6-10-2022

6-10-2022 Iron Creek Campground

There was some debate if we should just cancel camping this weekend.  Whatever an ‘Atmospheric River’ is, there’s supposed to be one directly on top of us.  Shelly and Jerry were to camp with us, but they canceled.  Something about getting the entire month of June’s rainfall in one weekend and tents not working well together.

Rather than sit in rush hour traffic on hwy167 we drove down 410 and over Cayuse pass. There was no one driving our way the whole distance to Packwood.  A pleasant drive really.  Lots of snow on Cayuse still.  It was up hill the entire way and we got 9mpg.  The old Ford would have been about 6 I think.  

This place is really out in the sticks.  It’s surprisingly big and there is hardly anyone here.  It’s raining like a rainforest and only a 4 other sites are occupied.  I guess this place opened two days ago. 

6-12-2020

No rain yesterday.  We walked the loop trail.  Lots of tall trees here.  One had been cut down and left. I counted 125 rings.  The river here is running high and fast.  Lots of silt. We managed a fire but the foraged wood is really wet and doesn’t burn well.  

We will drive to the Johnston observatory before heading home and show the boys what the inside of a volcano looks like.  Lorena wants to take the forest service roads there.  50 miles on service roads and an estimated 1.5 hours.  I can’t even find these roads on our map.  Google Maps has them, but we are and will remain out of cell range so that’s no help.  I’d rather take the safe route out through Morton and over towards I5.  We will remain on the highway and in cell range.  She’s adventurous enough for all of us.  I’d rather not get lost/stranded.  We should come down here without the camper and with proper GPS navigation and explore.  Then I’d at least know what we are getting into.

—later— We drove up to Iron Creek Falls.  A short drive on a not great road.  The falls are full and spectacular.   Lots of mist, Teagan got very wet.  It was fairly cold too.  The drive around to Johnston Ridge wasn’t too bad.  Not great fuel economy. The views were very nice.  A pleasant drive.  The devastation on the upper Toutle River is still evident 40 years later.  Johnston is at 4000 feet of elevation and the last couple hundred were socked in with clouds.  The fog was so thick driving was challenging.  Nothing to see at the observatory.  We watched the movie and they opened the curtains for the big reveal and… nothing but fog.  There was a lady at the exit with a giant picture of the mountain so we would at least see size in comparison to the panoramic windows.  We should go back when the weather is better.