10.17.13 : back down the washington coast.

I had to give myself the goal of completing my "up the coast" blog posts before the year's end because of my recent slacking tendencies. In my defense, my life is just about as busy and exhausting as I've ever known it to be right now, so the last thing I want to do when I come home from a long day of work is sit in front of my computer screen and edit photos. Alas, it's my day off and I've found myself with copious amounts of laundry needing to be done, so I'm forcing myself to edit while I finish that task.

We're picking up in Washington on day nine of my second half of the coastal trip. It was my second to last day and a very full one at that. I left the cozy town of North Bend to head west and back to the coast. Taking a ferry across seemed like my best option, and I caught one just north of Seattle. Again, I kept up with my tradition of stopping for anything that looked even a little bit interesting, which put me very behind schedule and found me getting into my camp destination just before the sun disappeared.

10.10.13 : the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hitting the road the morning of October 10th, I stumbled onto a beach on my way down a detour to a lighthouse.  It was still early, which meant I had the place to myself to explore and take photos. Carved into the rock on the north side of the beach was a tunnel. As creepy as it was, I could see a light at the other side, so of course I had to explore. I'm glad I did, because the other side was just beautiful.

9.7.13 : avenue of the giants.

The morning after my star-filled night, I hit the road fairly early after the unwelcome sounds of a screaming kid nearby stirred me from my cozy hammock cocoon. One of the first pull-offs on the coastline had an incredible lineup of cairns, which I ended up seeing quite a lot of on my trip. 

After a few more stops along the way to capture the ever-changing coastal views and a detour to drive through the Chandelier Tree , I entered the Avenue of the Giants, which is a famous scenic stretch of the 101 that runs through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I  was warned to be careful that I don't accidentally spend all day in there, as it's fairly easy to get caught up in exploring. Those warnings were on point, because I absolutely could have spent several days among those majestic trees. 

I stopped for a hitchhiker at one point, but resisted the urge to give him a lift knowing I like to go my own pace and explore (and because my mom might kill me if he didn't turn out to be a serial killer and get to me first). Instead, I passed on some cold drinks and jerky and wished him well as I continued my way north. At one point it was so pretty that I just wanted to sit on the trunk of my car and enjoy the surroundings, so I stopped and brewed a French press to enjoy in the cool air.  

It was by far one of my favorite portions of my trip and I look forward to future trips to more see more redwoods. Those suckers really are breathtakingly impressive. 

 (You'll see more of me in these photos, but it's mostly for scale purposes!)