The Hood Canal

From the Northern Olympic Peninsula, we went to one of our favorite RV parks in the small town of Potlatch, Washington on the beautiful Hood Canal.  For those of you who are not Northwesterners, the Hood Canal is not a canal at all, but rather a fjord.  It was named Hood's Channel by Captain George Vancouver, but he spelled it "Hood's Canal".

The sites are only few feet away from the water, and there are pretty little streams on either side of the park. 

Not far from the RV park is Mt. Walker.  To get to the top, it is necessary to drive up a one lane road with numerous switchbacks.  You must try to look two or three turns ahead to be able to find a pullout so you can yield to downhill traffic.  Still, it is well worth the trip.  When we first arrived at the viewpoint, fog and low clouds obscured the view.

Eventually, the clouds cleared sufficiently to allow a good view of the canal.

Finally, clearing was sufficient to allow a wonderful view across the canal to Mt. Ranier.

From Mt. Walker, we saw a small lagoon, so went down to investigate.  The lagoon turned out to be a marine research area adjacent to Dabob Bay.  This pier had extended out into the bay.  Think that we should send this photo to Jay Leno?

Not far from here is Naval submarine base Bangor.  In the bay are a series of buoys with warning lights.  This sign warns boaters to watch the lights and get out of the bay if they are signaling that a torpedo test is about to take place.

One day, we looked out our window and saw this big guy.

He made several passes by the front of the coach.  This photo was taken through the windshield.  We later discovered that the remains of a dead salmon had washed up onto the shore below.

He was constantly being harassed by several crows who also wanted the salmon.  When we had been here earlier in the year, we had seen several crows roiling up over a group of trees.  It turned out that our eagle was raiding their nests.

From Potlatch, we turned back toward home.  We love being out in our coach, but we also love being in our home with its beautiful views of the Columbia River and Mt. Hood.