travel Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Pacific Northwest Explorer

God’s Thumb Hike

Where: Oregon Coast

Type: Out and back

Distance: 4.5 miles

Elevation gain: 1100 feet

Difficulty: Easy to moderate

Overview:

God’s Thumb is a conical basalt headland rising out of the sea like a giant thumb just north of Lincoln City, Oregon. I first laid eyes on God’s Thumb in the 1980s, from the open grassland on the summit of Cascade Head. From there the Salmon River Estuary is immediately below you and just beyond is the town of Lincoln City. In between, there is a rocky headland – God’s Thumb. There’s also an isolated cove and a nice beach visible from Cascade Head. I wondered how you could get there. When I inquired about the area, I was disappointed to find out that you couldn’t. Even though God’s Thumb was (and is) part of the Siuslaw National Forest, there was no public access to it. The only ways to get there crossed private property that were not open to the public.

The God’s Thumb hike remained closed to the public until about a decade ago. Although people occasionally trespassed across private property to get to it, God’s Thumb remained largely unknown. But in 2013 Lincoln City purchased about 500 acres of property that was the site of a failed subdivision and negotiated an easement with the owner of the neighboring property, making God’s Thumb legally accessible to the public for the first time.

Trailhead:

The God’s Thumb hike starts just north of Lincoln City. Coming from Lincoln City, go north on Hwy 101, past the turn to Road’s End and Chinook Winds Casino, and turn left onto NE Devil’s Lake Boulevard at the next traffic signal. The trailhead is on your left just before the cul de sac at the end of the road.

The hike:

From the parking area at the trailhead, the trail wanders through the woods for about a quarter mile before crossing Logan Creek on a bridge. On the other side of the creek you’ll come to Sal La Sea Drive. You’ll note that there is a small parking lot there. Turn right and walk up Sal La Sea Drive another quarter mile and turn right onto Port Drive. You’ll see a gate ahead. You’ll also note that there is parking for four or five cars at the end of Sal La Sea Drive. (See A few notes on parking, below). Walk around the gate and follow an old gravel road straight up the hill. In about a quarter of a mile you’ll come to a junction. Turn left and walk out to The Knoll.

You don’t want to skip this because the view here is spectacular. The Pacific Ocean is spread out before you in all its glory. The Road’s End section of Lincoln City is directly below you. Lincoln City stretches out before you, with Devil’s Lake to the east and Siletz Bay to the south. The view extends south to Cape Foulweather. You might want to park yourself on the grassy summit and just sit for a while. Apparently, the local herd of elk also like the view because they often bed down here at night.

When you’re done taking in the view from The Knoll, return to the main trail and continue north. This portion of the trail is on the easement granted to the city by the property owner. The trail takes you through a spruce and hemlock forest and across a small meadow. Parts of the trail are steep, but the elevation gain is modest, and most people won’t have any difficulty. You’ll soon come to a trail junction. Stay left to continue on to God’s Thumb. You’ll pass through more spruce, hemlock and alder forest, and across several grassy meadows before the trail swings to the west and comes to another trail junction. The trail to the right comes up from the private Camp Westwind on the Salmon River Estuary. Stay left at the junction and you’ll soon see God’s Thumb in front of you. Stop here and admire the view of The Thumb and the surrounding cliffs, the two coves and beaches on either side of The Thumb, and Cascade Head to the north.

The trail then drops steeply down the slope and across along a narrow ridge before climbing very steeply up the slope to the summit of God’s Thumb. This section can be tricky to navigate and can also be slippery if the trail is wet. Some people choose not to venture down and then up to the summit. But if you do, you’ll be rewarded with magnificent views in all directions. Even if you don’t, the views you do get make the hike well worthwhile.

When you’re done taking in the views, return the way you came. When you reach the second trail junction, before you get to The Knoll, you have the option of taking the trail to the left for an alternate, slightly longer route back to the end of Devil’s Lake Boulevard where you left your car. Check the Oregon Hikers website for a description of this trail and more information about the whole hike. If you don’t take the alternate route, venture out to The Knoll again. The view might be completely different if the fog has come in (or gone out).

A few notes on parking:

The two parking areas along Sal La Sea Drive that I mentioned are both okay to park in (legally) if you want to shorten your hike a little. But they’re not officially sanctioned because they fill up quickly and many people have parked on residential streets close by when they are full, to the ire of the local residents. Please do not park on any residential street. The Devil’s Lake trailhead was developed to give hikers an additional parking area and lessen the amount of people parking where they shouldn’t. If all of the parking areas mentioned are full, you can park at Road’s End State Recreational Area on Logan Road and walk up Sal La Sea Drive to the Port Drive trailhead. That makes the round-trip hike only about half a mile longer than starting at the Devil’s Lake Boulevard trailhead. And under no circumstances should you use the shorter trail from the end of Logan Road to get to God’s Thumb. The property owner has not granted public access across their property. They haven’t fenced it off, but please respect their property rights. And besides, there is no public parking anywhere on Logan Road other than at Road’s End State Recreation Area, so you risk having your vehicle towed if you park illegally.

Other area hikes and other attractions:

Other worthwhile hikes in the Lincoln City area include the Nature Conservancy’s Cascade Head Preserve, the Hartz Cove Trail on the north side of Cascade Head, and the Drift Creek Falls Trail in the Coast Range foothills to the east. More on those in later posts. And farther south, the Beaver Creek State Natural Area offers a nice, quiet, and peaceful hike that not many people know about.

And the central coast from Lincoln City to Newport has numerous other attractions, including the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, the charming (but increasingly touristy) town of Depoe Bay, Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, and numerous state parks and waysides.

Originally posted (in a slightly different format) May 19, 2021 by Alan K. Lee. Edited, reformatted, and re-posted May 3, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Victoria, British Columbia

by Alan K. Lee

Victoria, British Columbia has long been my favorite Pacific Northwest city. It has always been the most British city in British Columbia, but it also has a distinctly Pacific Northwest/Canadian vibe. The city certainly reflects its British heritage, but it has also been influenced by the Native American/First Nations cultures that preceded the British and exhibits its own unique version of Pacific Northwestern cross-border culture. Think British charm without the stiff upper lip formality of Old England.

Victoria’s British charm may have been diluted a little over the years as it has grown and become a more cosmopolitan city, but it retains enough of that charm that so captivated me the first time I visited that I keep coming back. My wife and I have traveled to Victoria many times, most recently in September 2024.

The following is an updated and slightly edited version of a 2018 post on this site.

The Royal British Columbia Museum will probably always be my first choice of places to visit in Victoria. Too many museums are stodgy and boring, but the Royal BC has always been immersive and captivating. It’s expansive enough and interesting enough that you’ll probably spend at least a couple of hours there, and spending half a day there is not out of the question.

If you’re visiting Victoria, the Royal BC Museum should be near the top of your must see list. If you’re not as captivated by it as I am, and don’t want to spend a half a day, or more, there, there are half a dozen other places worth visiting in close proximity. The British Columbia Parliament buildings are next door. On the other side, Thunderbird Park has a collection of totem poles and several historic structures. The Empress Hotel (officially the Fairmont Empress) is a block away. And Beacon Hill Park is just a few blocks to the south. Then there is the Victoria Bug Zoo, just north of the Empress. I would probably enjoy seeing that, but I don’t think there’s any way I could drag my wife there.

The BC Parliament Buildings and grounds are open to the public. Free guided tours of the buildings lasting about 40 minutes are conducted daily, Mon-Fri. You can also take a self-guided tour, and tour books are available in a variety of languages. Self-guided tours are also available daily, Mon-Fri.. The grounds are free and open to the public at all times. For more information, click here.

Thunderbird Park, next door to the Royal BC Museum, is a nice place to relax in the harbor area. It has a nice collection of native totem poles, and three historic structures: the Mungo Martin House, built by native carver Chief Mungo Martin in 1953; the Helmcken House, built by Dr. John Helmcken in 1852; and St. Anne’s Schoolhouse, built in 1844.

Beacon Hill Park, stretching from a block south of Thunderbird Park to the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is a beautiful 62-acre parcel of land dedicated as a city park in 1882. It is home to a totem pole carved by Chief Mungo Martin, David Martin, and Henry Hunt that was the world’s tallest (160 feet) when it was erected in 1956. It is still billed as the world’s tallest free standing totem pole. Park facilities include hiking trails, including a trail along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a petting zoo (officially the Beacon Hill Children’s Farm), a wading pool, water fountains, picnic areas, sports fields and playgrounds, and a band pavilion.

The harbor front has a number of restaurants and hotels, the most famous of which, by far, is the Empress Hotel. Built in 1908 by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Chateauesque style similar to other CPR hotels such as the Banff Springs Hotel and Chateau Lake Louise, the Empress was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.

Pickle Boats in front of the Empress Hotel

The Inner Harbor is a busy place, and if you like to people watch, the harbor front is the place go. You can also book whale watching trips, seaplane flights, and carriage rides at the harbor front. Small water taxis, called pickle boats, are also available to take you to various waterfront locations, including many of the waterfront hotels and restaurants. Harbor tours are also available. And if you’re there on a Sunday or Monday morning in the summer, you might catch a group of these little, very maneuverable boats putting on a water ballet, with the boats’ maneuvers choreographed to music broadcast from the shore. It’s fascinating and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Check the water taxi website for more information and schedules.

Craigdarroch Castle (sourced from Wikipedia Commons and edited by the author)

There is much more to Victoria than what can be found near the harbor front, of course. Tour Craigdarroch Castle, an ornate Victorian mansion located a mile east of the inner harbor area, and Government House, just a few blocks to the south. Take in a performance at the Royal Theatre, on Broughton St, a few blocks north and east of the Empress. Or relax in one of the area’s other parks, such as Saxe Point and McAulay Point in Esquimalt, Uplands Park in Oak Bay, or Gorge Park on the Gorge Waterway.

The Emily Carr House, pictured above, is another place worth visiting. Emily Carr (1871-1945) was a renowned artist, writer, and advocate for social justice.

Eating and drinking spots are abundant in downtown Victoria. Afternoon Tea at the Empress is one of Victoria’s most iconic experiences, and high on the list of Victoria’s premier attractions. If the cost of high tea at the Empress (currently 110 Canadian dollars, approx. 80 US dollars, per person) is too rich for your blood, other slightly less expensive (and sometimes more highly rated) tea services can be found at the Tea House at Abkhazi Garden, White Heather Tea Room, and Pendray Inn and Tea House (formerly known as the Gatsby Mansion).

If a pint is more to your liking than a cuppa, there are many quality pubs near the Inner Harbor. Try Spinnakers Gastro Pub, across the Johnson Street Bridge in the Outer Harbor area. On Government Street, a few blocks north of the Empress you’ll find Bard and Banker, The Churchill, Garrick’s Head Pub, and Irish Times Pub, all rated highly and all within a block and a half of each other.

For an upscale dinner in the Inner Harbor area, I can personally recommend Nourish Kitchen and Cafe, a “vegetable forward” (their description) farm fresh restaurant in a renovated Victorian house about six blocks west of the Parliament Buildings in the James Bay section of Victoria. Il Terazzo, Brasserie L’Ecole, and Il Covo Trattoria also get rave reviews. For breakfast, try John’s Place (eight different versions of Eggs Benedict), or Jam (popular and crowded, but well worth it).

Outside of Victoria, Butchart Gardens is one of the Northwest’s and Canada’s most visited sites. Victoria is, of course, the gateway to the rest of Vancouver Island and its myriad attractions. It is also one of the gateways to the Gulf Islands, one of my favorite places in the Northwest.

If you haven’t experienced Victoria yet, go! You won’t regret it.

Originally posted 11-15-18. Most recent update 11-21-24.

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Bayocean Peninsula Hike

By Alan K. Lee

Bayocean Peninsula Hike

Where: Tillamook County, Northern Oregon Coast

Type: Out and back beach walk or loop hike

Distance: 3.6- or 7.7-mile loop hikes or out and back hikes up to 8.2 miles

Elevation gain: Minimal

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate (depending on length)

Map: Google Maps

Guidebooks:

100 Hikes: Oregon Coast by William L. Sullivan

120 Hikes on the Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson

Oregon’s Best Coastal Beaches by Dick Trout

Oregon Coast Hikes by Paul M. Williams

Overview:

Bayocean Peninsula separates Tillamook Bay from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula runs from the mouth of the bay south for five miles to Cape Meares. I’ll describe two loop hikes that include a beach walk and a return on the bay side, but out and back hikes on the beach or the bay side of the peninsula are also options here.

Bayocean Peninsula was once home to the resort community of Bay Ocean Park. A century ago the town had a large hotel, what was billed as the largest natatorium (indoor swimming pool) on the west coast and 2000 residents. But the ocean reclaimed all of it. Today, nothing is left of the town. See my Bayocean Peninsula post for more information.

The peninsula is now an undeveloped county park. There has never been a campground, but in the past backcountry camping was permitted. That has changed, however, and overnight camping is no longer allowed.

Getting there:

From the town of Tillamook, drive west on Third Street (Ore Hwy 131). After crossing the Tillamook River bridge, turn right onto Bayocean Road toward Cape Meares. At milepost five, turn right onto the old south jetty haul road (sometimes called the Dike Road) and proceed to the trailhead parking area.

Trailhead:

The trailhead parking area has space for about 25 vehicles. There are chemical toilets but no water available. There is a $10 Tillamook County day use fee, payable at the trailhead. An alternative trailhead is the beach access in the town of Cape Meares about a mile west of the Dike Road turnoff. There is no parking fee, but also no facilities. Add about 1.8 miles to the distances listed above.

The hike:

From the northwest corner of the Dike Road parking area, follow the trail through the dunes to the beach and turn north. In a little over a mile, look for a sandy draw between forested bluffs. Here you have a choice. If you follow the draw inland, a trail will take you through the spruce and pine forest to the bay side of the peninsula. From there you can return to the trailhead on the old jetty haul road for a 3.6-mile loop hike.

Or, continue along the beach until you reach the south jetty at the mouth of Tillamook Bay. You’ll be rewarded with one of the least crowded beaches on the entire coast. You might have the beach to yourself even on summer weekends.

From the jetty you can return the way you came for 7.2 mile out and back beach walk or complete the 7.7-mile loop hike by following the jetty inland to the old jetty haul road and following it back to the trailhead. The road is rock and gravel with some sandy stretches. It runs along the bayshore, with good views of the shore and bay, with a couple of stretches in the pine and spruce forest of the peninsula interior.

Note: At the time of this update (April 2024), the north end of the haul road is closed to the public due to jetty construction work, so the longer loop is not possible. The construction work does not affect the beach or the Bay Ocean Park townsite.

Look for ducks and geese on the water and shorebirds along the water’s edge. This is one of the best birding areas for waterfowl on the coast.

Near the end of the hike look for a sign labeled Bayocean Townsite. Here a trail leads toward the beach to the old townsite. The trail loops south through what was then the bayfront (the whole peninsula has shifted a couple of hundred yards to the east and much of the old townsite is now under the waves), then returns to the haul road, where there is an interpretive display that tells the tale of the town and its demise. From there, return to the parking area. (If you started at the town of Cape Meares, hike from the Dike Road parking area through the dunes and return to Cape Meares on the beach.)

Other area attractions and activities:

The beach walk south to the base of the Cape Meares headland provides an up-close view of the ocean waves crashing against the rocky headland, and Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint, on top of the headland, provides spectacular ocean views both north and south, one of the best whale watching spots on the coast, a lighthouse dating to 1890, and the spectacular Octopus Tree, a many trunked Sitka Spruce.

Farther south, Cape Lookout offers more hiking options, including a unique hike to the tip of the cape, which extends two miles into the Pacific.

If you want to quench your thirst after your hike, stop at the Pelican Brewing pub on First Street in Tillamook or de Garde Brewing a block south at the corner of Second and Ivy. Tillamook is also home, of course, to the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory, one of the most visited tourist destinations in Oregon. And Tillamook is also home to Blue Heron French Cheese Company.

Originally posted April 26, 2023. Most recently updated April 18, 2024.

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted

British Columbia’s Gulf Islands

by Alan K. Lee

My wife and I love to explore new places, and most of our travels are to places that we have never been to before. But there are a few places that have drawn us back again and again. One of those is British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.

The Gulf Islands are located off the southeast coast of Vancouver Island. There are six main islands in the Southern Gulf Islands: Salt Spring, Mayne, North Pender, South Pender, Saturna, and Galiano. The Northern Gulf Islands consist of Thetis, Penelakut, Valdes, and Gabriola Islands. Each island has its own particular charms, and all are well worth exploring.

The Gulf Islands Guide has a description of each island and good information on events and accommodations in the Islands. Other useful websites include Gulf Islands Tourism, and Salt Spring Island.org.

There are many reasons to visit the islands, not the least of which is that they are simply flat out gorgeous. Everywhere you go, every vista at every turn, the beauty of the islands is on display for your enjoyment.

Our latest visit to the Gulf Islands came in 2024 with a trip to Salt Spring Island, the largest, most accessible, and most visited of the islands. Ganges, on Salt Spring, is the commercial and cultural heart of the Islands. It is the largest (and really the only) town in the Southern Gulf Islands. For more information, check out my Salt Spring Island post here.

One of the charms of the Gulf Islands is that they are largely untrammeled by commercial development. There are no big resorts, no malls, nothing to draw in the masses except the natural beauty that surrounds you everywhere in the Islands. But once there, many people are captivated not only by the scenery and wildlife, but also by the people and the islands’ culture and lifestyle.

The Gulf Islands offer an abundance of outdoor activities, from hiking and mountain biking to sailing and kayaking, camping, fishing, whale watching, and more.

There are no commercial airports in the Gulf Islands, but there are float plane companies that will take you to the islands. And the Victoria airport is only a few miles from the Schwartz Bay ferry terminal, so flying to Victoria and renting a car is a an option for people from outside the Northwest that want to visit the Southern Gulf Islands.

Most visitors to the Gulf Islands arrive via one of the BC Ferries. Passenger and car ferries travel from Tsawwassen on the B.C. mainland south of Vancouver to Long Harbor, near Ganges on Salt Spring Island, and from Schwartz Bay on Vancouver Island north of Victoria to Fulford Harbor on the south shore of Salt Spring. There is also a smaller ferry from Crofton on Vancouver Island to Vesuvius on the northwest side of Salt Spring. The other Southern Gulf Islands are serviced by ferries departing the Long Harbor terminal or Schwartz Bay.

Thetis and Penelakut Islands are reached by ferries from Chemainus on Vancouver Island. Gabriola Island is a short ferry ride from Nanaimo. Be sure to check the ferry schedules on the BC Ferries website. Reservations may be required, especially on summer weekends, and the ferry system is designed to serve island residents, not tourists, so island hopping can be difficult. Getting from one island to another in the Southern Islands by ferry sometimes requires going back to Salt Spring Island and then taking a second ferry from there. And there are no ferries from Thetis or Penelakut to Gabriola.

I’ve found that a good way to explore the Southern Gulf Islands by car is to base yourself on Salt Spring and pick an island to explore each day. North and South Pender Islands are connected by a bridge, so they can be explored in a day. Take another three days to explore Mayne, Saturna, and Galiano. That still leaves you several days to see all Salt Spring has to offer, or to explore the Northern Gulf Islands, even if you have only a week.

There is a bus system on Salt Spring Island, but public transportation is limited or nonexistent on the other islands. You can get around without a car, though. There is a unique Car Stop system, sort of an organized hitchhiking system, on all of the Southern Islands. Look for the Car Stop signs and stick out your thumb. Someone will stop to give you a ride. Drivers can be selective about who they pick up, and of course hitchhikers can be equally selective about whose car they get into. But it’s generally safe, and it’s free. It also a unique way to get to know some of the locals.

If you or one of your fellow travelers is an experienced boater or sailor, you can charter a sailboat or power boat and explore the islands by sea. Full-service marinas are located at Sidney on Vancouver Island, and on Salt Spring, Pender, Galiano, and Thetis Islands, and there are public docks on most of the islands. Experience is essential and charter companies require proof of competence, but if you have the necessary qualifications, this is an excellent way to explore the Islands. We have done this, and I can personally recommend it.

There are a wide variety of accommodations available on the islands, from full-service resorts and hotels to traditional B&Bs to single rooms available through Airbnb. Most of the accommodations are on Salt Spring Island, but you can find small resorts and many individual houses for rent on the other islands. If you’re a kayaker, this is a perfect jumping off point. Ganges Harbor and its numerous islands are well worth exploring. Prevost Island, a short paddle to the southeast of Ganges Harbor is also worth a visit. A portion of Prevost is set aside as part of the Gulf Islands National Park.

There are a number of Provincial Parks in the Islands that are worth exploring. Salt Spring Island has four: Mount Maxwell Park on the west side of Salt Spring Island provides spectacular views of Salt Spring Island and across Saanich Inlet to Vancouver Island to the west; Ruckle Park on the southeast coast of Salt Spring has hiking trails that take you along the shore of Swanson Channel and a campground with eight RV sites (no hookups) and 78 walk in tent sites; Mt. Erskine Park, just west of Ganges has several challenging hiking trails; and Burgoyne Park is located on the Saanich Inlet at the base of Mount Maxwell.

Galiano Island also has several provincial parks, and portions of North and South Pender Islands and Saturna Island are set aside as part of the Gulf Islands National Park.

You can’t see everything British Columbia’s Gulf Islands have to offer in a week, or even two, but it’s time enough to fall in love with them, which happens to a lot of first-time visitors. It happened to us. It’s brought us back numerous times, and we will visit again in the near future. And the proximity of the Gulf Islands to Victoria and the rest of Vancouver Island makes for a wide variety of possible itineraries on an extended vacation.

Originally posted July 2, 2018. Most recently updated January 20, 2025.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Savannah, Georgia

by Alan K. Lee

Savannah, Georgia is one of those iconic Old South cities that are on many people’s bucket list, and for good reason. It’s a beautiful city, and would be worth a visit just to see Forsyth Park and the 22 park-like Squares in the Historic District, with their live oaks draped in Spanish moss. Throw in a lively riverfront, hundreds of antebellum brick buildings and Victorian homes, interesting museums and art galleries, and dozens of fine dining options, and you have a place worthy of more than the day and a half that we had to explore it.

Savannah was the final destination in a trip that also took my wife and I to Asheville, North Carolina, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Chimney Rock State Park, N.C., and Charleston, South Carolina.

Savannah is an old city, founded in 1733. It was the first European settlement in Georgia, and the city’s history is an important aspect of its spirit and culture. Walking around in the Historic District, it’s not hard to envision yourself in another, long past, era.

The entire Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The Savannah History Museum, itself a National Historic Landmark, is a good place to get a taste of Savannah’s long history. It’s located in the Savannah Visitor Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Other history museums of interest include the Davenport House Museum, the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters, and the Ralph Marks Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.

Savannah is a very walkable city. Guided walking tours of the Historic District are available for about $25 per person. There are also guided bike tours and public carriage tours available at similar rates. Private carriage tours run $100-125 for two people. Hop-on/hop-off trolley tours run $30-35 per person. Ghost tours are also a popular option for visitors.

We opted to wander around on our own (but probably missed out on a lot of interesting information about the city). A good place to start a walking tour of your own is Forsyth Park, a 30 acre park at the south end of the Historic District. Its most notable feature is the Forsyth Fountain, but there is a lot more there to see. Enjoy the park’s gardens, paths, monuments, and the fountain, then head north toward the river and take in some (or all) of the 22 Squares and innumerable historic buildings, churches, and Victorian houses.

Some of the more interesting structures in the Historic District include The Pirate’s House, mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the city’s oldest building and now a popular restaurant, and The Olde Pink House, another of the city’s oldest structures and also a highly regarded restaurant. Not quite as old, but equally interesting, the Mercer House (officially the Mercer-Williams House Museum) was the site of the 1980s killing of a male prostitute that inspired the book (and movie) Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.

Near the north end of the Historic District, City Market is a four block area of restaurants, galleries, shops, bars, and offices that is something of a destination in its own right. Get a frozen daiquiri to go (yes, it’s legal in Savannah) at Wet Willie’s and make your way to River Street.

The buildings along River Street were once cotton warehouses. Today they house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. River Street has its share of tacky gift shops, but it also has some interesting boutiques, antique shops, and art galleries. Among the many restaurants are Vic’s On the River, Huey’s, The Shrimp Factory, and Joe’s Crab Shack. If you need a frozen daiquiri refill, there’s another Wet Willie’s on River Street.

There are no shortage of other places along the river to wet your whistle, including The Warehouse Bar and Grill, Dub’s Public House, The Cotton Exchange Tavern, and a couple of rooftop bars, Top Deck Bar and Rocks On the Roof. And there are more restaurants and bars on Bay Street on the top of the bluff.

Along the riverfront, check out the World War II Memorial, the Savannah Waving Girl statue, the Olympic Yachting Cauldron from the 1996 Olympic Games, and River Street Market Place. Take one of the Savannah Belle ferries across the river to Hutchison Island. There’s not much on the island of interest except the Westin Savannah Harbor Hotel and the Savannah Convention Center, but the ferry will give you a good view of the waterfront and the golden dome of City Hall on the bluff above River Street. And the ferry is free.

River cruises are a popular tourist activity in Savannah. Savannah Riverboat Cruises offers lunch and dinner cruises, a Monday night gospel cruise, and sunset and moonlight cruises on their two large sternwheeler-style river boats, the Georgia Queen and the Savannah River Queen. Dolphin Magic Tours guarantees that you will see bottlenose dolphins “or your next cruise is free,” which is not worth much if you’re from the west Coast and are only in town for a day. But their reviews are generally positive. We didn’t have time to take either of those tours, but I’m sure that both would be enjoyable

There’s much to see and do in Savannah that time didn’t allow. We had to skip many things. We checked out only a couple of the city’s art galleries, for example, and didn’t make it to other nearby destinations such as Fort Jackson and Tybee Island. Savannah would definitely worth another and longer visit if it were a little closer to home, but who knows, we may be back someday to take in what we missed on our first visit.

Originally posted January 24, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 15, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Falls Creek Falls

Falls Creek Falls Trail

Where: Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge

Type: Out and back

Distance: 3.4 miles round trip

Elevation gain: 600 feet (to the base of the falls)

Difficulty: Easy

Maps: Green Trails No. 397 Wind River

Friends of the Columbia River Gorge

Overview:

The Falls Creek Falls trail is an easy 1.7-mile family friendly hike to a beautiful two-tier waterfall about 15 miles north of the Columbia River Gorge town of Carson, Washington.

Getting there:

From Portland, take I-84 east to Cascade Locks. Take exit 44 and follow signs to the Bridge of the Gods. Cross the bridge ($3 toll) and turn right onto Washington Hwy 14. Follow WA 14 for 5.9 miles through Stevenson to Carson. At the roundabout, take the second exit onto the Wind River Hwy and follow it through Carson for 14.3 miles. Just past the Carson Fish Hatchery, turn right onto NF-30. Go 0.8 mile, then turn right onto NF-3062. The trailhead parking area is 2.3 miles from the junction, at the end of the road.

Best time to go:

April through November. (The falls are at an elevation of just over 2000 feet, so the trail is often snow free in winter, but the road is gated from Dec. 1- Mar. 30, making for a much longer hike.) Like most Cascade Range waterfalls, Falls Creek Falls is at its most spectacular in spring, fed by the Cascade Range snow melt. But even in mid-summer the falls are impressive. This is a popular trail on summer weekends, so it’s best done during the week, if possible. On summer weekends, plan to get to the trailhead early. Trail use decreases after Labor Day, but this remains a popular trail until the fall rains arrive.

Trailhead:

The trailhead has parking for about 50 vehicles and has a restroom (vault toilet). A Northwest Forest Pass is not required.

The hike:

From the trailhead, proceed about 100 yards on Trail #152A to a junction. Turn right and follow the trail along Falls Creek. The trail gradually climbs through the forest for half a mile, where it crosses the creek on a suspension bridge. Above the bridge, the trail ascends the slopes above the creek before returning to the creek at the base of the falls 1.5 miles from the trailhead. From the base of the lower falls, it’s a bit of a scramble up slope to the upper falls, but well worth the effort. Return the way you came when you’re done enjoying the falls.

Other area attractions and activities:

Panther Creek Falls

Panther Creek Falls is an impressive, complex, and beautiful falls about five miles southeast of Falls Creek Falls. It’s a short out and back hike, less than a half-mile round trip. The trail descends steeply from the road to a viewing platform, with about 200 feet of elevation gain coming back.

Carson Hot Springs

Carson Hot Springs has been drawing people to its thermal baths since 1901. Today, the resort bills itself as a rustic retreat that prioritizes immersion in the surrounding forest environment over the glitz and glamour of high-end spas. The resort includes a rustic hotel and an 18-hole golf course, as well as the hot springs themselves.

Bonneville Dam

Bonneville was the first dam constructed on the Columbia River, completed in 1938. It’s a complex structure consisting of a navigation lock, two powerhouses, and a spillway spanning three islands between the Oregon and Washington shores. There are visitor centers on both the Washington and Oregon sides of the dam. The Bradford Island Visitor Center on the Oregon side has a viewing room where you can watch salmon and steelhead climbing the dam’s fish ladder.

Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center

The Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center is a museum dedicated to the preservation, conservation, and interpretation of the cultural and natural history of Skamania County and the Columbia River Gorge. I’m not a great fan of museums, but I spent at least a couple of hours there the first time I visited. It’s definitely worth a visit. It’s located on SW Rock Creek Drive, about a mile west of downtown Stevenson, directly below Skamania Lodge.

Food and drink –

For me, there is nothing better after a hike than a good, cold beer. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of quality pubs in the area. In Carson, Backwoods Brewing, located on the east side of Wind River Hwy, features 16 draft beers, plus hard ciders, seltzer, and kombucha. In Stevenson, try 54 40 Beer Lodge on Hwy 14 or Walking Man Brewing on 1^st Street. Across the river in Cascade Locks, Thunder Island Brewing, Cascade Locks Ale House, and Gorges Beer Company are all located on Wa Na Pa Street, Cascade Locks’ main drag. As far as food goes, all the pubs listed have typical pub fare.

Posted April 12, 2023 by Alan K. Lee

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Charleston, South Carolina

by Alan K. Lee

Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia had been on my bucket list of travel destinations for a long time. So, when my wife and I decided to visit Asheville, North Carolina and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, taking a side trip to Charleston and Savannah seemed like a sensible addition to our itinerary. It wouldn’t add much expense and, being only 100 miles apart, we could get at least a taste of both cities in the limited amount of time we had. (To see my post on our visit to Asheville, click here).

We drove from Asheville to Charleston on a Sunday morning and spent the afternoon wandering around the historic center of the city. It’s older and more traditional, more Old South, than Asheville, but no less charming – lots of wonderful old houses and buildings, in all conditions from newly renovated to literally falling down, often the one adjacent to the other.

The oldest surviving structure in the city, the Middleburg Plantation House, was constructed in 1699. Spanning more than three centuries, the architecture of Charleston includes Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Charleston Single House, and Art Deco style buildings and houses.

We found a wonderful restaurant, the now closed Hominy Grill, not far from our Airbnb for dinner that evening. The menu featured fresh, home-style food taken wonderfully upscale. Winner of the 2008 James Beard Award for Best Chef Southeast, we found it to be just a great place to eat. Actually, the food was wonderful everywhere we ate in Charleston. It would take a long time to sample all of the many acclaimed restaurants in the city. The annual Charleston Food + Wine Festival brings thousands of tourists to Charleston each March, and food tours are popular year around.

While many people come to Charleston just for the food, there is much more to see and do in Charleston, of course. There are walking and carriage tours of the city, and plantation and garden tours. Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, is a short distance outside of town. You can learn some of the history of the area and see the city from the water on a boat tour of the harbor. The city has a number of outstanding museums, including the Charleston Museum, the Nathaniel Russel House, and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim. And there is much more to see and do, more than we had time for in our three days in the city.

We spent most of our second day in Charleston exploring more of the historic center of the city, then ended the day with a trip to Folly Beach, about ten miles south of the city. Near the center of the small town of Folly Beach, Folly Beach Pier extends more than 1000 feet into the Atlantic Ocean. Folly Beach County Park lies at the west end of the island. At the east end, Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve offers a more secluded beach about a quarter mile walk from the end of East Ashley Avenue with a view across the water to Morris Island Lighthouse, which is surrounded by water just offshore from the westernmost point of Morris Island.

The next day we made the short trip across the Ravenel Bridge to Shem Creek Park in Mount Pleasant. The park encompasses a large salt marsh where Shem Creek meets Charleston Harbor. There are extensive boardwalks that allow you to get out in the marsh, and nice views across the harbor to downtown Charleston. It’s a nice place to get away from the city for awhile and rest your feet. And after all the walking around Charleston that we did the previous days, my feet needed a rest.

Our final morning in Charleston we made a second stop at Hominy Grill for breakfast. On our way out of town we made a couple of stops not far outside of Charleston. The first was the Angel Oak Tree on Johns Island. This huge Southern live oak is estimated to be 400-500 years old. It’s trunk measures 28 feet in circumference, it’s 66 feet tall, and its canopy covers 17,200 square feet of ground.

After leaving Angel Tree, we made a second stop at Caw Caw Interpretive Center, another of Charleston County’s many parks. There are six miles of trails and boardwalks through a former rice plantation that is now marshland and swamp. The park is managed for wildlife, and is home to otters, alligators, deer, and other wildlife. Caw Caw is one of coastal Carolina’s birding hot spots. It’s also the site of the 1739 slave revolt known as the Stono Rebellion.

We had a great time exploring Charleston. It’s really a beautiful and charming place. But to really see all it has to offer, you need to plan for more than a three-day visit. For more information, check out the Charleston SC Visitors Guide and Discover South Carolina websites.

After our visit to Charleston, we made the two-hour drive to Savannah. To read about our visit to Savannah, click here.

Originally posted Jan. 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 9, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Cape Lookout Hike

Cape Trail

Where: Cape Lookout State Park, northern Oregon coast

Type: Out and back

Distance: 4.8 miles

Elevation gain: 500 feet

Difficulty: Moderate (for distance and rough trail)

Map: Cape Lookout State Park Trail Guide

Guidebooks:

100 Hikes / Travel Guide Oregon Coast & Coast Range – William L. Sullivan

Beer Hiking Pacific Northwest – Rachel Wood & Brandon Fralic

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles Portland – Paul Gerald

Day Hiking Oregon Coast – Bonnie Henderson

Overview:

Cape Lookout is a narrow sliver of land extending two miles out into the Pacific Ocean between Cape Meares and Cape Kiwanda. The hike to its tip provides the hiker with a unique experience and some of the best viewpoints on the entire coast. The trail passes through an old growth spruce-hemlock forest with an understory of salal, salmonberry, huckleberry, and sword ferns. In summer the open areas are carpeted with wildflowers. The end of the trail, at the top of a cliff 400 feet above the ocean, is one of the best whale watching spots on the Oregon coast and one of the best places to observe sea birds.

Best times to go:

This trail can be hiked any time of the year, but trail conditions are usually best in late summer and early fall. Even then, the trail can be muddy. At other times of the year, it can be very muddy in places. The best times to avoid crowds are the winter months or anytime that it is raining. So, if solitude is what you’re after, gear up and go. On summer weekends the parking area fills up quickly, so it’s best to go early in the morning or in the evening after most of the crowd has gone home.

Getting there:

From Tillamook, take Ore Hwy 131 (Three Capes Scenic Route) west. At 5.0 miles, angle left onto Whiskey Creek Road. At the Netarts Bayfront, rejoin the Three Capes Scenic Route and follow it south to Cape Lookout State Park. The trailhead is 2.7 miles beyond the entrance to the state park campground and day use area.

From Lincoln City, take US Hwy 101 north and turn left onto Booten Road (1.4 miles north of the Nestucca River bridge). Proceed to Pacific City. Turn left onto Pacific Avenue and re-cross the Nestucca River. Immediately west of the bridge turn right on Cape Kiwanda Drive and follow it past Pelican Brewing. North of Cape Kiwanda (see the Other Attractions section below) the road becomes McPhillips Drive then Sand Lake Road. Continue to the T intersection, turn left, and proceed 3.2 miles to the trailhead.

Trailhead: Cape Lookout State Park

There are no facilities at the trailhead, but water and restrooms can be found at the day use area of the state park, just north of the cape.

The hike:

From the end of the parking area, take the Cape Trail to the left. (To the right is the trailhead of the North Trail, which descends 2.3 miles to the state park day use area). On the Cape Trail, in about a hundred yards you’ll come to the junction with the South Trail, which descends 1.8 miles to a little used beach.

The Cape Trail then descends gradually to a viewpoint at the 0.6-mile mark where you can see south to Cape Kiwanda and Cascade Head. Near the overlook, look for a bronze plaque set in stone that commemorates the site where a B-17 bomber crashed on a foggy day in 1943.

From there, the trail crosses to the north side of the cape and comes to a viewpoint at the 1.2-mile mark. Here you can see north to Cape Meares and Three Arch Rocks. Just west of the viewpoint, the original trail slid into the ocean about 30 years ago. The present trail detours away from the cliff through a boggy area on a boardwalk.

The trail returns to the south side of the cape and continues for another 1.2 miles, climbing and descending several times, to a viewpoint at the end of the cape, 400 feet above the ocean. Views there stretch from Cape Foulweather, 40 miles to the south, to Neahkannie Mountain, 40 miles to the north.

The end of the trail is the best spot to see gray whales. It’s not uncommon to see a dozen or more in an hour as they round the tip of the cape during the peaks of their spring and fall migrations. The journey between their feeding grounds in the Bering Sea and their breeding and calving grounds in Baja California is a round trip of more than 6000 miles.

You’ll probably linger for a while at the end of the trail, but when you’ve had your fill of sightseeing and whale watching, return to the parking area the way you came.

Other hiking options:

The North Trail is a 4.6-mile out and back hike with 800 feet of elevation gain from the day use area at Cape Lookout State Park to the beginning of the Cape Trail (or a 2.3-mile one way hike if you have someone drop you off at either end). For the ambitious, the North Trail and the Cape Trail can be combined into a 9.4-mile out and back hike with 1300 feet of elevation gain.

The South Trail is a 3.6-mile out and back hike with 800 feet of elevation gain from the Cape Trail to the beach to the south. The South Trail can also be combined with a 4.0-mile beach walk to an RV parking area as a 5.8-mile shuttle trip.

From the state park day use area, the beach to the north extends more than five miles to the mouth of Netarts Bay, making for out and back options up to 10+ miles in length. (Looping back along the bayfront is not an option.)

Other area attractions and activities:

To the north of Cape Lookout, the small town of Oceanside, one of my favorite small towns on the northern Oregon coast, has a nice beach (with a unique tunnel through the headland at the north end that leads to a very picturesque beach) and several good places to get a bite to eat. North of Oceanside, Cape Meares State Park has a working lighthouse, several short trails, and another good whale watching site.

Cape Kiwanda with Cape Lookout in the distance

To the south, Cape Kiwanda is a sandstone headland that is unlike any of the other rocky headlands on the Oregon coast. Just to its south, the town of Pacific City has a nice beach that is home to Oregon’s only dory fleet of fishing boats that launch directly from the beach. Pelican Brewing, on the beachfront, is one of the coast’s largest (and best) brew pubs, and there are several other decent places in town to get food or drink.

In conclusion:

The Cape Trail at Cape Lookout is one of the best hikes on the northern Oregon coast and one of the best places to watch gray whales on their annual migration. Combine the hike with visits to Cape Meares and Cape Kiwanda for an outstanding and easy day trip from the Portland or Salem areas.

Posted April 6, 2023 by Alan K. Lee

All photos © Alan K. Lee

The Trail of Ten Falls

The Trail of Ten Falls

Where: Silver Falls State Park

Distance: 7.2 miles

Elevation gain: 800 feet

Difficulty: Moderate (for length a steep climb out of the canyon)

Map: Oregon State Parks map and brochure

Guidebooks:

Hiking Waterfalls in Oregon by Adam Sawyer

Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain

100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades by William L Sullivan

Waterfall Lover’s Guide: Pacific Northwest by Gregory A. Plumb

Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest by David L. Anderson

Overview:

Silver Falls was voted Oregon’s favorite state park a few years ago, and for good reason. With more than ten waterfalls, six of them more than 90 feet in height, Silver Falls is a waterfall lovers paradise. And the Trail of Ten Falls (there are actually eleven named and at least one unnamed falls along the trail) is one of the finest hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest. I don’t know of anywhere else where you can see a dozen falls on a single hike, and four of them here have trails that actually take you behind the falls.

It’s no wonder, then, that Silver Falls can be crowded. The area around South Falls gets by far the most use and can be very crowded on summer weekends. But this is a spectacularly beautiful hike and is worth doing even at the park’s busiest times.

Best Times to Go:

Flows in the creeks are at their highest, and the falls at their most spectacular, in winter and early spring. Late September through October is best for fall color. Summer is best for reliably good weather, but the park is almost always crowded with other hikers in summer. For my money, the best times are weekday mornings in spring and fall. But there is no bad time to hike here, except when there is snow or ice on the trails. But even in mid-winter, the trails are usually open and snow free, and you might even have the trail to yourself.

Getting there:

Silver Falls State Park is located about fifteen miles east of Salem, Oregon. Coming from Salem or south, take Ore Hwy 22 east and look for signs to Silver Falls. The turn off onto Ore Hwy 214 is about five miles east of Interstate-5. The South Falls day use area is about 15 miles from Hwy 22.

Coming from the north, take exit 271 off I-5 at Woodburn. Proceed through Woodburn on Ore Hwy 214, which will take you through the towns of Mount Angel and Silverton. The park is about 12 miles from Silverton.

Trailheads:

There are two primary trailheads that can be used for this hike. The North Falls trailhead has a fairly small parking lot, but the recent (July 2023) opening of the North Canyon day-use area more than doubles the amount of parking on the north end of the park. And the new North Rim Trail connects the two parking areas, so either can be used as the north end trailhead. The South Falls area gets much more use than the north end, but also has much more parking, so it is the most common starting point for this hike. The trail can also be accessed from the Winter Falls trailhead.

The hike:

Most people start and end their hikes at the South Falls Day Use Area, so I’ll start there as well. From the parking area, follow the signs to the top of South Falls. There is a viewpoint there, and seeing the creek disappear over the edge of the cliff is a pretty awesome sight. From there, the trail descends to a good vantage point a quarter of a mile or so down the trail. There are several more places where you can get a good view of the entire falls farther down the trail before it dives behind the falls.

Just below the first viewpoint look for a signed side trail to Frenchie Falls. This is the eleventh named falls and the smallest by volume. When I was last there, in early June, it was just a trickle, and it often dries out by mid-summer. But it’s worth a look.

Continue down the main trail, which will take you behind South Falls. Here you will be between two layers of the Columbia River Basalt lava flows that are about 15-16 million years old. In between is a softer layer of sedimentary rock laid down by an ancient stream. This softer layer has eroded away to form the “cave” behind the falls.

Below the falls there are several good viewpoints. Just downstream of the falls you’ll come to the first trail junction. The trail across the bridge will take you back to the parking area. Continuing on the Canyon Trail, you’ll next come to Lower South Falls at approximately the one-mile mark. Here the trail also goes behind the falls.

Below the falls, you’ll come to the junction with the Maple Ridge Trail at the 1.4-mile mark. The Maple Ridge Trail climbs out of the canyon and returns to the parking area, making for a 2.5-mile loop. Beyond the Maple Ridge Trail junction, the Canyon Trail leaves the south fork of Silver Creek and joins the north fork. Following the creek upstream, look for an intermittent waterfall across the creek at the 1.9-mile mark.

The trail then takes you to Lower North Falls (30 feet) at the 2.4-mile mark. Just above the falls a side trail leads to Double Falls, the highest in the park at 184 feet (combined drops). The volume of water flowing over Double Falls is much less than the falls on the two forks of Silver Creek, but still worth a look.

Next up is Drake Falls (27 feet), then the 106-foot drop of Middle North Falls. A side trail here leads behind the falls, but dead ends on the other side. Back on the main trail, you will come to the junction of the Winter Falls Trail at the 2.9-mile mark. A half mile out and back side trip will take you to the base of Winter Falls.

Like Double Falls, Winter Falls is on a side stream and the volume of water is much less than the falls on North and South Silver Creeks. From the falls, the Winter Falls Trail will take you up out of the canyon to a junction with the Rim Trail. From there you can return to the South Falls Day Use Area to complete a 4.5-mile loop.

If you return to the Canyon Trail, you will next come to Twin Falls (31 feet), three tenths of a mile from the Winter Falls Trail junction. Just beyond Twin Falls there is a steep side trail leading up to the new North Canyon day-use area (the old group camp area) trailhead.

Stay on the Canyon Trail for another mile to North Falls (134 feet). Here once again the trail goes behind the falls. Look up to the ceiling of the overhang and you may be able make out cylindrical indentations that were formed when lava flowed around tree trunks and solidified before the trees burned. From North Falls, the trail climbs steeply to the North Falls trailhead three tenths of a mile beyond the falls.

The 0.6 mile out and back trail to Upper North Falls (65 feet) passes under the highway bridge at the North Falls parking area.

Back at the North Falls trailhead, take the Rim Trail. At about 0.3 miles from the North Falls trailhead you’ll come to a nice view back to North Falls. From there, it is 1.6 miles on a mostly flat trail back to the South Falls parking area.

Other area attractions and activities:

Silver Falls State Park is Oregon’s largest state park. In addition to the Trail of Ten Falls, the park has 35 miles of back country trails open to hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. There is also a campground with 91 camp sites and 14 cabins, and a café and a nature store at the South Falls Day Use Area.

The nearby town of Silverton has a variety of dining and lodging options. Stop in at the Silver Falls Brewery and Alehouse after your hike for a bite to eat and a pint of craft brewed beer. Or try the Benedictine Brewery near Mount Angel that is operated by monks from the Mount Angel Abbey. Silverton is also home to the Oregon Garden, one of the state’s leading botanical gardens. Next door to the Oregon Garden is the Gordon House, the only surviving Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in Oregon.

The Trail of Ten Falls is an iconic hiking trail that every serious hiker in the state has likely done multiple times. It’s so spectacular that it alone is worth making the trek to Oregon from wherever you reside, no matter how far away that is. As an Oregon resident, I know I’m a little biased, but I don’t think I’m exaggerating here. If you’re a waterfall lover, come see for yourself. A trip to Silver Falls, combined with a visit to the waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge will make for an unforgettable experience.

Posted March 27, 2023 by Alan K. Lee. Updated August 2, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee

Northern Oregon Coast

By Alan K. Lee

The Oregon Coast is one of the prime tourist attractions of the state. Tens of thousands of visitors descend on the Oregon coast each weekend in the summer. With beautiful beaches, rocky headlands, working lighthouses, busy fishing ports, ultra-fresh seafood, charming small towns, and more, the Oregon coast has a lot to offer over its 360-mile length. The northern Oregon coast, because of its proximity to the Portland metro area, gets the bulk of the tourist traffic, so it can be crowded and tacky gift shops and ugly beach front motels abound. But it also has its share of charming towns that avoid the worst of the commercial ugliness and are worth visiting any time of the year.

I’ll cover four of my favorite northern Oregon coastal towns in this post: Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Manzanita, and Oceanside. They all have their own unique personality, but they all share a few things in common. They’re all small (none have more than 3,000 year-round residents), they’re all beachfront towns and the Pacific Ocean plays a big role in their culture and community, all but tiny Oceanside have an active arts scene, and you can find outstanding places to eat and drink in each of them.

Astoria, the first American settlement west of the Rockies, is a good place to start an exploration of the Oregon coast, and it has enough to offer the traveler that I’ve covered it in a previous post. Click here to view that post. But I’ll start this post with the town of Cannon Beach.

Cannon Beach

Cannon Beach is probably best known for Haystack Rock, the huge sea stack that sits just off the beach. But for me, the chief attraction of Cannon Beach is the many fine art galleries that can be found in the town. If you’ve followed this blog or my Instagram account (@alanlee633), you know that my wife and I are big fans of the visual arts. For art lovers, Cannon Beach is the premier destination on the Oregon coast. Some of our favorite galleries are White Bird Gallery (fine arts and crafts) , North By Northwest Gallery (American masters and regional artists), Jeffery Hull Gallery (original watercolor and oil paintings), and DragonFire Gallery (original works by Northwest artists).

Besides the beach and the galleries, Cannon Beach also has many casual and fine dining establisnments. For breakfast or lunch, try the Lazy Susan Cafe. For fresh, affordable seafood check out Tom’s Fish and Chips or Ecola Seafood Restaurant and Market. Castaway’s Global Cuisine features Cajun-Creole and Caribbean food. If you’re looking for a good craft beer, Public Coast Brewing (at the north end of downtown), Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse (downtown), and Pelican Brewing (at the south end of downtown) all offer a good selection of craft beers and pub food. Fine dining options include Newman’s at 988, and the dining room at the Stephanie Inn (both south of the main downtown area).

Gearhart

Gearhart offers a different vibe than Cannon Beach. It’s less of a tourist town (all of the typical tourist attractions and the associated tackiness can be found in the adjacent town of Seaside) and has a more residential feel. There are fewer dining options or galleries, but the laidback nature of the town and the miles of uncrowded beach make Gearhart one of my favorite places to stop on the north coast.

What really sets the Gearhart beach apart is that there are no oceanfront motels or restaurants, and really no beachfront residences. There are a couple of condo complexes close to the beach, but most residences are set back 700-900 feet from the sand. That gives the beach at Gearhart a unique character, with most of the houses out of view. And the sand goes on forever. You can walk the beach all the way to the mouth of the Columbia River at Fort Stevens State Park fifteen miles to the north.

Gearhart is also known for being the childhood home of famed chef James Beard. There are no five star restaurants there, but the town does have a few places to find good food and drink. Pacific Way Café and Marketplace offers a bakery, coffee shop, café, and small marketplace. Grandma’s Corner Restaurant, on Hwy 101, a local favorite for breakfast and lunch, is known for its friendly service and made from scratch comfort food like your grandma made it. Decent pub fare and good craft brews can be found at the Sand Trap Pub in the Gearhart Hotel. Wander through the hotel and check out the many whimsical paintings and historical photos displayed in the hallways. The art may not be to your taste, but it is creative and typical of all the McMenamin’s hotels.

Gearhart doesn’t have the many galleries that Cannon Beach offers, but there are a couple worth checking out. A Great Gallery, catercorner to Pacific Way Café, features the paintings of owner and artist Susan Thomas. Speakman Studios, on Pacific Way just east of Hwy 101, features artworks by Diane and Jay Speakman and their daughter Rachel. The studio is currently undergoing renovations but will reopen sometime in 2023. In the meantime, some of the Speakman’s art can be seen at The Art of Interiors in Cannon Beach.

Manzanita

Manzanita, located at the base of Neahkahnie Mountain on a peninsula between the ocean and Nehalem Bay, mixes residential and commercial areas, and like Gearhart, has very limited oceanfront commercial development, just a couple of motels and a few vacation rentals on the north end of town that could get away with calling themselves “oceanfront” and a few houses on the south side that really are beachfront. Most of the houses on the south end of town, though, are set back 300-500 feet from the beach and there are no commercial structures. With less than 1000 full time residents, Manzanita is smaller than either Cannon Beach or Gearhart. It gets more tourist traffic than Gearhart, but far less than Cannon Beach.

Dining options worth checking out in Manzanita include Yolk (all day breakfasts), Offshore Grill and Coffee House (seasonal food from local farmers), and Big Wave Café (seafood, steaks, and burgers). For an upscale dinner, try Neah-Kah-Nie Bistro (next door to Yolk).

Art lovers should visit 4^th Street Studio and Gallery (local and regional artists), Polaris Gallery (paintings by gallery owner J. Scott Wilson), and Hoffman Gallery (local and visiting artists) at Hoffman Center for the Arts.

Oceanside

Oceanside is the farthest south of the four towns and is not on Hwy 101, both of which lessen its tourist traffic. It’s also the smallest of the four. But it has a spectacular beach, with a unique tunnel cut through a headland that links Oceanside Beach with the aptly named Tunnel Beach to the north. To the south, the beach runs for two miles to the town of Netarts on Netarts Bay. And about a mile north of town, Short Beach, almost unknown to outsiders, gives access to the beautiful two-tier Larson Creek Falls. At low tide, you may also be able to get around the point to the south and explore Lost Boy Beach. (Take care here, though, because you could get trapped by the rising tide).

The beaches are the star here, but the town has its own charm, with many homes built on the side of a steep hillside overlooking the ocean that look like they could tumble down onto the beach at any time. (A mile or two to the south, several homes came close to doing just that about 25 years ago). There are also several good cafes and restaurants in town. Rosanna’s Café is my personal favorite, although Current Café and Lounge (across the street from Rosanna’s) and Blue Agate Café (a block north, adjacent to the beach parking area) both get slightly better ratings. Oceanside is lacking in galleries but check out Kristy Lombard Pottery in nearby Tillamook or Bay City Arts Center about five miles north of Tillamook in the town of Bay City.

Other Attractions

There is more to the north coast than just the towns and beaches covered here, of course. The beach and bayfront at Bayocean Peninsula, Short Sand Beach at Oswald West State Park, the family-friendly beach at Hug Point, the stunningly beautiful Ecola State Park, and the historic Fort Stevens State Park are all must see destinations. The cheeses and ice cream available at Tillamook Cheese Factory, one of the most visited tourist attractions in the state, is worth braving the crowds. You can go deep sea fishing on a charter boat out of Garibaldi or ride the steam train from Garibaldi to Rockaway Beach. For hikers, the Tillamook Head, Cape Falcon, and Cape Lookout trails offer scenic vistas only accessible by foot and well worth the effort it takes to get there. You can find fresh seafood everywhere. There’s storm watching in the winter. And the list goes on.

Posted March 24, 2023

All photos ©Alan K. Lee

Beaver Creek Loop Trail

Where: Beaver Creek State Natural Area (now part of Brian Booth State Park) on the central Oregon coast

Distance: 2.7 to 3.3 miles, depending on starting point

Elevation gain: Minimal

Difficulty: Easy

Map: Beaver Creek State Natural Area website

Overview:

You might not find this hike in any guide book, and that is a big part of its appeal. Thousands of people flock to the Oregon coast every weekend, even in the winter, but very few will make their way to Beaver Creek. You won’t find the trails crowded, even on a sunny day when Ona Beach, where Beaver Creek flows into the ocean, is elbow to elbow with people. You won’t find an old growth forest on this hike, nor any grand views or waterfalls. The woods and marsh are pretty enough, but can’t compete with the scenic attractions of the beaches and headlands only a few miles away. But what you will find at Beaver Creek is peace and quiet. You may see blacktail deer, maybe a beaver or river otter in the creek, possibly a bald eagle or an osprey flying overhead. More than 75 species of birds can be found at Beaver Creek, so bring your binoculars. You’ll probably encounter a few other hikers on the trail or see people paddling the creek. But you’ll also be able to find some solitude here.

Getting there:

Beaver Creek State Natural Area is located about eight miles south of Newport, just off Hwy 101 on the central Oregon coast. At Ona Beach, turn east off of Hwy 101 onto North Beaver Creek Road instead of west into the beach parking lot. In 1.2 miles, you’ll come to the park’s visitor center (called the Welcome Center) on your right. The visitor center is open daily from 12:00 to 5:00. The staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You can get a map and brochure there, but I’d print out the map from the park website (linked above) before you leave home just in case. The first time I hiked this loop I didn’t have a map. The trail junctions we’re signed for the most part, but there were a few places where a map would have been a big help.

Trailheads:

You can start the hike at the visitor center in the summer and fall when the water level in the marsh is low. Ask at the visitor center if the trail across the marsh is passable.

There’s also a parking area along the road a few hundred yards east of the Welcome Center, so you can also start the hike there if you choose. You may also be able to get a map at the kiosk there.

From late fall through late spring the trail across the marsh will likely be submerged. If so, head back toward the beach on North Beaver Creek Road. In about a quarter mile, turn left onto South Beaver Creek Road. In just over one mile, look for a gate on the left side of the road with an Oregon State Park sign. Park at a pullout on the right side of the road just beyond the gate. Walk around the gate and up a service road. In a little less than half a mile you’ll come to a junction with the Beaver Creek Loop Trail on your right. You can either turn right onto the trail there (to do the loop in a counterclockwise direction), or walk up the road a couple hundred yards and pick up the trail just beyond a group of agricultural buildings (to do the loop in a clockwise direction).

The hike:

Starting at the visitor center, take the Beaver Marsh Trail east. In little over a quarter mile you’ll come to a boardwalk that takes you to a viewing platform out in the marsh. Beyond the boardwalk, the trail leads through the marsh to a bridge over Beaver Creek. On the other side of the bridge, you’ll come to a junction with the Beaver Creek Loop Trail. The loop can be hiked in either direction, but for our purposes we’ll turn right and do the hike counterclockwise.

From the bridge the trail follows an old access road (this area was privately owned until the early 2000s). In a quarter of a mile you’ll come to the junction with the North Fork Trail. If you’re pressed for time or just want a short hike, the North Fork Trail offers the shortest loop here (1.6 miles, starting and ending at the boardwalk parking area). Continuing on the main loop trail, you’ll come to the junction with the Snaggy Point Trail in another quarter of a mile. This is a popular trail that climbs 360 feet to a viewpoint overlooking the marsh and the Pacific Ocean beyond, then continues east to rejoin the main loop trail.

Beyond the Snaggy Point Trail junction, the loop trail continues through the forest along the edge of the marsh to a junction with the Antler Overlook Trail, which connects to the Cooper Ridge Trail and provides another overcrossing of the upland area. The main loop trail then continues through the forest to the agricultural buildings mentioned in the winter trailhead description. Beyond the buildings walk up the service road for a couple hundred yards and look for the loop trail branching off to the left. The trail follows the edge of an open field.

In another quarter of a mile you’ll come to a junction with the Elk Meadows Trail, an 0.8 mile loop through the woods and a couple of meadows. The main loop trail continues along the eastern edge of the Beaver Creek State Natural Area for another three quarters of a mile, passing the Cooper Ridge and Snaggy Point trail junctions, to the bridge across Beaver Creek and the trail back across the marsh.

With the out and back Beaver Marsh Trail, the full hike is 3.3 miles from the visitor center, 2.7 miles if you start and end the hike at the boardwalk parking area instead of the visitor center, and 2.9 miles from the winter trailhead. Add 0.8 mile to those numbers for Elk Meadow Trail extension. You can also make it a longer hike by taking a side trip through the upland area. All together there are a little over six miles of trails to explore in the park.

Other area attractions and activities:

Besides hiking the Beaver Creek Loop and the upland trails, another way to explore the area is by canoe or kayak. Just east of Hwy 101, there is a parking area and boat ramp on Beaver Creek that is an ideal launching point. The creek is a flat water paddle with little current, so it’s a good place for kids and beginners to try their hand at getting out on the water. It’s also possible to launch a canoe or kayak at the boardwalk parking area east of the visitor center and paddle across the marsh to the creek.

And, of course, the beach is right there. Rest your legs after your hike and lounge on the sand at Ona Beach for a while and watch the waves. Or, if you’re up for more hiking, it’s only a 1.5 mile walk on the beach to Seal Rock, one of the more scenic spots on the central coast.

Other interesting hikes in the central coast area that could easily be paired with Beaver Creek include God’s Thumb and Drift Creek Falls in the Lincoln City area. (Look for a post on the Drift Creek Falls hike later this spring.)

Tufted Puffin. Photo from the Oregon Coast Aquarium website.

And in the South Beach section of Newport, just south of the bay bridge, there are two attractions well worth a stop on your way to or from Beaver Creek. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is one of the Pacific Coast’s premier aquariums, and Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center is home to one of the country’s top marine science education and research programs. The Oregon Coast Aquarium is open 10:00-5:00 daily. Ticket prices range from $15 for children 3-12 to $25 for adults. Admission for seniors (65+) and teens (3-17) is $20. Infants and toddlers get in free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate. The visitor center at the Hatfield Center is open 10:00-4:00 Thu-Mon. Admission is $5 (ages five and up) and tickets need to be purchased online on the center’s website.

Posted March 14, 2023 by Alan K. Lee

All photos ©Alan K. Lee, except as noted

Hana

by Alan K. Lee

My wife and I have taken many winter vacations to Hawai’i over the years. We had made three trips to Maui, and had seen most of the island, but we had never made it to Hana. On our only attempt to get there, we badly underestimated the time it would take. We made it only about halfway there. But this time we made it a priority to visit Hana and spend enough time there to really explore the area.

Getting to Hana is either a pain or part of the adventure, depending on your mind set. The Road to Hana is justifiably famous. It’s only a little over 50 miles from Kanhului to Hana, but that is very deceiving. With over 600 curves, 59 one lane bridges, and a speed limit that is 25 mph or less most of the way, the round trip from Kahului will take a minimum of five hours. But eight to ten hours on the road is more typical. In other words, it’s an all day outing, so start early.

There are many viewpoints and other stops worth making along the way, but a few stand out. A few miles east of Pa’ia, and just past Mama’s Fish House, stop at Ho’okipa Beach. It’s a beautiful beach, known for its surfing and kite boarding. But the real attraction for us was the honu (green sea turtles) that can often be found hauled up on the east end of the beach. On our first visit, that end of the beach was cordoned off and more than 30 honu were resting on the sand. There were fewer on our recent visit, but there were no barriers, so it was possible to get very close. But, keep your distance and don’t disturb them if find yourself there. They’re sacred to the native Hawaiians and somewhat rare.

About halfway to Hana, take the short side road to Ke’anae. (That is as far as we got on our first attempt to make it to Hana.) Stop at Aunty Sandy’s Famous Banana Bread (it’s famous for a reason) and pick up a freshly baked loaf, then drive to the end of the road and watch the waves crashing against the rocks. If the surf is up it can be a spectacular sight.

A few miles past Ke’anae, Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside has a nice waterfall with a good swimming hole below it, and there are restrooms and picnic tables there.

Just before you reach Hana, Waiʻānapanapa State Park is a must see destination. This was probably my favorite spot in the Hana area. It’s another great place to see surf crashing against the lava rock of the shore, and it has a small black sand beach. It is so popular, though, that you now have to make timed entry reservations in advance. Go to the park website for more information.

There are a lot of things that you’ll miss if you’re visiting Hana as a day trip. Better to do as we did and spend a night or two. That will give you enough time to really see and enjoy the East Maui area. But be forewarned, Hana is expensive.

Accommodations in Hana are limited and very expensive. The nightly rate for the two bedroom vacation rental that we stayed in was nearly $500, for example. Rooms in the Hana-Maui Resort start at over $700 per night. There are other somewhat less expensive options, but plan ahead. We booked our rental almost three months in advance, but there were few options left by then. I looked at some vacation rentals that were booked up a for more than a year.

Likewise, dining options are limited in Hana. The Hana Ranch Restaurant has decent food at a reasonable (for Hana) cost. The dining room at Hana-Maui Resort has an upscale menu, both in quality and price, and is one of only a few places open for breakfast. There are a few other restaurants that get decent ratings, and there are many food trucks scattered around town. If your accommodations include a kitchen, cooking your own food is a cheaper option. There are only two small stores in Hana where you can buy groceries, though, so I’d advise stocking up in Kahului beforehand. (Costco and Wallmart are both close the Kahului Airport).

Hana town is a bit of old Hawai’i, and is interesting in that regard, but the town isn’t the main attraction. The adventure of just getting there is part of the attraction, but there are also a number of beaches worth checking out, and more attractions beyond the town.

The Hana Bay Beach Park on the harbor front is worth a visit. Close by, Red Sand Beach is small beach that is a bit of a hike, but worth the effort. The trail starts near the end of Uakea Road, just past the Hana Community Center. The hike isn’t long, but the trail is steep in places and can be slippery if it’s wet, so caution is advised. The beach is located at the base of a red sandstone cliff, the source of its distinctive dark red sand.

A few miles past Hana, on Haneo’o Road, are two more beaches to check out. Koki Beach Park has more red sand at the north end of the beach. It’s a beautiful spot, but not safe for swimming. A few miles south, Hamoa Beach is a better spot to get in the water. You’ll also probably see a few surfers here.

Just off the road back to Kahului, a few miles west of Waiʻānapanapa State Park, Hana Lava Tube (Ka’eleku Cavern) is an interesting side trip from the town of Hana. Lava tubes form when the surface of a lava flow cools and solidifies, and the molten lava flowing underneath drains out, leaving a cavern below the surface of the lava flow. The cave isn’t wheel chair accessible, but it’s an easy, mostly flat, kid friendly walk that takes about half an hour.

South of Hana, beyond Koki and Hamoa Beaches, the highway continues on to the Kipahulu section of Haleakala National Park. This is better known as the Seven Sacred Pools. We were there not long after a series of severe rainstorms battered the island, and the water in the creek was still high, so the pools were closed to swimming. But the shoreline is beautiful, there are several small waterfalls, and there’s a hiking trail to a couple of bigger waterfalls up the mountain a ways.

Lindberg grave, photo by Yurivict, sourced from Wikimedia Commons

Beyond Kipahulu, the other attraction is the grave of Charles Lindberg. (We missed the turnoff to it, though, so we didn’t see it on this trip.) This is as far as most people venture beyond Hana. But what most people don’t know is that the Pi’ilani Highway continues past the Lindberg grave, and is a back door to Hana, or in our case, an alternate route back to Kahului.

Calling it a highway is a bit of a joke, at least for the first twenty miles or so past the Lindberg grave. It’s even more winding than the Road to Hana, narrow, one lane mostly, with many blind corners, and short segments of gravel or dirt. It’s passable without a four wheel drive or high ground clearance vehicle, though, and it takes you along the wild and largely unpopulated southeast coast of Maui, an area few tourists can say they’ve seen. The road then traverses the southern slope of Haleakala to the town of Kula. From there, it’s a short hop back to Kahului.

We made one last stop before between Kula and Kahului, the Surfing Goat Dairy , where we purchased some goat cheese and chocolates. It’s an interesting place (check out their website) and the baby goats were adorable. We ended our Hana adventure with a pit stop at the Ale House in Kahului for dinner and a pint or two.

Our trip to Hana was an interesting adventure. I’m not sure we’ll go back, but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. If you’ve never been to Hana and can fit it into your itinerary, it’s definitely worth the trek, at least once. The Hana area is wild, beautiful, and unique, quite different from the more traveled parts of the island. For an overview of the rest of Maui, click here.

Posted March 3, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted.

The Island of Maui

by Alan K. Lee

Maui and the other Hawaiian Islands have so many attractions that it’s hard to list them all. Suffice it to say that there is something for everyone on the island of Maui, no matter where your interests lie.

My wife, Joan, and I have made a number of trips to Maui over the years. Although it is not my favorite Hawaiian island (that would be the Big Island), there is so much to do on Maui that we still haven’t seen it all. Our trips were all different. We stayed on different parts of the island, traveled with or visited different members of my wife’s family, took in different sites, and took part in different activities.

On our first trip, we stayed in Ka’anapali in West Maui, attended a traditional luau in Lahaina, toured the north shore, explored Pa’ia, spent a day lounging on the beach at Kihei, and made an unsuccessful attempt to get to Hana (more on that later).

On our second trip, with ten other members of my wife’s family, we stayed in the Upcountry town of Haiku and explored the Upcountry area on the north slope of Haleakala, took a whale watching cruise out of Lahaina, hired a professional photographer to do a family photo shoot on the beach at Kihei, and drove to the top of Haleakala to view the sunrise.

A couple of years ago my wife’s cousin Ruthee and her husband Mikel retired and moved to Kihei, Maui. We visited them in their home in 2019 and again recently. In 2019 we visited the Iao Valley, did some hiking in the Makena area of South Maui, and found a remarkable group of more than 30 green sea turtles sleeping on Ho’okipa Beach near Pa’ia. The four of us then flew to Kona for five days of exploring the Big Island. On our most recent trip we finally made it to Hana, where we stayed for two nights.

Maui is called the Valley Island. Most of the population lives in the Kahului and Wailuku areas in the valley between Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains, hence the island’s nickname. Most of the tourist activity, though, is centered in the West Maui area around Ka’anapali and Lahaina, and the South Maui area around Kihei and Wailea.

Less populated, less touristy, and more authentically Hawaiian, the North Maui area around Pa’ia and the Upcountry area on the slopes of Haleakala offer a different experience for those who are turned off by the touristy and often overcrowded Ka’anapali and Kihei areas. The same is true for Hana, but for slightly different reasons. But if you just want to lounge on the beach and soak up the sunshine, Kihei and Ka’anapali are perfect.

Haleakala is another world. At more than 10,000 feet high, the summit is often cloud hidden, and occasionally snow-capped. The summit crater looks like it was transplanted from Mars. And the sunrises are legendary. On our second trip, half the group (including my wife) got up at 3:00 am in order to catch that sunrise. I was part of the other group that chose to sleep in. We met the first group at the Kula Lodge for breakfast, then drove on up to the summit. Well worth it, even if we missed out on the sunrise experience.

Near Wailuku, Iao Valley State Park is another almost otherworldly experience. There it’s a trip into the tropical jungle, and something of a time trip back into what the Jurassic period must have been like. It wouldn’t have been too surprising to encounter a dinosaur there on our jungle hike. And the Iao Needle is spectacular.

And then there is Hana. Our first attempt to get to Hana was thwarted by a lack of planning and sabotaged by all of the incredibly scenic stops along the way. We made it about halfway on that first attempt before we had to turn around and make our way back to West Maui in time for dinner. Click here to learn more about Hana and our recent visit.

Like most visitors, we spent a lot of time just hanging out on various beaches around the island on all of our trips. With dozens of beaches and more than 30 miles of sandy shoreline, there are plenty of choices. Beach safety should always be a concern, of course. If you’re going to swim, snorkel, windsurf, or kayak, it’s a good idea to check the HI Ocean Safety website for safety tips and links to current advisories before heading to the beach of your choice.

Ahihi Kina’u Natural Area Reserve, South Maui

Makena Beach, also known as Big Beach, is a good choice in the South Maui area. With more than a half mile of sand, there’s plenty of room for everyone to spread out. To the north of Big Beach, over a small headland, is the more secluded Little Beach. Be forewarned, though, that Little Beach is clothing optional. And Kihei offers numerous beaches and parks, most with lifeguards, along six miles of shoreline.

In West Maui, Ka’anapali Beach is one of the best swimming beaches on the island, and features a daily cliff diving ceremony at sunset. But five hotels and six condominium complexes face the beach, so it’s often very crowded. There are also several nice beaches in the Kapalua area to the north, and in Lahaina to the south of Ka’anapali.

The North Shore beaches, such as Ho’okipa Beach and Kanaha Beach, offer some of the best kiteboarding and windsurfing in the Islands, and there are protected areas at both ends of Baldwin Beach, making it one of the best swimming beaches on the island. One of the nicest beaches, though small, is at Mama’s Fish House, which happens to serve some of the best seafood in the Islands. It’s expensive, but worth the indulgence. Going at lunchtime is at least slightly less expensive, and when we were there the lunch menu was the same as the dinner menu. Reservations are an absolute must and need to be made at least six months in advance.

On the northwest corner of the island, north of Kapalua, Nakelele Blowhole is a spectacular sight. Not only is it one of the biggest blowholes that I’ve ever seen, shooting water a hundred feet into the air, but you can walk right up to it in relative safety (though maybe not the smartest thing to do). Whether or not it is spouting, and how high, depends on the tide and probably wave height and direction, so it might not be the best idea to go there solely to see the blowhole. But the shoreline along that portion of the island is spectacular, and it’s only a short drive from Kapalua, so well worth the trip if you’re on that part of the island. And if you catch it at its best, it’s truly memorable.

There is way more to Maui than what I’ve covered here, of course. If you’re a golfer, there are courses from championship level resort courses, such as the Plantation Course at Kapalua that annually hosts the PGA Tournament of Champions, to more affordable public courses such as Maui Nui, Pukulani, and Waiehu. Horseback riding is a popular activity, and there are many hiking trails around the island. There are ziplines. You can descend below the waves in a submarine. Or snorkel in the submerged crater of an extinct volcano at Molokini. You can coast down the slopes of Haleakala on a mountain bike. And I’ve barely mentioned the cultural and dining experiences available. There’s almost no reason not to go.

Check the Go Hawaii/Maui website for more information on Maui dining, accommodations, activities, and more.

Originally posted as Something For Everyone on Maui on October 22, 2019. Updated and re-posted on March 3, 2023.

All photos © Alan K. Lee, except as noted.

Asheville, N.C.

by Alan K. Lee

Asheville, N.C. had never been on my bucket list of travel destinations, nor had Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But some years ago the daughter of friends of ours moved to Asheville, and we started hearing about what an interesting city it is. So, my wife and I decided to pay a visit. And when we did, we found that it was indeed a very interesting place.

Our timing wasn’t the best. A hurricane had just missed Asheville a few days before we arrived. There was still plenty of evidence, in the form of downed limbs and trees, of the power of the storm, but the center of the storm had passed to the west of Asheville and the city had not suffered any major damage. And the weather was fine while we were there.

We spent our first full day in Asheville exploring the city. It’s an old city, but it’s got a very young, very hip feel to it. There are 60+ breweries in town, for example, the most per capita of any US city, and second only to Portland, Oregon (where we’re from) in total number.

Asheville is also a very arts oriented city. As well as sampling a few of the brew pubs, we also visited a few of the galleries and artists studios in the River Arts District and the city center, but our limited amount of time there didn’t allow us to fully explore Asheville’s arts scene.

Asheville is also a great destination for foodies. There are many very good restaurants in the city and there’s a thriving farm-to-table food scene. If you’re ever there, I highly recommend that you seek out Sunny Point Cafe in particular. It’s a wonderful restaurant in West Asheville. Everything’s made with fresh, local ingredients, and everything we had was done superbly. (It was so good that we ate there three times and I bought their cookbook). City Bakery in downtown Asheville is also a great place to start your day.

The city has much more of a Pacific Northwest vibe to it than I was expecting. Besides the galleries and studios, the restaurants, and breweries, Asheville is much like Portland in its easy access to nature and its outdoor oriented residents. I think you could move the whole city to the Willamette Valley or the Puget Sound region and it wouldn’t feel out of place at all. It has Southern roots, certainly, but what we saw of it was more New South than Old South.

On our second day, we trekked to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and drove up to Clingman’s Dome, one of the highest points east of the Rockies. The top of the divide was in the clouds and the valleys were filled with fog, but in between it was clear and the views were spectacular.

We spent most of the rest of the day hiking to a number of the park’s many waterfalls. The Smokies have a different, softer feel to them than the mountains of the Western U.S., but they have their own appeal. We were there a little too early in the season to catch much in the way of fall colors, but there were hints of how beautiful it would be in a few weeks.

We had planned to drive back to Asheville via the Blue Ridge Parkway, but portions were closed due to trees downed by the hurricane. The Parkway runs from Great Smoky Mountains National Park all the way to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, 469 miles in total. We were able to drive about a 25 mile section of the parkway near Asheville that was open, but not being able to see more of it was disappointing.

Our third day was split between further explorations of Asheville and a visit to Chimney Rock State Park, about 25 miles southeast of Asheville, near the town of Bat Cave.

There’s an elevator that takes you from the parking area up to near the top of Chimney Rock, which is a tall free standing spire on one side of a very large granite dome. The elevator wasn’t working, though, so we climbed the 492 steps (I counted them) to the top, then another 80 to a nook called the Opera Box that looks down on the top of Chimney Rock and provides a great view of the valley below.

After the climb and descent (going down was worse than going up), we did a 1.4 mile out and back hike to Hickory Nut Falls, a very impressive 480 foot waterfall on the other side of the dome.

After leaving the park we had lunch in the community of Chimney Rock, then went for another short hike along the Broad River.

Biltmore Estate. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Asheville is probably most famous for being the site of the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in the country. Unfortunately, it takes the better part of a full day to tour the estate, and we didn’t have the time. So, that will have to wait until our next visit.

Asheville is a fascinating city, worth a longer visit than we gave it, and a great place to use as a base to explore the Great Smoky Mountains, tour the Blue Ridge Parkway, and visit the surrounding countryside. I hope that we will be able to return someday to more fully take in what Asheville has to offer, and more fully explore Great Smoky Mountains National Park and and the rest of the southern Appalachian Mountains via the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information about visiting Asheville, click here.

After visiting Asheville, we visited two charming Old South cities: Charleston, SC, and Savannah, Georgia. Check out our posts on Charleston here, and Savannah here.

Originally posted December 22, 2019. Updated and re-posted January 30, 2023

Sunriver Resort

by Alan K. Lee

Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon has become a favorite destination for my wife and I over the years. Even during the first year of the corona virus pandemic we spent the 4th of July holiday at Sunriver with my step-daughter and her family. That year was a little different – we cooked all of our meals at the house we rented instead of dining out as we usually do, for example. But the nature center was open (with restrictions), as was the marina and the stables. And there are miles of bike paths winding through the resort and residential areas, which we took full advantage of.

Sunriver Resort is located about 15 miles south of Bend on the site of the former Camp Abbot, a WWII era Army training facility for combat engineers. After the end of WWII, Camp Abbot was abandoned. Most of the buildings were demolished and the land was sold to private developers. The only remaining Camp Abbot structure is the former officer’s club, now the resort’s Great Hall. Of Camp Abbot’s 5500 acres, 2200 were added to the Deschutes National Forest and the remaining 3300 acres eventually became what is now Sunriver.

Sunriver is more than just a destination resort. It is also a planned community of more than 4000 homes and condominium units. Most of the residences are second homes, many of them available as short-term rentals. Sunriver also has about 1500 full time residents, a fire department, several parks, community water and wastewater treatment systems, a public works facility that maintains the roads, bike paths and parks, and an airport.

Recreational facilities at the resort include two public golf courses, two private courses open to resort guests, tennis and pickleball courts, several swimming pools, parks, and the large Sunriver Homeowners Aquatic and Recreation Center (SHARC). Sunriver Marina offers canoe and kayak rentals and guided rafting trips. And the Sunriver Stables offer horseback and pony rides.

In the winter, snow sports take center stage. Snowshoe and cross country ski trails are close by. Alpine skiers and snowboarders make up a large portion of Sunriver’s winter visitors, as Mount Bachelor, one of the Northwest’s premier ski areas, is only about a 30 minute drive from the resort. Mount Bachelor also has a Nordic center with more than 30 miles of cross country ski trails.

With 300 days of sunshine a year, Sunriver has much to offer the outdoor enthusiast. Hiking, biking, fishing, and river rafting and paddling are all popular summer activities. The Deschutes River forms the western boundary of the resort, and the river is wide and placid in that stretch, perfect for a leisurely float. And floating the river is a very popular activity in the summer. The river is often crowded with people enjoying the river in canoes, kayaks, rafts, and inner tubes.

Downstream of the resort, the river changes drastically, becoming narrow and raging as it cuts through an ancient lava flow. Scenic Benham Falls is only a few miles from the resort. A relatively flat paved bike path makes cycling from Sunriver to Benham Falls quick and easy. You can also drive there, but the bike path is shorter and probably faster. And there is a somewhat longer and more challenging mountain bike trail from Sunriver to the falls for the more adventurous.

The bike path continues on to Lava Butte and the Lava Lands Visitor Center, part of Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Also part of the National Monument, Newberry Crater (actually a caldera) contains two lakes, East and Paulina, and a large and fascinating obsidian flow. You can also drive to the summit of Paulina Peak on the caldera rim where you’ll look down into the caldera and take in the panoramic views of the Cascade Range peaks to the west, the ponderosa and lodgepole pine forests surrounding the caldera, and the sage and juniper lands of the high desert to the east. Newberry Crater is about 25 miles by road from Sunriver. (Look for a future post on this site with more information and photos of Newberry Crater).

Sunriver Resort makes an ideal base for exploring all that Central Oregon offers. Besides Newberry Crater and Lava Butte, other attractions in Newberry National Volcanic Monument include the Lava Cast Forest , and Lava River Cave.

West of Sunriver, the Cascade Lakes Highway runs parallel to the crest of the Cascade Range and passes close to Todd, Sparks, and Elk Lakes. Hosmer Lake, just off the highway, is a fly fishing only lake where motor boats are prohibited, making it ideal for paddlers. The highway also passes close by Big and Little Lava Lakes, Davis Lake, Cultus Lake, Crane Prairie Reservoir, and Wickiup Reservoir. For those seeking to get deeper into nature, numerous hiking trails lead from the highway into the adjacent Three Sisters Wilderness Area to the west.

While you’re in the area, I highly recommend that you visit the High Desert Museum, on Hwy 97 about ten miles north of Sunriver. The museum offers visitors a chance to see native wildlife up close, and to learn about both the pioneering history of the area and the culture and lifestyles of the Native American tribes that lived in the area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of white settlers. The High Desert Museum consistently rates as one of the top attractions in Central Oregon.

For those wanting a more urban experience, Bend is only about a 20 minute drive north of Sunriver. Once a small lumber town, Bend is now a fast growing city with a population of about 90,000. Besides being one of the West’s premier outdoor recreation centers, Bend also has many fine dining establishments, brew pubs, wine bars, boutique hotels, art galleries, and numerous specialty shops. I’ll cover Bend in more detail in a future post.

Sunriver itself has a variety of restaurants, a nice brew pub (Sunriver Brewing), a number of small shops, and many fun things for kids to do (think bumper cars and climbing walls). Most of that is concentrated in The Village, located near the main entry to the resort. The Lodge also has several restaurants, and there is a Mexican restaurant (Hola!) on the river next to Sunriver Marina.

Sunriver Resort offers a variety of rooms and suites in the Lodge and adjacent Lodge Village and River Lodges. More than 300 homes and condos in Sunriver can also be booked through the resort. Check the resort website for more information. Many other vacation rentals are available through VRBO, Vacasa, Airbnb, and Sunriver Vacation Rentals.

We’ve visited Sunriver Resort many times, and we will return again many more times, I’m sure. It’s a great place for the whole family, and Central Oregon is a paradise for people who love the outdoors.

Originally posted December 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted January 21, 2023.

Port Townsend

by Alan K. Lee

Port Townsend has long been one of my favorite towns in the Pacific Northwest. Port Townsend has it all – a beautiful setting on Puget Sound, some of the best preserved Victorian homes and buildings in the Northwest, an active maritime and boat building industry, a thriving arts community, fine food and drink, and a friendly populace.

Port Townsend bills itself as a “Victorian Seaport and Arts Community.” The town never became the major seaport that its early promoters envisioned it becoming, but the Victorian character of the town has been well preserved, and the arts community is thriving.

Although Port Townsend is no longer a player in the shipping industry, sailing and the marine trades, and maritime life are ingrained in the town’s culture. The hugely popular Wooden Boat Festival grew out of the revival of interest in wooden boats that began in the 1970s. The festival led to the creation of the Northwest Maritime Center, located in Port Townsend’s historic downtown. Today, the center conducts classes in sailing, maritime skills, and the traditions of maritime life.

Wooden sailing ships were key to the town’s early economy and history, and the boatbuilding and woodworking crafts live on in Port Townsend. The Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in nearby Port Hadlock and the Port Townsend School of Woodworking help preserve and promote the skills that were so vital to the early history of Port Townsend.

While its history is important to understanding Port Townsend, the town is anything but stuck in the past. Modern Port Townsend’s vibrant artists community is a reflection of the town’s modern aesthetic. You’ll find outdoor sculptures scattered throughout the town, and more than a dozen fine art and craft galleries can be found in the historic waterfront section of town.

A variety of festivals throughout the year feature the performing arts. Music festivals include jazz and blues, ukulele and fiddle music, a classical concert series, and others, many presented by the Centrum Foundation. The annual Port Townsend Film Festival features more than 100 films presented in eight venues. The Key City Public Theatre puts on a Shakespeare In the Park series every August. The plays are presented on a “pay-what-you-wish” basis at Chetzemoka Park, on the waterfront a few blocks north of the historic district. And then there’s the steampunk lunacy of the more or less impossible to describe Brass Screw Consortium (aka Brass Screw Confederacy).

If you want to really understand what Port Townsend is all about, you need to delve into the town’s history, explore the town’s maritime heritage, and sample the town’s artistic leanings. A good place to start is the Jefferson Museum of Art and History in the 1892 City Hall building in the historic downtown area along the waterfront.

Take a walk along Water Street. It’s not hard to imagine what the town was like 130 years ago because most of the buildings you see today date from that period. Venture up to the bluff above the waterfront and you’ll find many Victorian era homes, most of which have been well preserved or restored. If you visit in the summer months you can tour the Rothschild House, which was built in 1868 and has been preserved intact for more than a hundred years.

Visit Fort Worden State Park. Most of the fort’s original buildings have been preserved, some as museum pieces, such as the Commanding Officer’s Quarters Museum, and some repurposed to meet today’s changed lifestyle, like the Taps at the Guardhouse pub. Visit Point Hudson Lighthouse and the aquarium at the Marine Science Center on the waterfront at Fort Worden.

The history of the area predates European settlement, of course, and you can learn a little of that through the 18 interpretive signs that describe aspects of the S’Klallam tribe’s history and culture along the číčməhán trail. číčməhán (pronounced cheech-ma-han) was a S’Klallam chief known to the European settlers as Chetzemoka. The trail consists of walking, cycling, and driving routes around the town connecting the 18 signs.

Even if you’re not interested in the town’s history, its maritime traditions, or the arts, Port Townsend is still worth visiting, if only to take in its beautiful setting and indulge in its food and drink scene.

Explore the waterfront, but venture inland as well. Take a walk around the Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park, about a mile west of the historic district. And visit the Chinese Gardens west of Fort Worden. The trail along the lake there, and the connecting trails through the hills of Fort Worden State Park are very much worth hiking. (When we first visited, I was thinking the Chinese Gardens would be like the formal Lan Su Garden in Portland. But in this case the name refers to the 19th Century Chinese immigrants’ vegetable gardens, which, of course, no longer exist).

When you’re done with your hike, check to see if Taps at the Guardhouse in Fort Worden is open (it was closed in 2022) to quench your thirst with a good craft brew. Back in the historic district, I highly recommend that you visit Sirens. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, and they have a good selection of craft beers, cocktails, specialty drinks, and wines. But the surprise for me was the food. The jambalaya that I had may not have been authentic Cajun fare, but it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a recent memory. Not your typical pub food by a long ways.

Other places to get a good beer include Quench Waterfront Kitchen and Bar, where you can get Hawaiian food as well as craft brews and cocktails. They also have a decent wine list. Also check out The Old Whiskey Mill in the historic district, and Propolis Brewing and the Pourhouse, both about a mile to the west. If you’re more interested in wine than beer, Vintage by Port Townsend Vineyards is a tasting room with an outdoor courtyard and some of the best wines around. Also try Alchemy Wine Bar. They have an extensive wine list and a bistro kitchen.

On the food side, Owl Spirit Cafe is a good place to grab a sandwich or burrito for lunch. If you have pizza in mind, try Waterfront Pizza. My go to spot for breakfast and lunch is Courtyard Cafe, on Quincy Street a block north of Water Street. A more upscale dining experience can be had at Silverwater Cafe at Taylor and Washington. There are many other places to eat and drink, too, of course. Check the Enjoy Port Townsend website for a more complete listing.

My wife and I stayed at the Water Street Hotel on our most recent visit, recently renamed the Monarch Hotel. Located in the ornate Victorian era N.D. Hill Building in the heart of the historic downtown area, the hotel features comfortable and nicely appointed rooms for a reasonable price. The N.D. Hill Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There are a myriad of other places to stay in Port Townsend, of course, so check the Enjoy Port Townsend website (linked above) for more options. One note, though. If you’re planning to visit during the Wooden Boat Festival in September, book early. I wound up staying in Poulsbo after I made a late decision to attend the 40th annual festival in 2018 because there were no rooms available anywhere near Port Townsend. Poulsbo is a delightful town in its own right, though, so I was not unhappy about having to make the 30-mile drive to Port Townsend each day.

I’ve just scratched the surface of what Port Townsend has to offer. If you’ve never visited, I highly recommend that you go. I’m guessing that it won’t be your only visit.

Originally posted November 20, 2020. Updated and re-posted January 12, 2023.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West

By Alan K. Lee

Many of us that live in the Pacific Northwest have a connection of one kind or another to the state of Arizona. Many Northwest retirees, like my parents, become snowbirds, escaping the Northwest winters by spending the colder months in the sunnier and warmer climes of the desert Southwest. Others, like my brother, escape at an earlier age. Most of the rest of us have vacationed at least once in Arizona, or at least have dreamed of doing so. My wife and I have both lived in the Pacific Northwest all our lives, but we’ve made many trips to Arizona over the years. One of our favorite places is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.

Taliesin West is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most iconic creations. Begun in the same year that Falling Water, arguably his greatest creation, was built, Taliesin West was Wright’s winter home for the last two decades of his life.

Taliesin West was founded as the winter home for the Frank Lloyd Wright Fellowship, Wright’s school of architecture. It was always a school of architecture as well as Wright’s winter home. The Fellowship evolved into the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, which conducted classes at Taliesin West until 2020, when it separted from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, changed its name to The School of Architecture, and moved its campus to Cosanti and Arcosanti, Arizona.

Wright’s designs and his design philosophy had a profound impact on American architecture. He is without question the most famous American architect, by a wide margin. Ask anyone to name an architect and almost all, if they can name any, will name Wright.

Wright first achieved fame shortly after the turn of the 20th century for his Prairie House residential designs, and he was always more interested in designing homes for people than structures for businesses or government agencies. During the Great Depression he designed a planned community that featured simple, affordable residences that he called Usonian homes. Although his planned community was never built, many Usonian homes were. One of those, the Gordon House, is now located at the Oregon Garden in Silverton, Oregon, not far from my home.

Over his long career, Wright designed more than 1100 structures, 532 of which were built. But as famous and influential as he was, for much of his career he received few commissions. In the 1920s he made most of his income from writing and lecturing, rather than from his designs.

In 1932 Wright formed the Taliesin Fellowship, an apprenticeship program that taught not just architectural design, but also construction and “farming, gardening, and cooking, and the study of nature, music, art, and dance” according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation website.

The original Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, was Wright’s primary residence for most of his life and also served as the campus of the Taliesin Fellowship. In 1934, to escape the often brutal weather in Wisconsin, Wright began taking his students to Arizona each winter.

Taliesin West began as the winter camp for Wright and his students. And it was an actual camp in the beginning. The students lived in tents for their first few winters in Arizona, and Taliesin West was an ongoing project for many years. Even after most of the structures were completed, for example, all of the windows were simply openings in the walls, without glass, for almost a decade.

Wright’s design philosophy was holistic, and humanistic. He saw houses as organic structures that should be built in harmony with their environment and in tune with their inhabitants. “It is quite impossible to consider the building as one thing, its furnishings another and its setting and environment still another,” he wrote. He believed that all had to work “as one thing.” There is a story, whether true or not I don’t know, that the purchasers of one of his early residential designs invited him to their home after they moved in and he was so appalled by the way they had furnished the home that from that point on he not only designed the structures, he designed all of the furniture (much of it built in), the lighting, the rugs, the artwork, and even the dinnerware that went into them.

The structures at Taliesin West reflect Wright’s belief that architecture must reflect the natural setting of the site. To that end, they were built using native stone and other materials harvested from the site. That, and the long, horizontal orientation and flat roofed construction help them blend almost seamlessly into the environment. Taliesin West would still be a beautiful and striking piece of architecture even if it was located elsewhere, but it would not be as in harmony with its setting as it is, and it would be a lesser work.

The grounds of Taliesin West are beautifully landscaped and feature many outdoor works of art by various artists. Wright saw architecture as the “mother” of all the arts, and art was an important component of his designs, as was the landscaping.

Wright’s work ensures his place in history as one of the architectural greats. Today, Taliesin West lives on as testament to that greatness, and as home to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Taliesin West is located in Scottsdale, Arizona, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Phoenix.

Originally posted November 26, 2019. Updated and re-posted January 7, 2022.

Jasper National Park

by Alan K. Lee

In August 2019, on a long road trip from our home near Portland, Oregon, my wife and I travelled to both Banff and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. We had been to Banff before, but had never visited Jasper National Park.

We spent a few days exploring Canmore, just outside of Banff National Park, and the town of Banff, then visited Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon, and Lake Louise before heading north into Jasper National Park on the Icefields Parkway. (Click here to read about our time in Banff).

The Icefields Parkway parallels the Continental Divide from just north of Lake Louise to the town of Jasper. It is without question one of the most scenic drives I’ve ever taken. Jagged peaks, glaciers, pristine lakes, spectacular waterfalls – it has it all.

From the beginning of the Icefield Parkway, just north of Lake Louise, the country felt wilder, more remote, and more removed from civilization. While Banff and Lake Louise seem relatively civilized because of the facilities, and the crowds, Jasper National Park is another animal. You won’t completely leave the crowds behind, of course, but you don’t have to venture very far off the road to find places with little or no trace of civilization.

Although it is only 143 miles (230 km) long and can be driven in less than three hours, you’ll want to spend a full day or more exploring the many scenic viewpoints, hiking trails, lakes, rivers, glaciers, waterfalls, and wildlife viewing opportunities that the Parkway offers.

We didn’t have enough time to stop at every viewpoint along the parkway, much less do any serious hiking or exploring. (If we go back, we’ll budget our time more wisely because there is so much that we missed on this trip). Our first stop after leaving Banff and entering Jasper came at the Icefield Centre, where the Athabasca Glacier drops down from the Columbia Icefield that straddles the Continental Divide.

From the Icefield Centre, visitors can take tour busses up to the Athabasca Glacier, then onto the glacier itself in special sno-coaches equipped to deal with the unique terrain presented by the surface of the glacier. You can also take a guided hiking tour onto the surface of the glacier.

We opted instead to hike to the terminal moraine of the glacier, where we could get a good view of the entire glacier as it descends from the massive Columbia Icefield. We then drove to nearby Sunwapta Lake, fed by runoff from the glacier. The whole area is beautiful, a bit unworldly, and truly magnificent.

From the Icefield Centre, the parkway follows the Sunwapta River north. We stopped for a short time at Tangle Falls, a beautiful series of small falls, which is immediately adjacent to the highway, no hiking required.

Then it was on to Sunwapta Falls. A short walk of a few hundred feet brings you to the top of the falls, where the Sunwapta River drops into a narrow canyon. The Sunwapta is a sizable tributary of the Athabasca River and the volume of water funneling into such a narrow passage is very impressive to see, and hear. The best view is from a pedestrian bridge that crosses the riverjust below the main falls. There is also a much less traveled 1¼ mile trail to Lower Sunwapta Falls, where the gorge empties out into the broad Athabasca Valley.

Our next stop was Athabasca Falls. Here Hwy 93A splits off from the Icefields Parkway. Like at Sunwapta Falls, the river here also drops into a narrow gorge, and a pedestrian bridge above the gorge gives a fantastic view of the falls. Before we left on our trip I saw a video of a black bear crossing that same bridge, full of tourists. Some of the people froze in place and some ran for their lives. The bear passed within inches of some of the people, paying them no mind, and went on its way.

If Sunwapta Falls was impressive, and it was, the Athabasca River here is bigger, the volume of water is greater, and the noise of the falls is deafening. Awesome is the only word for it. Athabasca Falls is world famous for a reason. Many highly hyped tourist attractions turn out to be less than advertised, but Athabasca Falls is not one of them.

After leaving Athabasca Falls, we continued north on Hwy 93A instead of returning to the Icefields Parkway and followed it about ten miles north to the junction of the road leading to the Mount Edith Cavell Day Use Area. The road up has a half dozen very sharp switchbacks, and trailers and RVs over 25′ are not allowed. (There is a parking area at the base of the road where you can leave your trailer, if you want to unhitch.) The road is paved, though, and fine for passenger vehicles and smaller RVs. The day use area is at the end of the road, directly below the summit of Mount Edith Cavell.

Meltwater from the Cavell Glacier, Mount Edith Cavell

The mountain is named for a British nurse who helped hundreds of British, French, and Belgian soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium in World War I. She was arrested, tried, and executed by the Germans in 1915.

From the day use area, a short but steep trail leads to a viewpoint that looks down to Cavell Pond and up nearly 5000 vertical feet to the 11,047′ summit. The lake was still partially ice covered when we were there in the middle of August.

The Icefields Parkway ends at the town of Jasper, a smaller, less crowded, and lower key version of Banff. There are abundant restaurants, pubs, galleries, and shops there, but accommodations are limited, and hotels and motels are expensive. Book your stay well in advance. We opted for staying in a travel trailer at an RV park 30 miles (48 km) from Jasper, just outside the park boundary, because that was the only thing available through Airbnb when we were planning our trip. It was a little inconvenient, but in the end it worked fine.

No visit to Jasper National Park should go without a stop at Maligne Canyon, just a few miles northeast of town. Here the Maligne River flows through a narrow slot canyon. In some places the canyon is more than 150 feet deep and only 10 feet wide. It’s an amazingly place, not to be missed.

To get to Maligne Canyon from Jasper, take Hwy 16 toward Edmonton. Just outside of town, turn right onto Maligne Lake Road and cross the Athabasca River. A few miles down the road you will first come to Maligne Canyon Viewpoint, then the Maligne Canyon Trailhead parking area.

From the trailhead parking area, look to the southeast and you’ll see, strangely enough, a restaurant (Maligne Canyon Wilderness Kitchen). The trail begins there. A short ways down the trail you will come to First Bridge. It spans the canyon immediately downstream of an impressive waterfall.

There are a total of five foot bridges that cross the Maligne River. The first four all give incredible views down into the canyon. The trail along the rim of the canyon also offers numerous viewpoints. Words simply cannot describe this place.

Because it is so spectacularly beautiful, Maligne Canyon can also be spectacularly crowded. Come early in the day (before 9:00) if possible to beat the tour bus crowd. The crowds thin out, though, below Second Bridge. Below Fourth Bridge the canyon opens up and becomes less spectacular, but still scenic. One way of avoiding some of the crowds, though a longer hike, is to start at the lower trailhead at Fifth Bridge and hike up the canyon.

After spending most of the morning at Maligne Canyon, we drove the 25 miles south to Maligne Lake. There we did a short hike along the east shore of the lake. The north end of the lake is less scenic than the fjord-like southern end, but there are no roads beyond the north end of the lake. Tour boats take visitors part way down the lake, but we weren’t there at the right time of day to get good photos, so we opted to skip the boat ride this time, one of the many things we left for our next visit to Jasper.

If you’re contemplating a visit to Jasper National Park, plan to spend at least five days. And you could easily spend longer. There’s a lot to see, as Jasper is a big place, larger than Yellowstone National Park. The two and a half days we had were not close to enough. If you want to see the Canadian Rockies and time is a constraint, my advice would be to skip Banff and focus on Jasper. Banff has it’s attractions, but Jasper is much less crowded and even more scenic. The Icefields Parkway website is a good starting point for planning your trip. Another good reference is the Jasper National Park website.

Originally posted September 19, 2019 as The Icefields Parkway. Edited, updated, and re-posted December 26, 2022.

Banff National Park

by Alan K. Lee

Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies is flat out gorgeous, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. My wife and I made our first visit a couple of decades ago and loved it. But it took us twenty years to get back. We finally made it back to Banff in August 2019 as part of a long road trip from our home in the Portland, Oregon area.

It was a long drive. It’s more than 700 miles from Portland to Banff by the shortest route, even farther by the route we took. We took our time, though, and stopped in a number of places in southern British Columbia on the way. (Banff is a long ways from pretty much everywhere. If you don’t want to make the long drive, another option is to fly to Calgary and rent a car. Banff is less than a two hour drive west of Calgary.)

Besides being incredibly scenic, Banff is also significant in that it is part of one of the largest protected areas in North America. The park borders three other Canadian national parks, Kootenay, Yoho, and Jasper. The four national parks in turn border more than half a dozen provincial parks and protected areas. Altogether, the contiguous protected area totals more than 12,000 square miles (31,500 square kilometers). That’s almost four times the size of Yellowstone National Park, for comparison.

Historic North West Mounted Police Barracks, Canmore

On our 2019 trip, we rented a house in Canmore, just outside the park, since it was more affordable than staying in the park itself. Canmore turned out to be a pretty interesting place in its own right. It has a compact and very walkable downtown area with plenty of cafes and restaurants, brew pubs (try Canmore Brewing), interesting art galleries (don’t miss the Jeff Walker Gallery), and some interesting historical sites. There’s also a nice walking trail along Policeman’s Creek. And Canmore is only about a five minute drive from the southern entrance to Banff National Park.

The town of Banff, although crowded and touristy, is charming enough to warrant at least a few hours of your time. The Banff Springs Hotel is also worth a visit, even if you’re not staying there. If you’re a hiker, try the Tunnel Mountain Trail. We didn’t hike all the way to the top, but still got some great views of the town and the surrounding mountains, and a good workout.

One of the best hikes you’ll find anywhere is the Johnston Canyon Trail, about 15 miles north of the town of Banff. Here Johnston Creek cascades through a narrow gorge with many small waterfalls and two larger ones.

Another must see destination in Banff National Park is Moraine Lake. The turquoise blue water and soaring peaks surrounding the lake make it one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It’s an easy walk up to a stunning viewpoint from the parking lot, and there is a trail along the shoreline that gives you more incredible views of this beautiful lake and the high peaks above it. You can also rent a canoe there and get out on the water for more spectacular views. And again, go early. Parking at the lake is limited and traffic on the road to the lake may be restricted if the parking lot is full.

You can avoid the parking hassles and the crowds, at least in the morning or evening, by booking a room at the Moraine Lake Lodge. It’s expensive, but if you can afford it, it might be worth it.

Lake Louise is justifiably famous, but fame brings people. Lots of people. There’s a lot more parking here than at Moraine Lake, but even though we were there early, we still had to park in one of the lower lots and walk up to the lake. And honestly, Moraine Lake is even prettier and less crowded. But if you’ve never been there, seeing Lake Louise is worth fighting the crowds. Rent a canoe and get out on the water, or take a hike along the shore to get away from the crowds. And, like the Banff Springs Hotel, Chateau Lake Louise is a destination in itself.

The portion of Banff National Park north of Lake Louise has a lot of attractions that many visitors never see. This part of the park was new to me. On our first trip we were among the many that didn’t venture north of Lake Louise. On this trip we did, though. Our journey took us on into Jasper National Park on the Icefields Parkway.

Drive a few miles north from Lake Louise on the Trans Canada Highway, turn onto the Icefields Parkway, and you’re in a different world. The crowds thin out and the country becomes wilder, more open, and more removed from civilization.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to really explore that part of the park. We made a quick stop at Hector Lake viewpoint, only a few miles from Lake Louise, and stopped for a little longer at Bow Lake before motoring on into Jasper National Park. (Click here to go to our post on Jasper.)

There’s much more to Banff than I have described here, of course. It’s a big park, and you could easily spend a couple of weeks there without running out of things to do, longer if you also visit some of the surrounding parks. But it’s worth the effort to get there at least once in your life, even if you can only spend a few days there.

“B’Air of Importance” by Shannon Ford, Banff Springs Hotel

Originally posted December 26, 2022. Most recently updated July 31, 2024.

Kona and the Big Island

by Alan K. Lee

Kona, on the Big Island, was where I first set foot in Hawai’i, back in the year 2000. I will never forget stepping out of the plane and immediately being bathed in sunshine and enveloped in the warmth that is so ever present in Hawai’i. It wasn’t just that it was warm. The air felt different, not the suffocating humidity of summers in the much of the country or the oppressive furnace-like heat of the Southwest. Here it just felt welcoming. Two steps out of the plane I knew I was in paradise.

My first view of the Big Island was also memorable. Looking out the window of the plane at the Kohala Coast as we descended toward Kona, I expected to see lush green jungle, but instead I saw black lava fields and brown grassland. There wasn’t a tree in sight. The land looked more the high desert of eastern Oregon than what I envisioned Hawai’i should look like.

Saffron Finch, photographed in downtown Kailua-Kona

Kailua-Kona isn’t a desert by any means, but the average annual rainfall is a bit under 30 inches, less than Portland or Seattle. Parts of the Kohala Coast to the north of Kona get less than 10 inches of rain per year. In contrast, Hilo on the east side of the island averages more than 10 feet (127″) per year.

My wife and I have been back to the Big Island a couple of times since our first visit. Our most recent visit came in February 2019. After visiting my wife’s cousin and her husband at their home on Maui, the four of us took the short hop over to Kona to explore the Big Island. It had been 15 years since our last trip to Kona, so I was interested to see how much it had changed. The answer turned out to be not all that much. A little bigger, more traffic, maybe a little more touristy, but essentially the same as I remembered it.

After settling into our condo rental near downtown Kailua-Kona, we walked into town. It was hotter and a little more humid than I remembered it being on our previous visits, so our first stop was a local pub to get a cold brew. After slaking our thirst and having a bite to eat, we walked around the town and harbor-front for awhile.

Kailua-Kona still has a small town feel and the downtown area is compact and easily walkable. Many of the businesses that were there 15 years ago are still there. The shave-ice place that we discovered on our first visit is still there, although with a different name now. The town is worth a look, but it is often crowded with tourists, especially when there’s a cruise ship in port. When there is, it’s probably best to avoid the area. Fortunately, the attractions of the Big Island are numerous and varied, and regardless of what your idea of the perfect tropical vacation is, you can probably find it on the Big Island.

View across Kealakekua Bay to the Captain Cook Monument

We spent one morning at Kealakekua Bay, about 20 miles south of Kailua-Kona. On our last trip, my wife and I took a day cruise to Kealakekua to snorkel. That was one of the best snorkelling experiences I’ve ever had. This time we drove to Manini Beach, a pretty cool little park with a small sand beach, frequented more by locals than tourists. We would never have found it on our own, but the owners of the condo we rented put together an information book that had photos and directions to the park. Across the bay is a monument marking the spot where Captain James Cook was killed in 1779.

We spent two or three hours lounging and swimming at Manini Beach, then drove to the Place of Refuge (Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park), on Honaunau Bay, a few miles south of Kealakekua, where we spent another couple of hours exploring. Pu’uhonua o Honaunau played a significant role in the lives of Hawai’ian people prior to contact with Europeans. If you have any interest in Hawai’ian history, this is a place you definitely should visit. Next door to the Place of Refuge there is also a very good (and popular) snorkelling access point called Two Steps. You are certain to find lots of colorful fish and sea turtles in the bay there.

Fish ponds at Kalahuipua’a Historic Park, Mauna Lani Resort

More native history can be found along the Kohala Coast to the north of Kailua-Kona. The Mauna Lani Resort has preserved a couple of features of native Hawai’ian life on their property. Kalahuipua’a Historic Park contains archaeological sites and preserves two ancient fish ponds. The ponds were originally shallow embayments that the native Hawai’ians walled off to raise fish for food. Over time the ground here has subsided, making the ponds deeper and larger than they once were.

Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Park, also on the Mauna Lani property, preserves an area of relatively flat, smooth lava, several acres in size, that is literally covered with petroglyphs. It’s about a 3/4 mile hike, but a quite incredible site, and well worth the hike, even on a hot afternoon. I’ve never seen another place with anything close to the number of petroglyphs that can be found at Puako. The entire Puako Petroglyph Archaeological Preserve covers 223-acres and boasts more than 3,000 ancient petroglyphs, some dating to 1200 AD.

Farther north, in the North Kohala District, Lapakahi State Historical Park preserves the ruins of an ancient settlement. Several of the structures have been recreated to give an inkling of what life was like in the village. The park also protects 1.5 miles of shoreline and off shore coral reefs.

Steam vent near the rim of Kilauea Caldera

We came to the Big Island not long after the end of 2018’s epic eruption of Kilauea. The volcano was quiet when we were there, but most of the rim road and almost all of the trails in the summit area were still closed. That was a big disappointment. I would have liked to get a close up look at how much the crater had changed since our last visit. From what we could see, the Halema’uma’u Crater within the Kilauea Caldera is now many times larger than it was in 2004, but we couldn’t get near enough to see down into the crater. The trails down into the Kilauea Iki Crater were also closed, as was the Thompson Lava Tube Trail. The Chain Of Craters Road was open, so we stopped and explored a couple of interesting areas of much older eruptions that we probably would have skipped if more of the summit area had been accessible.

Lava field off the Chain Of Craters Road

After leaving Volcanoes National Park, we drove to Hilo, looking for Rainbow Falls. Our navigation system led us astray, however, leading us down a private road that went nowhere. We backtracked to Hilo to reconnoiter. While there, we had a wonderful dinner at the Cafe Pesto. Our friends had eaten there before and their recommendation was definitely on target. After dinner we consulted a map of Hilo and found our way to Rainbow Falls with no trouble. Our previous visit to Hilo (in 2004) came in the middle of a months long drought on the Big Island, and Rainbow Falls was barely a trickle then. But this time the Wailuku River was flowing strongly and twin streams of water were pouring over the edge of the cliff. As impressive as it was, I couldn’t help but wonder how much more so it would be after a heavy rainstorm.

We made our way back to Kona via the Saddle Road that crosses over the divide between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. In 2004 this was such a bad road that rental car companies specifically prohibited taking their cars on it. But much work has been done on it recently, and it is now one of the better highways on the Big Island, and by far the quickest route between Kailua-Kona and Hilo.

Four days wasn’t close to enough time to do anything but scratch the surface of what the Big Island has to offer. There are beaches, of course, and snorkeling, golf, hiking trails, you name it. But even if you only have a few days, the Big Island is a great choice of places to visit. If you are thinking about visiting, a good starting point for your planning is the Big Island Guide website. It has tons of information on accommodations, dining, activities, sightseeing, the history and culture of the island, and much more.

No matter what your interests, I think it would be hard to have a truly bad experience on the Big Island, or any of the other islands, for that matter. Whether you choose to visit Kaua’i, Oahu, Maui, Moloka’i, the Big Island or Lana’i doesn’t matter. All of the islands of Hawai’i really are paradise.

Originally posted August 6, 2019. Updated and re-posted November 19, 2022.