What Goes Down Must Come Up

Thursday, August 18, 2011

This morning we drove out to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery.  We stopped at the Makah Cultural Center and Museum about 9:30, and found they don’t open until 10. That’s okay, we needed to have breakfast, so fixed it and ate in the rolling cave. By the time we finished and cleaned up, the museum was open. We got a Cape Flattery Lighthouse stamp, and toured the museum. Very nicely done, and very interesting.

We then went on out to the end of the road and decided to walk the Cape Flattery trail to the northwestern most point in the lower 48. It is supposedly a half mile trail each way. We should have been smart enough to stop at the top. It went down, down, down. First a dirt trail, then some boardwalks and steps, more dirt trail with lots of roots in it, which could actually help by making a semblance of steps. Down, down, down! and you don’t even go to beach level – still up on a cliff.  But the view is great. You look out over a small island where the lighthouse is located, and rugged shoreline all around.

Of course you know the drill: what went down must get back to the top. Very, very slow and easy was the pattern, and finally we made it. What a climb!  The Makah kid at the bottom said it was 450 feet down, in a half mile!  Seemed like a lot more than that. Switchbacks would have been a help!  Also, the sign at the top ought to warn that it might not be suitable for geezers!

Going down - waaaay down.

We made it to the end of the path.

Then we had to come back up!

The sign says it all.

We then drove down to Forks and stopped for a stamp there, then went on to check out a state park. We decided against it, so back tracked a little and went out towards LaPush, stopping at Mora Campground. There weren’t very many campsites left open, but we found two together and nabbed them. This is again in Olympic National Park, so the sites are $6 for us geezers.

Fishing is reported good in the rivers here, so Barney and Fred will check that out tomorrow.
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