August 16, 2008 - To the Northwest Tip of the Continental United States (almost)

Note: Photos for this day have not yet been posted.

On the previous day, I noticed that there were quite a few cars parked on the beach. They park fairly close to the shore and therefore, if you just want to sit on the beach, you will not see the ocean. Having only seen East Coast beaches in New England (obviously not Vermont) and Gulf Coast beaches in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, this was something new to me. All of the areas I've seen on the East Coast have a designated parking area, often with a rather high price. Anyway, after doing some reading on the Internet, it appears to be a Washington state tradition to drive vehicles on the beach close to the water and obstruct the view (that is, the view when it's not foggy).

I decided to stay an extra night. Originally, I intended for Saturday to be my final night at this hotel and then I would determine where I wanted to stay next as I had not made arrangements beforehand beyond the morning of August 17th.

When planning this trip, I thought about the idea of seeing the northwestern tip of the Continental United States. I wanted to see the extreme edge. The closest city is Neah Bay, WA. There were no chain hotels in that area. It would be a four hour drive from Ocean Shores with absolutely no stops. It's a route mostly through US 101, winding around quite a bit. It was daunting because it basically meant eight hours of driving in one day. But, I decided I had to do it.


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As noted in the previous entry, this area is the Olympic Peninsula. Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park have many entrances from US 101. US 101 runs along the West Coast at various points.

I stopped at many of the public beaches where US 101 ran along the coast. The first beach was a cliff beach, obviously with no water access. Signs warned about staying at least thirty feet from the edge. The fog was so thick that I could not see the edge. In fact, after walking just a bit away from my car I couldn't find that for a little while either.

Another cliff beach had less fog and allowed me to see the water. What I noticed is that there are a lot of logs or partial logs thrown all over the beach. Some are stacked but most are just tossed. They're very thick logs and have been worn down quite a bit.

As I drove along US 101 where it ran along the coast, the fog completely covered the sky and went into the woods on the other side. I could see to drive but the sky was completely white. As US 101 went away from the coast, the sky was a nice blue with few clouds.

I found a beach that was accessible. Again, there was lots of wood laying around, along with large rocks. There was a small cliff which would make some nice pictures if it wasn't so foggy. I noticed that pieces of sand dollars are all over the beach, along with the remains of very large crabs. I recall in Alabama being excited about finding one piece of a sand dollar. Around here, I could pick up as many as I wanted. But, I didn't pick up any because I didn't want the car to smell of salt water.

I stuck my feet in the water. It was ice cold. There were lots of people on the beach but almost nobody went in the water. At least this one was not accessible to cars. They had to park in an actual designated parking area on pavement.

As I drove further, I went on some of the roads leading into the Olympic National Forest. Some of the trees have a strange green thread-like substance on them. I've never seen anything like that before.

I also visited a beautiful river area on a road leading to an entrance to the Olympic National Park. I waded in that water a bit. It was very cold but nothing like the ocean.

I also stopped to take photos of another river with a waterfall. US 101 was along a cliff at that point so I didn't wade in the water there.

Time was marching on and I getting worried about not actually seeing the main destination. I got through the last hour without stopping. This is a remote area. There are a few small towns with gas stations. I didn't stop on the way up because I just didn't want to wast any time.

I got to the coastal area in the northwest. Was it worth all this driving? Absolutely. There are lots of stopping points along WA 112 with information about the particular beach. There was no fog. These are rocky beaches with nice tide pools. It's beautiful there. Photos will not be so great because I was there so late. The nearest chain hotels were around Port Angeles, which was only two hours away from the northwest tip. I'm sure that area was equally beautiful. But, the chain hotels in the Port Angeles area were going for above $150/night in August. Some were closer to $200/night. I could not justify that cost even if I was filthy rich. I prefer a chain hotels so that there is a certain standard. I don't feel like potentially going to the "Bates Motel."

After seeing a few beautiful beaches, I wanted to at least get to Neah Bay even if not the actual tip. WA 112 became very narrow and twisty. There were no guard rails and there were some cliff beaches. If there was a parking spot, these beaches would be accessible to a person on foot. But if a car went careening down there, that's a different story. This is definitely an area where the driver should pay CLOSE attention. Night driving here is probably not the best. While the speed limit was low, of course people did not appreciate it when one actually drove only the speed limit.

About three miles away from Neah Bay, I came to a rest stop with a sign which indicated that I would be entering the Makah Indian Reservation. In order to pay for expenses, all visitors had to purchase an annual pass to be on their lands. (I've been on a number of Indian Reservations. None of them had anything like this. Of course, those others had giant casinos instead.) They listed a number of establishments where the passes could be purchased. I decided this would be my turn-around point. I was not going to pay something like $25 to be there for ten minutes before I had to begin my journey back to the hotel.

In any event, I got fairly close to the northwest tip. That was good enough for me.

Because there was so much wilderness along US 101, I decided it would be a good idea to fill up the tank. It was about 7:30 or so. At the first gas station I stopped at, there was no pay-at-the-pump, even though these were modern looking pumps. A note indicated that you had to go to the attendant. The store was closed at only 7:30. I started to get very concerned, though I knew there were more gas stations about forty miles away. I had enough gas to get there.

As I drove further along the route back, it seemed to be a lot longer than I expected. The map on the GPS indicated it was the same route, yet I was not recognizing any landmarks. I started to get very worried that I might not pass through the towns I saw on the way up. It took exactly half a tank to get up there. If I could not get gas, I would be going back to my hotel on fumes. There were absolutely no gas stations between those towns and about seven miles from the hotel.

Thankfully, I began to see the town I was looking for. The first station had gas at $4.17. I wasn't sure if this was the best price, but I was just happy to have a gas station at all. This was a 76 gas station (not a brand I've seen in the Northeast). The next gas station was at $4.26. Obviously, I'm glad I stopped at the first one.

I continued on the long trip back. It was much faster without my stopping all the time to take pictures. I was a bit nervous about deer or other animals. However, there were no deer warning signs. Obviously, a deer could show up without sign being present, but I did feel a bit better that at least there were not enough cases of deer incidents to warrant signs.

When I got back to the hotel, I asked the clerk about the fog. Apparently, it's only foggy like this when the temperature is very hot. The coldness of the ocean and the large amount of water makes the area extremely foggy.