Lance Commander's Summer Trip for 1997

In the summer of 1997 I headed to the west coast to explore the coastal area between San Francisco and the Canadian border. I've seen some of the sights in and near San Francisco and Seattle but not the area between these two beautiful cities. After flying into San Francisco the night before, I spent the day relaxing in City by the Bay.

Me in front of the Palace of Fine Arts

I discovered the Palace of Fine Arts which is from an early 20th century World Exposition in San Francisco. This place is made up of a forest of Roman columns and a dome that resides in an outdoor park. It is a very beautiful and thought provoking place. Next I went to the overcrowded Yosemite National Park. To my suprise, when I arrived at the park, there were not any massive crowds (the forest fire on the edge of the park the day before might have chased some people away).

Yosemite Falls

I toured through Yosemite Valley. Later drove up to the valley rim and hiked to numerous scenic view points. During my nine day trip, Yosemite was my favorite for breathtaking sights. Next I went to Sequoia National Park with its groves of huge redwoods (no photos here because there is no way to capture the larger than life feeling you get from a 250 foot high tree). Then back to the Pacific coast to do the 17 Mile Drive.

Lone Cyprus on 17 Mile Drive

On the 17 Mile Drive I saw Pebble Beach golf course and many beautiful beaches. Next time I would like to spend a day picnicing and walking along the beach.

My attempt at running in the dunes

I continued northward along the Pacific coast passing through the Sand Dunes National Recreation area where the dunes stretched for miles.

Rocky Pacific Coast

After driving many miles on twisting roads perched on the edge of a rocky pacific coast I was ready to head inland to the scenery of other national parks. One of my nights lodging was spent at Paradise Lodge which sits in the middle of alpine meadows on Mount Rainier.

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier is a beautiful mountain with alpine meadows and glacier covered peaks. This year the mountain is still snow covered in early August. I made a quick trip through Olympic National Park. And finally headed up to North Cascade National Park to go hiking and sightseeing.

Chipmunk enjoying the view

Home of the Mountain Goats

North Cascade National Park has many lakes with glacial minerals coloring their waters. Hiking along an alpine lake gave me the opportunity to watch a baby mountain goat and its mother navigate along the rocky ledges above me (first encounter of a mountain goat up close for me).

Parking lot Waterfalls

Trail through Glacial till and ice

My last day I took a morning hike to a mountain pass in North Cascade National Park. The parking lot where the hike began had a beautiful view of hanging glaciers on the adjacent mountain side with at least 5 roaring waterfalls flowing out from under the glacial sheets of ice. Invigorate by this site, I was off on a trail of wooded serenity, glacial stream crossings, trails through glacial till, and glacial ice pathways. On this trip we covered a lot of scenic area on the west coast. I can't wait to do the highlights of this trip again. Return to Lance's home page