August, 2018
Not so many words in this blog post. 🙂 Mostly pretty pictures.
These first photos here are of three different campsites I found in another campground just down the hill from Cougar Rock Campground where my trailer (Towhee the Trailer) was parked for this week. This other campground is Big Creek Campground on Big Bear Creek in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just down the road a piece.
I liked that there were lots of trees and underbrush between campsites and that the campground was mostly empty even during a warm, late summer week before school was back in session.
Mostly I liked the huge, old trees and the creek and the birds. I suspect I’ll be camping here next year.
After this trip down the mountain (mostly to check email and with a side trip to this other campground), I then drove back up onto Mount Rainier, heading back to my campsite. It took quite a while to get back since I kept noticing things that distracted me and made me stop, park the truck, and get out and look, or get out and hike a trail.
On the way back to the campsite, I noticed the two mountains in the photos below. Talk about craggy peaks! People talk about how surprisingly difficult Mount Rainier is to climb … take a look at these two rascals!
Further along on my drive back to the campground, I passed a sign to Narada Creek Falls. A quick stop there rewarded me with some very pretty photos of the very pretty creek. Maybe on my next camping trip to the Mount Rainier area I’ll hike down to the bottom of 188-foot Narada Falls. The photo and video below were taken at the top of the falls, before the water makes that stunning drop that becomes Narada Falls.
Back at the Cougar Rock Campground, I walked each of the loops of campsites and noted my favorite campsites for the future.
But the trees … oh the trees! I was overwhelmed by the huge, old trees in the campground. The trees in the photo below were at least four feet in diameter, many of them were larger than that. I don’t know if they were “old growth” but they sure were old and so strong and stately and handsome. They seemed so sure of themselves.
Besides those amazing trees, I also noticed tiny plants(?) growing on tree branches. Are these epiphytes? What are these?
And finally, I walked back to my campsite and my cozy, little white trailer in the woods. Again, I hadn’t looked up from that spot on the road before, but I looked up now. And again, I found Mount Rainier looking over my shoulder. The other day, I had to walk 30 feet or so away from the trailer in the other direction, today I was only about 15 feet away. I guess if I’m going camping anywhere near a mountain, I better start looking up!
Tomorrow … one last drive up to Paradise. I’ll share photos of details of the mountain … and glaciers where I could spot them, and other interesting things too.
I love seeing your beautiful pictures.
PS…I’m sorry I always say the same thing…but your pictures are really beautiful, and would make good post cards.
The sound of the water running in the creek was awesome.
Ha! Ginger, you can keep saying those exact same words forever as far as I’m concerned. 🙂 I do hear that sentiment from other readers too, either in their comments on the blog or in emails from friends of mine or verbally when I spend time with friends of mine, so there are a good number of people who enjoy my photos. I do spend time choosing my photos in order to share a variety of photos of a variety of things so maybe there’s at least one thing that’s interesting to each reader. Trust me, I never get tired of that comment from you. 🙂
And yes, that creek was so peaceful and soothing!
What a beautiful place! I love campgrounds that have trees and underbrush between sites. I try to only camp at places like that though it’s not always easy to find. I have no idea what those little plants are. Hope someone knows!
Those types of campsites, with the brush and trees all around, make me feel so safe. It’s like I’m a little animal burrowing into my woodland nest. 🙂
No one has offered information about those plants on the branches yet … hey everyone … help us. What are we looking at?
Would Grace ever love Big Bear Creek! And, of course, the walk in the forest.
Yes! While I was standing there enjoying the creek, and taking that video, and just watching the creek go by, I thought about Grace and how she would have been in doggy heaven in that creek. She fit into that picture perfectly. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to take her here and then let her off the leash to romp and gambol unfettered, to her heart’s content? Ah me, sigh.
Oh, yeah, the forest too, but she would have loved that creek.
I love your blog but it seems to be loading very slowly. I wanted to look at some of your past posts when you were camping on the Washington coast as I am thinking of heading up there but trying to find those posts in the archives with the slow loading was close to impossible so I just gave up. And no it is not on my end as your blog is the only one that is doing this. I just thought I would let you know.
Stephany Smith
Hi Stephany! 🙂 Thank you for commenting and sharing your concern. Yes, there can be issues with the FREE version of WordPress blogs, which is what I’m using. I follow two other RV blogs with the same free software that also take several seconds to load each page. It appears to be what we’re stuck with unless we upgrade. On the other hand, I have asked two separate friends of mine about page loading and they tell me it’s fast, so maybe I need more input from more readers. I use BlueHost for hosting … they will upgrade my blog which will add a great number of services (none of which I want), yet they say the upgrade would result in faster page loading (which I would like, for you folks, and for me for editing), but I’m loathe to pay for that if it doesn’t add much functionality for very many people. I know two RV blog owners who ask their readers for small contributions to help pay for that upgrade … I won’t do that, creating this blog is my choice and not something anyone else should pay for. But I continue to consider upgrading and, with your input, it has moved higher up on my list. Thank you, your comments are helpful and appreciated.
Does anyone else have input? …. please share if you do.
Stephany …. in the meantime, you mentioned wanting information about my camping trips to the Washington coast. I’ve been out there once with this trailer and am happy to share any/all information that I can with you. Go to the top of any of my blog pages and click on the “Camping 2018” link. A page will open that lists all of my camping destinations so far this year, including the week that I spent on the Washington coast at Pacific Beach State Park. Then, on that page, click on the link to “July 15-20, 2018” and the first blog post of that trip will open. Hope that helps. There are LOTS of campgrounds up and down the Washington coast, and I’d bet most of them have space this time of year. Go and enjoy!
Your blog loads real slow for me too, but I just click on it and sit back and wait. It didnt do that at first, so I am thinking its because there are more photos now.
I noticed another change…I have to type in my name and email with every comment I leave. It just to store my info
Thanks for the feedback Ginger, I had no idea it was SO slow for so many people. I just got off the phone with a Bluehost rep who found numerous problems with THEIR end of the setup. They will be fixing the problems with the connection to my blog tonight at midnight (west coast USA time). So check back on Wednesday during the day (USA time) and the blog should be up and running fast again. The rep, Rene, said that it’s a caching setting in your browser on your computer that is causing your login not to be saved … ??? Let’s see what happens when the speed gets back up to snuff.
Hi Ann, we don’t have any problem opening your blog but we have lots of time! My wife knows more than I do about this sort of thing. I try just not to look too stupid. (smile) We timed how long it took to open a number of your blogs, it took from 4 seconds to 9 seconds, and maybe different people will think that is slow or fast, but we thought that was ok with us. Your photos are gorgeous and maybe they take longer to load (my wife told me to say that “longer to load”, makes me sound like I know something). We read the Bayfield Bunch too and timed that. It took 4-5 seconds to load each page, but my wife tells me their blogger software is free but they pay for hosting. Faster would be ok, but I have been reading your blog for many months now and find it excellent and fast enough for us. So don’t spend any money on us. Hey, I’m still waiting for that Tesla you promised me! haha!
Thank you for all of this Mount Rainier information. Your photographs are beautiful!
Thank you Tim … that gives me more info and that helps.
BlueHost instituted a beta version of a CDN (content delivery network) for their hosted WordPress blogs just a few days ago that I opted in for just a few minutes ago. Let’s see if that speeds up page loading on my blog. I also opted for an upgraded version of their PHP app which is supposed to increase speed for me for editing and for the user for downloading. I’ll tell ya, this digital stuff can keep your head spinning! But I also find it fun and very interesting to learn.
I follow that Bayfield Bunch too, Tim. Al is just super! But I’m mostly really glad and awfully impressed that you’ve stuck with me over these many months. Thank you .. and tell your wife thank you too. Oh, and yes indeed that Tesla is on its way … I heard it’s being detailed before delivery. It should arrive any day now!
Thanks for the feedback, Ann. I appreciate it.