Our journey North continues as we work our way up to Seattle. Along the way we were able to stop at Ape Caves, along with several other hikes in the area. We found our way to the south east side of Mt. Saint Helens. We had planned to hike it until we were tipped off that it was awesome downhill. We took up the strangers offer, geared up and headed up the mountain.
As you climb the switchbacks through the forrest you pass huge old trees that border the blast zone. As you top out you are gifted with a vast amount of nothingness. It was like being on the moon. No vegetation in the blast zone. It was a very unique experience that gifted us with more surrounding mountain views of the Cascades.
View of the mountain just before Abrahams Plains.
We hung out in Seattle, took a long walk around town and saw about all we could in one day. We did take the ferry back a second time with our bikes and rode around town and explored. Seattle has an amazing international district where we were able to find all of our favorite Japanese foods. I quite enjoyed the Japanese book store, a place I used to spend countless hours.
REI at Seatttle, This place was HUGE.
Sushi in Seattle, oh so good. Filled up on local catches and some imports from Nippon.
Finished it all off with some Agedashi Tofu and Genmaicha.
The ferry out to Bainbridge island was great. Fresh Sea air, and our timing of the sunset was nearly perfect. We were over height by just an inch. needless to say it nearly cost double. The joys of driving your house around. We were able to stealth camp on a side street on Bainbridge and then went to a gypsy music festival at the park where we were able to camp and shower for cheap.
Water front pancake breakfast.
