The Northwest Tour 2016

This photo is taken from a calendar my sister gave me a few years ago. The photo is what inspired me to plan my upcoming trip to the northwest of the US and Canada. The shot was taken from the Pinnacle Sadle Trail looking across the valley to Mount Ranier located in Washington state. I want to hike the trail to see the same view as seen in the photo. I need "good weather karma" for this one.

I leave May 7th and plan to be home by July 4th, 10 weeks later. It is going to be a lot of driving and camping. I hope to visit loads of places I have always wanted to see, in addition to Mount Ranier. It takes so long just to get to and from the west coast. I plan to head straight across country on route 80 until I get to northern Nevada and then start touring.

I will be camping most nights except after the longest days of driving. My wonderful book called "Next Exit" will be along for the ride because it can tell me what services are located at every interstate exit throughout the US. I have also poured over the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die," various national park guides, state park guides, AAA state tour books, "Scenic Byways of the USA," and  "Fodors Alaskan Cruise Guide." I emptied out AAA for all of the state and regional maps I will be using. I'll have the onboard GPS in my car and a separate Garmin for backup. I have camping reservations at some locations, particularly at state and national parks.  Campgrounds with showers are a priority but if they aren't available I have a small propane hot water heater that has a shower adaptor. The thing is so freaking cool. It uses the small green gas cylinders. The igniter is pre-charged and when the heater is turned-on, the gas lights and runs a pump which draws water up to a spigot. The shower nozzle adaptor attaches to the spigot. Don't leave home without it.

For this trip I have a new easy up tent which has standing room and will accommodate my long comfortable cot. I have a separate dining tarp that is unique because it doesn't have any poles holding it up.  Instead it is held up by air pumped into chambers that act like poles. It will be interesting to see if the thing withstands hard rains. 

This tent and separate tarp set up is because I will be in several locations that are also inhabited by grizzly bears. I need to keep my cooking separate from my sleeping quarters. Don't worry, I will carry my handy dandy bear spray which is essentially pepper spray. The theory of it is that you wait until the bear is about 30 feet away. Then you broadcast the spray, the bear runs into it and stops to rub his or her eyes, all the time forgetting that he/she was after me. Meanwhile I am now100 yards down the trail. I really wish I hadn't gone to see "The Revenant." 

In addition to preparing the itinerary I have been compiling lists of everything I will need for the 10 weeks. BATTERIES, loads and loads of batteries. I will take a small cooler which will demand a small fortune in ice, and plan to food shop every few days. I'll have dry staples along also as I don't know exactly what I will be cooking. My two burner stove uses the small green gas cylinders also. Because I won't have access to a microwave or an oven, I am taking a double boiler so that I can heat up things that might usually be microwaved. Other than the double boiler I will have a coffee pot and a frying pan. That's it. I hope to keep it really simple. 

My trip bucket list includes: Flaming Gorge in WY, the Kennicutt Cooper Mine in UT, Crater Lake in OR, Redwoods National Park in CA, a trip up the Rogue River in a fast air boat, driving the whole coast of Oregon, Olympic National Park in WA, a ferry trip over to Victoria BC to see the Butchart Gardens, Mt Ranier, Holland America Cruise aboard the Zaandam to Anchorage from Vancouver for 7 nights, Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada as well as Lake Louise and Banff in Banff National Park also in Canada, Glacier National Park in MT, Chico Hot Springs in MT, the Black Hills in SD, drive the Loess Hills in NE and a visit to see a college friend in Waukesha, WI. A friend is flying out to join me for the cruise.

And finally, there will be a mad two day dash to get home for pizza at the Encore pool on the 4th of July. Phew I am exhausted just thinking about the 9000 some miles I will be covering. The trip I took in 2012 to the southwest was 9654 miles and averaged 47 mpg. So I am hoping I will get as good mileage.  The gas should be much cheaper this trip. I drive a Pruis and it will be loaded with equipment up to the bottoms of the windows. The difficult part of this trip will be the clothes packing because I will have to take appropriate clothing for the cruise where there will be formal nights and no jeans allowed in the dining rooms. I hope I won't smell of woodsmoke.

So these final few weeks before I leave will be crazy busy getting all of my "to do" lists and packing lists checked off. A friend will be staying at my house in order to watch my lovable cat. I hope to update my blog every few days. There is a place on the blog where you can sign up to follow the blog for the trip and I will put a notice on Facebook when I update it for those who don't want to officially follow it. I am getting really excited!