Ash & Joe

take the show
on the road

Joe 5/17/23 Joe 5/17/23

The Pacific Northwest

The Upper Left

How many Americans ever get to go to the far Upper Left of the continental U.S.?

How many of us will stand at Cape Flattery looking past the rocky cliffs pummeled by Pacific crests, pondering how far we are from the rest of the continental U.S.?

That bracing view, that feeling of the whole world wanting to rush in on endless waves.

*Ashleigh on Cape Flattery Trail in 2019*

The Upper Left

How many Americans ever get to go to the far Upper Left of the continental U.S.?

How many of us will stand at Cape Flattery looking past the rocky cliffs pummeled by Pacific crests, pondering how far we are from the rest of the continental U.S.?

That bracing view, that feeling of the whole world wanting to rush in on endless waves.

The Return Trip

Well, we were lucky enough to go there in 2018 and 2019, and we tried to go back in the summer of 2020. We made it all the way to Deception Pass State Park on the northern tip of Whidbey Island but the air was choked with smoke from fires all along the West Coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. We camped there for one night*, ready to start our adventure to the Olympic Peninsula – but turned around when air quality advisories implored us to stay inside.

* One thing to note when camping on Whidbey Island: there's a Naval Base there… (click for video).

Inside… in our case, on Whidbey, we’d be holed up inside our van, with far less living space (and less air-tight) than a traditional house. We had to make a decision: stay in Washington State breathing bad air for another week or longer, or retreat back east across the state and escape the fires. We retreated; the smoke had choked us out.

North Cascades National Park

One good thing did come of that trip: North Cascades National Park.

You hear about Glacier National Park in Montana and Banff in Canada. You hear less about North Cascades National Park.

We first heard about it from friends Kevin and Sabrina in 2018. We spent only a few days there in summer 2020 and want to go back as soon as we can. Don’t miss it if you’re near Seattle.

That’s the thing about the Upper Left, and the whole Pacific Northwest. It’s far. From Boulder, it would take about three days to drive there if we hustled – to Jackson Hole in one full day, then to Spokane in one more long day of driving, and then to North Cascades arriving on the third night. Realistically, it’s more like five days if we stopped once or twice along the way – like in Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Park, which we’d otherwise just barely graze.

Venturing as far northwest as North Cascades puts us very close to the Olympic Peninsula…

You can see the impression the Pacific Northwest made on us – always plotting our way back.

Ashleigh 5/11/19 Ashleigh 5/11/19

Crater Lake National Park

In southern Oregon there is a lake that is a crater, and it is the deepest of all the lakes in the US. The crisp blue color is in a league of it’s own, holding up next to any of the best sunsets you’ve seen. The fact that there are no rivers or inlets attached or flowing to it, makes for some of the purest water in the world – it is a clarity that goes undisputed. It is a landscape that Life painted – one that Gaia made for you. Welcome to Crater Lake.

In southern Oregon there is a lake that is a crater, and it is the deepest of all the lakes in the US. The crisp blue color is in a league of its own, holding up next to any color of the best sunsets you’ve seen. The fact that there are no rivers or inlets attached or flowing to it, makes for some of the purest water in the world – it is a clarity that goes undisputed. It is a landscape that Life painted – one that Gaia made for you. Welcome to Crater Lake.

Our one and only day at the Crater was spectacular and everything we hoped it to be: stunning in sight, uncrowded and without fuss, we checked a “first” off our list - we went snowshoeing! At $16 a pair and with free-roam of the park, we set off with a thwap and crunch as our wide feet left indents in the blinding white snow. At one point, we got right up next to the rim of the crater. A feeling of awe became us: the sensory experience of standing on the snow so high up, the sun warming our skin and the sight hypnotizing our eyes – it was simply awesome.

Aside from snowshoeing, we threw snowballs, wrote “Happy Mother’s Day!'“ messages into the walls of hard packed snow, toured the gift shop, made lunch in our van, and we found a sled, too! It was left on a hill, so we both jumped on and flew down.

It was different and fun to be snowshoeing in late May, in moderate temperature, with the astonishing clarity and intense blue hue of Crater Lake’s water. It was a day of play among a natural Earth wonder. Gratitude.

Joe 2/2/19 Joe 2/2/19

Apache Trail to White Sands

The Apache Trail Scenic Byway is a decently maintained dirt road that leads from Apache Junction, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.

Traversable though it may be for most vehicles – including our 23-foot 4x4 dually van – the winding curving crumbling clinging to plunging mountainsides can be harrowing nevertheless.

The Apache Trail Scenic Byway is a decently maintained dirt road that leads from Apache Junction, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.

Traversable though it may be for most vehicles – including our 23-foot 4x4 dually van – the winding curving crumbling clinging to plunging mountainsides can be harrowing nevertheless.

After viewing the impressive engineering of Roosevelt Dam, we took in views of Roosevelt Lake Bridge – the “longest two-lane, single-span, steel-arch bridge in North America. […] The original dam-top roadway was designed to allow two Model-T Fords to pass abreast, but today's recreational vehicles and full-size automobiles are too wide to permit two-way traffic”.

Back on regular pavement, we drove a few more miles to Tonto National Monument and explored cliff dwellings dating back 700 years. Originally inhabited by perhaps hundreds of Salado people, today’s full-size humans are too wide to permit two-way pedestrian traffic. ;)

Next, we drove half a day and spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico – a new state for us! The following night we drove to White Sands National Monument and then traveled a few hours north to Albuquerque, our base camp before Santa Fe.

(Early November 2018)