Last week in WA

Over the past couple weeks I have been riding Mt Baker a lot, took a loooong drive, looking for waves on the Olympic Peninsula, worked a shift an Spencer’s restaurant, The Prospect Cafe, and  went on an amazing hike in the old growth rain forest.

Things are progressing quickly on the snowboard, though the better I get the more severe the consequences for mistakes become…but it sure is fun. Hitting the little jumps is awesome as long as manage to not land ass first, though I think I am learing my lesson.

I tried to ride on Saturday but it was soooo crowded at Baker, I had to split. I got the idea to haul ass to the coast and try and surf. I drove 4 hours south and then west to Aberdeen and spend the night at my more often than not, home lately, a walmart parking lot. Aberdeen seems to be a dying town. As I drove around the downtown, looking for a coffee, I noticed that more of the shops were abandoned than not. There was a profound melancholy present and I was eager to move on down the road.

Quiet town of Westport in winter

Well to surf in Westport wasn’t much to write about, at least not with the 47 degree water temp, so I decided to just head up the coast and explore a bit.

The natural beauty of the Olympic peninsula is striking but with overcast, rainy weather, ominous as well. Some of the towns I passed through were as far from prosperous as I have ever seen in this country.

The town LaPush is a tiny fishing village and part of the Quileute Reservation. There is a small bay with some decent surf if your there at the right time. The contrast between the awe-inspiring natural beauty and the depressing poverty is eerie, with hardly a person on the streets and the most ramshackle of dwellings.

Common home in LaPush

The Fleet in LaPush

After  LaPush, was an rainy windy drive thru the mountains to Neah bay. I was getting pretty dark at this point but as the road come out along the Strait of Juan de Fuca it was undeniably a breathtaking drive.

  Arriving in Neah Bay I began searching for a place to sleep. In the dark I didn’t look to be the most welcoming place, so I drove around scoping for an out of the way spot, and came across a little campground right on the beach.

Campsite on the most Northwest corner of the lower 48

Keeping warm...hoping there's no bears sniffing around