Sauk City's post office, established there in 1886 was
relocated to the nearby town of Rockport in 1901 and the town was eventually
abandoned. The nearby Sauk Mountain shares the name.
According
to AI:
The Sauk
Indians are a Native American tribe originally from Wisconsin, while the
Washington Sauk refers to a different group, the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, which is
located in Washington State. Although they share a similar name, they are
distinct tribes with different histories and cultures.
7.13.26
Al hiked
Blue Lake Trail in the Mount Baker Recreational Area. 4.4 miles round trip/1050
foot elevation gain. Al's note: (The road up for the last 10 miles was a one lane dirt road that was not maintained, it had many potholes and the shrubbery along the trail scraped against the side of the truck. I was committed to doing the hike even though I knew Colleen would be very unhappy about the scratches in the truck!) He filled up Max with diesel at $4.99 per gallon. I made chili for supper and Al bought 2 pints of Hagen Das ice cream for $7.79 each! (He thought they were 2.99) We enjoyed it anyway!
7.14.26 We drove to Baker Lake
It's so hard not to take too many photos!
