2021 Northwest National Parks

“Since we didn’t make it to Alaska this year, let’s visit the National Parks in the Pacific Northwest!”

“Yeah, but the only time we have available is November,” answers the Lady Adventurer. 

“And your point is?” is Dan’s retort to this little bit of pessimism. 

After all, off-season is a good thing, not a bad thing, isn't it? Besides ... what could go wrong?

Glacier National Park

Avalanche Lake

The adventure began by flying into Missoula, MT, and then driving a couple hours to Whitefish, near the west entrance to the park. What would have been a pretty drive north through alpine forests, mountains, and Flathead Lake was marred by low clouds, smoke, and smog. We believe the smoke was caused by prescribed burning in the area. We saw some close up on our way around the park the next day.

That next day saw a drive of several hours (around the southern border) over to St. Mary on the eastern side of Glacier National Park. Glacier is on just about everyone’s national park bucket list for good reason: it’s spectacularly beautiful. By our reckoning, the park lives up to that reputation. The scenery is wonderful.

St. Mary Lake

One of the higher mountains viewed from the Red Eagle trail

The weather helped. Going in November would be iffy at best, and downright dangerous at worst. But for one thing, we don’t like crowds (and there weren’t many this off-season), and for another, this late fall timeframe just worked best for us. As expected, several park roads were closed for the season, including the famous Going to the Sun Road. Although we wouldn’t be able to see much of the park, the parts we did manage to get to were grand. This day, the sun danced with the clouds, and it was quite beautiful. We only had rain on the way back – it appeared to have stayed west of the Continental Divide.

We managed to get a couple hikes in: part of the Red Eagle trail in St. Mary, and the short Running
Eagle Falls loop in Two Medicine. 

Two Medicine Falls

From the popular western entrance at West Glacier, we were able to drive on Going to the Sun Road as far as Avalanche (about 15 miles). Once there, we hiked the Trail of the Cedars and the Avalanche Lake Trail. Even though it was long and moderately difficult, it was all pretty epic. Avalanche Lake itself is spectacular, with sheer walls of the surrounding waterfall-strewn mountains topped by glaciers. Lady Adventurer and Old Gimpy really enjoyed it.

Trail of the Cedars

Falls along the Avalanche Lake Trail

Avalanche Lake

Whitefish is pretty cool. Besides its proximity to the park, it’s also the home of nearby Whitefish ski resort. There’s a nice little downtown area with shops, bars, and restaurants. November, being between summer and winter ski season, is about as off-season as you can get so the town was quiet, but once again, that was fine with us.

Glacier National Park lives up to its reputation. It’s especially nice off-season.

North Cascades National Park

Although this park is relatively close to Seattle, it is still quite remote, difficult to get to, and seldom visited. We made it over to Concrete, just west of the park, in a little under ten eventful hours. Said eventfulness included outstanding beauty in western Montana, a massive snowstorm in Idaho, torrential rain in parts of Idaho and Washington, moments of serene sunshine in Eastern and Central Washington, more heavy snow near Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, more rain and sunshine around Seattle, and a stunning sunset-facing storms along with a bright rainbow in the mountains as we got near Concrete. Good thing we took the long way to stay on the interstate rather than the more treacherous route through the Cascades. 

Approaching Concrete

The Cascades Mountain Suites – Mount Baker Hotel was closed for the season. Fortunately, they made an exception for us since we’d made the reservation much earlier. They left our keys in a lockbox and we never saw another human anywhere near the place. We did manage to find a couple restaurants that also weren’t shut for the season. Even a winery.

We only did some short hikes in the park: the Gorge Overlook Trail and Trail of the Cedars, among others. Note that every park is required to have at least one Trail of the Cedars. It was all fine, but we would have done more if it hadn’t been raining. The rain at our lower elevation equated to snow higher up. Lots of snow. This weather made the spectacular scenery ever more awesome and enjoyable, although blue skies and sunshine would have been welcome as well.

Near the West entrance to North Cascades NP

Great mountains everywhere with snow at the higher elevations

Diablo Lake Overlook

Ross Lake

There are sheer cliffs and mountains that surround you at every turn. There are also three dams that create beautiful lakes but otherwise mar the scenery with transmission lines for the hydroelectric power being sent to Seattle.

During the short drive from the park back to Concrete, we stopped at Glacier Peak Winery. It’s in an unexpected, but spectacular location, and it’s excellent. 

North Cascades National Park, although not as well-known as some, is still the favorite of many. It’s now ours as well.

Olympic National Park

Finding the Hurricane Ridge area closed due to snow was unexpected, but we enjoyed our time on the Northside of the park nonetheless. We hiked the Heart o the Forest Trail in the Heart o the Hills area. The forest walk was primeval, quiet, serene, and fairly awesome. To see this part of the park, we stayed in Sequim, which required a ferry along with a couple hours of driving. We dined on superb seafood at Kokopelli’s Grill in Port Angeles.

Heart o the Forest Hike

View of Port Angeles from Olympic NP

From there, we drove around the Olympic Peninsula to Olympia, which is south of the park. Along the way, we stopped at Lake Crescent, the Hoh Rainforest, and Ruby Beach.

Due to rain and construction, we were only able to make a brief stop at Lake Crescent. That was a little sad; it’s a beautiful area. 

Lake Crescent

“When you get out of the car to hike, it will look just like it does now, except you will be getting soaked.” We’d been approaching the Hoh Rainforest area in a driving rainstorm, while discussing possible hikes. Lady A., whom I will temporarily refer to as Lady SA (for Lady SmartAss), let her feelings be known about hiking in the drenching rain. I wound up using our only umbrella and going at it alone on the outstanding Hall of Mosses Trail. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any greener, there’s this great section of the park. And what better way to see the foremost temperate rain forest than during a constant, steady rain?

Hoh Rain Forest Hall of Mosses Trail

The rain miraculously stopped for the time we spent at Ruby Beach. The sun even came out for a few minutes. But then the rain began all over again. We were lucky to be there at the right time.

Ruby Beach

Ruby Beach

Olympic National Park has outstanding temperate rain forest sections, fantastic beaches, and snow-capped mountains. It’s also huge. We could have spent more time here. Especially if the rain would go away.

Mount Rainier National Park

“Do you have your tire chains?” It sounded like something my friend asked on multiple occasions when she learned of our November travels. I think it was just to rattle my cage a little. But this time, it wasn’t her at all. It was the Mount Rainier National Park Ranger at the entrance station. And my cage was definitely being rattled, because she was dead serious. Even though we had our National Parks passes, we would ALSO need the tire chains before we’d be allowed to enter the park. Furthermore, the park road was closed past the Longmire area. We wouldn’t be making it to Paradise this day.

Remember the rain we encountered the day before? Up here, it fell as snow, and lots of it. Lady A. wanted to just take off and perhaps find someplace where we could just view the great mountain. I nearly concurred, but just for the heck of it, we drove six miles out to Ashford and, as it turned out, wound up renting tire chains, turning around, and heading back in.

Thank goodness, we didn’t need to use the chains. This day was bright and sunny, and the snow, at least at the lower elevations, was melting. The snow and water dropping from the trees was interesting and fun. We even managed to get a short hike in through the deep snow on the Trail of the Shadows.

Mount Rainier

Other surrounding mountains seen on the trail

Based on the outstanding and spectacular sights of the snow everywhere, Mount Rainier and the surrounding mountains were as beautiful as any we’ve seen.

The Oregon Coast

“Isn’t enough enough?” The plan had been to drive nearly the entire length of the Oregon Coast, starting in Astoria, and then cutting over to the interior past Coos Bay. But the rain was ridiculous. It was of biblical proportions, and as much as we tried to enjoy the sights and sounds of this otherwise wonderful seascape, it was impossible. We cut over to I5 much earlier than planned and took the faster route to Grant’s Pass, our home for the night and our launchpad for Crater Lake National Park the next day.

The Oregon Coast (in the rain)

But wait. By the time we got to Grant’s Pass, the rain had stopped (at least in these parts), and the sun even came out a little. We enjoyed the surprisingly lively little town, and also visited a couple of the local wineries: Schmidt Family Winery and Troon Vineyards. We didn’t hesitate to inform the latter establishment that we actually lived on Troon Avenue. But I don’t think they were impressed.

Troon Vineyard

Another Vineyard Pic

So, after the disappointing morning (since we didn’t get to enjoy the coast) we had a very nice late afternoon and evening in town and at the wineries.

Crater Lake National Park

The drive from Grants Pass to Crater Lake National Park was wonderful. Southwestern Oregon is absolutely beautiful. But as we approached the park, we started seeing more and more snow on the sides of the road. This is not to mention the snow-recreation areas and the chain-up sections. It was beginning to seem like a rerun of our Mount Rainier experience. Therefore, we emitted a joint sigh of relief when the gatehouse guard let us in without asking about chains, since there was no place to rent them this time. The relatively warm temperatures and pleasant sunshine were working in our favor this day.

Crater Lake

Crater Lake and the surrounding mountains

Crater Lake

Crater Lake

Crater Lake is spectacular, especially when surrounded by snowy hills and mountains. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to hike very far in the deep snow. Instead, we just walked around Rim Village and took pictures. It was also unfortunate that we weren’t able to drive along the western coast up to the North Entrance; we had to go the long way around in order to drive up to Eugene. This part of the drive was beautiful as well.

After visiting Crater Lake, we drove up to Eugene, aka Tracktown, USA. There, I managed to do all the top running things: see Hayward field, run up to Pre's Rock, and over to Pre's Trail.

Silver Falls State Park and Columbia River Gorge

“How ‘bout I bend you over the bathtub and just pour water over your head?” Lady SA was at it again, remarking about all the waterfalls we’re seeing. “Suck it up, Lady,” I say. We’re gonna do a bazillion falls today.

Located between Eugene and Portland, Silver Falls State Park is a real gem. There are ten major waterfalls in the park, and many more minor ones. We hiked for three difficult but rewarding miles and saw four or so of the falls. The Maple Ridge and Canyon trails were covered with water themselves, so the footing was bad. It was especially so when walking behind some of the falls. 

Hiking Silver Falls

Hiking Silver Falls

Hiking Silver Falls

From there, we drove up to the Columbia River Gorge, where Multnomah Falls is one of the main attractions. It’s amazing. It’s the second-highest year-round waterfall in the U.S. The bridge partway up makes it a cool sight. We were lucky that it was only a short walk from the parking area; we were beat from the Silver Falls hike.

Multnomah Falls

We also stopped and walked around at Turkey Rock State Park and at Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area.

Columbia River

The exploration of the Columbia River Gorge continued with visits to Larch Mountain, where we couldn't see two feet in front of us due to the heavy rain, and Wildwood Recreation site, where the lower elevation afforded nice weather and scenery just an hour later. We got to watch Chinook Salmon swimming upstream. That was cool! And it was also the end of our adventure.

...

To sum it all up:

3,000 road miles on the rental car (and this time we've cleaned the interior before returning it)

5 National Parks

6 State Parks

1 National Forest that we hiked, and several others that we drove through

2 near-missed collisions with large animals

Bazillions of waterfalls

Too much rain and a bit much snow for comfort

1 rental of tire chains

Weekend in Chicago

Debbie and I had a blast visiting Valerie and Dan in Chicago. We visited the Chicago Institute of Art, the Shedd Aquarium, watched Dune, and ate at some iconic joints. The plan had been to fly in early Saturday morning, stay overnight, then fly back Sunday night (October 24). The flight in was fine. But here's the rest of the story.

Even before heading back to the airport, we learned that our return flight, American Airlines #1153 from Chicago Ohare to Cleveland would be delayed from 8:51 PM until 11:00 PM. This was not surprising because the weather was bad; there was a lot of rain and wind. It would be a long Sunday night.

After we arrived and waited a while, there was an announcement that the flight was delayed again, this time until 9:30 AM the next day. We understand that this delay was due to crew availability (or lack thereof). American provided vouchers for a hotel and meals. We asked to be placed on a different flight, since we had medical appointments, and getting in earlier might have enabled us to make some of them. Even though some other passengers managed to get on an 8:00 AM flight, we were told that it was filled.

As we arrived at the hotel and checked in, we learned that our now 9:30 AM flight was to be delayed until 1:30 PM. This may have also been due to crew availability. We called American to ask once again to be placed on an earlier flight, even if it was on another airline. Although there were a few options, none were nonstop, and they wouldn't have been any\better. All of the earlier nonstops were filled. The American Airlines agent did try to be helpful this time, so we appreciated that.

Late Monday morning, we arrived at the airport once again, only to learn that our 1:30 PM flight was now scheduled for 2:35 PM. We had to wait in line at the ticket counter because our boarding passes no longer appeared in the AA app. I guess this is because it was the next day. We weren't even able to print them. After standing in line for an hour (we had plenty of time, by the way), the American agent was not very sympathetic to our plight. "Welcome to midwest weather," he said, and not in a nice way. I unloaded our entire story on him, emphasizing that at least some of the delays were not weather-related. Even for the ones that were due to the weather, other flights were managing to come and go. I believe ours was continually given low priority by American. The Agent would not help us get onto another flight, saying there was no availability.

At this time, we learned that the flight would be delayed from 2:35 PM until 3:35 PM. Later, it was changed again to 4:08 PM.

When that time came, we actually boarded the airplane. There were only about twelve of us getting on the Airbus A319 that would normally seat well over 100 passengers. It seems that the others did indeed manage to get placed on other flights, or they possibly rented cars and drove. The pilot announced that there would be a delay to check on a tire. He later announced that the tire would need to be changed. He later announced that we would all need to get off the plane and there would be further announcements at the gate.

Now we were back in the gate area once again. We learned that we would need to board a different airplane for a 5:40 departure.

As that time approached, all twelve (or so) of us boarded a different plane at a different gate. As we got settled, the pilot announced that we needed to wait for catering. For those of us wondering why we needed catering for a 48 minute (wheels up to touchdown) flight, he noted that it wasn't just for our flight but also for the return back to Chicago. That made us feel much better as we waited yet another hour.

Finally, around 6:40 PM Monday, October 25, we left the gate. In case you're keeping track, that's 8 delays for a total of 22 hours. After a long runway delay, we arrived in Cleveland after 9:00 PM Eastern. Home sweet home.

We are not very happy with the way American Airlines treated us, Even considering the bad weather, you would think they would have provided more help to get us to our destination than they did. And you would think that they would give higher priority to distressed passengers than they did. And we were definitely distressed.

2021 Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are a semi-autonomous territory of Ecuador. They have their own set of laws to limit tourism and to preserve the environment. The pristine environment and its unique flora and fauna, made famous by Charles Darwin, is what makes the islands so desirable. Lady Adventurer and I sure thought so and had high hopes that the three days we spent there would be the highlight of this trip to Ecuador.

Oh, the tribulations of travel. (That may be a good title for my next book.) Imagine our disappointment when we learned that we wouldn’t be able to get there, at least as planned. It started with a 2 ½ hour delay for our flight from Miami to Guayaquil, a city near the coast of Ecuador. Lady A. and I were already tired from two previous flights, but we tried to roll with the punches. And those punches kept right on coming. A South Florida thunderstorm held things up further. Then we learned that the crew had exceeded their allotted work time for the day and would need to be replaced. But not to worry, another crew was there at the airport; just wait yet another couple of hours. We wound up spending the night in Miami and flew to Guayaquil the next day.

We had hoped that we would be able to go right on from Guayaquil to the Galapagos upon arrival. That way we wouldn’t miss much more than a few hours there. But our Gate1 representative who met us at the airport informed us that this connection wasn’t possible; we’d need to overnight in Guayaquil and meet up with the rest of the tour group in the Galapagos the next day. Now we’d only have two days there instead of three. It did help that we weren’t alone; there were others from our tour group in the same boat, and the Gate1 representative truly did help. He even facilitated Covid tests for us, since our 72-hour window (we were tested the day before leaving) was now expiring.

Rolling with all those punches, the Guayaquil River Walk was quite pleasant, and we got a taste of this new (to us) country and culture. And we did manage to get on to the islands the next day. But the punches were only beginning. Did I mention that I’m writing this post a few days after returning home? I usually edit photos and write about our adventures as we go. Lady Adventurer doesn’t like it, but I often spend the evenings working on the blog in order to not miss anything and to get it the way I want it. But all that’s impossible when your usually reliable Microsoft Surface goes kerflooey, which, of course, it did. Other tribulations? Yes, there were more. Lady A. and I both had some physical problems that we won’t bore you with. They were probably caused by the stress of all the other problems. Oh, and let’s not forget about having no water in one hotel, and no electricity in another.

And yet... it was a great trip! We saw a lot and experienced a lot, and met lots of wonderful people, both Ecuadorians, and fellow travelers. In fact, we would highly recommend Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, as well as Gate1 Travel.

Guayaquil

Guayaquil

Guayaquil

We’d only just flown into Baltra Island and taken the ferry to Santa Cruz Island when we began seeing giant tortoises along the side of the road and in the nearby grass and scrubland. No, this wasn’t Kansas anymore. The hotel/resort was located such that you had to take a boat to get there, so we boarded a second boat for the day. Right away we saw sea lions, blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, and frigate birds.

During our two (and not three) days, we managed to see and do a lot.

• We visited the Charles Darwin Research Station where we saw many more giant tortoises, including some cutie-patootie babies, as well as some birds and information about the great man himself.
• We (I should say I) snorkeled and saw rays, sea stars, sea cucumbers, and lots of pretty fish.
• We hiked on North Seymour island where we got to go up close and personal with the blue-footed boobies, nazca boobies (there were boobies galore!), frigate birds, flamingos, sea lions, iguanas, and other wildlife. The bird nesting areas were fascinating.
• We enjoyed the gourmet cuisine at the resort.

The islands are wonderful, and one can see how they inspired Darwin to write The Origin of Species.

giant tortoises

sea lions

blue-footed booby

blue-footed booby (up close and personal)

marine iguana

North Seymour Island

The fourteen of us then flew on to Quito to meet our tour director and the rest of the Gate1 group (there would be 23 in all). Quito, the capital, is located in the central Ecuadorian mountains. It’s a stunning location and a nifty city. We walked around the central part of the city and the main square. There were some famous colonial-era churches. But the highlight was the Middle of the World Monument, where we could place one foot in the northern and one foot in the southern hemispheres at the same time. There was plenty to see and do there.

Quito

Quito

Quito

At the equator

Next, we were on the bus to Otavalo, and this was beginning to feel like a group tour. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Near Otavalo, we stayed at a unique and comfortable cabin on a lake at the base of a high, dormant volcano. Unique and comfortable would be common themes for our accommodations throughout this trip. We also hiked to the beautiful and remote Peguche waterfall and visited the huge Otavalo market. Some of us spent an entire afternoon unsuccessfully searching for the (supposedly) nearby fruit market. We laughed when we saw it from the bus as we were leaving, learning that it was just where tour director Giovanna said it was. We had been eating some unique fruits and other foods. Just one was the guanabana fruit, which defies my attempt to describe it.

Our resort on the lake by the volcano

Our cabin

Just before our hike to Peguche waterfall

Peguche waterfall

Papallacta, located high in the Andes, is home to a hot springs resort where we could step just outside our lodge door and into a hot springs pool. The hot water running beneath our room kept us warm for the otherwise cold night.

Papallacta

When you travel east of the Andes, you’re in the Amazon region, since all rivers flow into the Amazon River. Our remote lodge in the rainforest was just how you might imagine it: warm, humid, lush plant life, wide rivers, and frequent rainstorms. We had to take a canoe across the Napo River to get there, and then it felt like another world. We had some unique experiences, like:

• Visiting a home of an indigenous family to see how they live and survive. The small-in-stature couple had ten kids and we believe they were around 50 years of age. They demonstrated cooking and other rituals, as well as the use of a blowgun.
• Hiking in the rainforest to experience the Amazon flora and fauna close-up. We didn’t see many animals, since most live high in the canopy. But it was a great hike nonetheless.
• Trying the Amazon food, including the grubs. I did try some, but only after they were cooked. Only the local folks would eat the live ones.

A fruit market. the place was bananas

arrival at our remote lodge on the Napo River

blowgun demonstration

sunset in the Amazon

hiking in the rainforest

Deep in the rainforest - our group of hikers

After the Amazon region, it was back on the bus, back over the Andes, this time on to Banos (named for its hot thermal baths) and nearby Patate. Along the way, we had an interesting experience wherein we passengers had to get out of the bus in order for it to make it up and over a huge road construction-related pile of dirt. At some point, everyone realized that the bus, and even some of the other vehicles, were simply not going to make it. Daniel, our expert bus driver, managed to turn the bus around with very little room to spare. All to the applause of us tourists.

Impassibly impossible

We finally made it around the long way to our accommodation, an 18th-century hacienda. From there, we hiked to “The Devil's Cauldron,” one of Ecuador’s most spectacular waterfalls. It’s possible to get very close alongside and to go down nearly to the bottom of the falls. There are plenty of other things to see and do around Banos. We mostly saw the sights and walked around the quaint town. Lunch was at the home of a local artist. Her entire house was decorated with her paintings and other works. This couldn’t have been more pleasant. Before returning to Quito, we toured a rose farm. It appears that a large portion of the world’s roses is grown in the region. They’re shipped all around the world, where they must arrive within 72 hours of being picked.

Devil's Cauldron

Devil's Cauldron

The guinea pig lady in Banos (it was delishious!)

Our hacienda

At a Market near Banos

The Artist's home

Debbie at the rose farm

Back in Quito, we had our Covid tests and farewell dinner. Now it was goodbye to tour director extraordinaire Giovanna and our 21 other new friends. These folks had plenty in common with the two of us. Many were fellow retirees, and many were from Florida. We also had five Americans who were originally from Russia. Wonderful friends on a splendid (but tiring) trip.

So long from Ecuador!