Or how plan A became plan B and then plan A again
My thought was to hit one more hot spring before the van
with a name has to head back to eastern Washington. And that was a good idea
until the weather changed from the constant rain to up to 8 inches of wet slushy
snow at the hot spring, I wanted to visit Sol Duc in Olympic National Park.
My trajectory needed a change in course, and so I decided to
head inland and see what the weather would do.
On this move inland I discovered that I was in an extreme
area of unusual place names. I was headed to Dosewallips State park and
wondered if the price of admission would be to be walloped twice. Then there
was Moclips. That name made me wonder if I could get my hair trimmed up there.
But the best name I think by far was at the junction of the road from Moclips and highway 101, and that burgs name is Humptulips.
I had no idea what the name could mean, so a googling was
required, and I discovered that the name Humptulips is from a ancient language and the word means “It’s a bad place
to pole your boat because of all the snags in the river there”
Dosewallips is named after a chief that was transformed into
a mountain at the head of the river that the park is bordered by.
Googling Moclips produced several meanings, but the most accepted one is “People of the turbulent water”, so a shampoo and trim is out of the question.
This part of coastal Washington is Big Foot country so it
was no surprise to see Big Foot ready to hit the surf. It was surprising to see
that surfing here is very popular, as almost every beach I have stopped at has
had surfers riding the waves.
Now the ride from the coast to Dosewallips took me right
along Hood Canal. I always thought Hood Canal was in Oregon, but no there it
was on my starboard side.
The scenery along the canal is spectacular there are several
public camps and beaches along the way, and this being the “shoulder season” I
pretty much had the place to myself.
After two days at the wallips the weather had given up on snow
and actually turned quite nice. My original plan was to go to Cape Flattery and
Neah Bay. Sol Duc was plan B. when I checked the campground the site showed 16
first come first serve sites available, so I decided to make the hot spring
plan A and Neah Bay plan B
Arriving at the hot springs the camp host told me there were
no sites available. I thought that was strange, but my plans are flexible and
this was the weekend, at a popular place.
No worries plan B became plan A again, and I headed off to
Neah Bay.
Now highway 112 starts of nice enough but the closer you get to Neah Bay the road becomes narrower, and curvier and on the way out I was thinking that this road was built before straight aways were invented, and all these road builders knew how to do was build unbanked curves. The road also has some incredible frost heaves or just dips that tossed the van around while cruising at the breakneck speed of 15 mph. The tossing caused all kinds of things to move from their assigned position. I still haven’t found my dashboard Moai.
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The ride on the state ferry Columbia on the Strait Of Jaun de Fuca was a lot smoother than the road along the shore of the Strat but wow what this is a fantastic place to be.
The town sits right on the Strait. You couldn’t find a more picturesque spot anywhere
There were a couple of options for camping and the in town RV park “The Village” looked like it was trying to imitate the ghetto park I stayed at in Vancouver. The other option was Hobuck Beach Resort. It was on the road out to Cape Flattery so I thought I would give it a look. It was nice enough so I settled in. Most of the other campers here appear to be surfers who all have black wetsuits and resemble seals walking around camp.
The only way into or out of Neah Bay is the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard airstrip and state highway 112.
In spite of the only access being public, you still have to purchase a pass
because this is a reservation and you ain’t in the tribe. The pass and a dry camp site was only $50.00
so It was worth it.
The drive back out seemed quicker I guess you only get on the treadmill part on the west bound trac.
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