Four Days in Grayland

Part I: Southwestern Washington

Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, Long Beach Peninsula, Lower Columbia River
A Traveler's Hypertext Notebooks, Guides, and Resources

Part II: Grayland Beach
A Beach Camper's Hypertext Notebook,
Studies, Readings, Activities, Seasons, and Tips 

Part III: Doing and Seeing   
Photographs, Blog Posts, and Reports from 2021-2022  

Part IV: Reflections of Beachcombers   
Poetry, Short Essays, Commentary, Quotations   

Southwestern Washington

 

Grays Harbor
 

Willapa Bay
 

Long Beach Peninsula
 

Lower Columbia River, North Side, from Ilwaco East to Washougal

Olympia south to Vancouver, Interstate 5 Corridor
 

Native Americans in the Area

Northwest Coastal Oregon: Astoria to Cape Lookout

 

Four Days in Grayland Homepage

 

 

Alphabetical Index to Four Days in Grayland

 

Aberdeen

Boating, Charter Tours  (Westport, Ilwaco, Aberdeen, Astoria)

Agate Hunting, Coastal Geology, Rock Hounding  

Beachcombing

Beach Driving  

Beach Picnics

Berries, Cranberries, Wild Berries, Berry Foraging 

Bibliography - General Information for Traveler's and Campers

Bibliography, Information, Reading, Resources

Bicycling  

Bird Watching 

Blog Reports of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Boat Usage, Kayaking, Canoeing

Camping in Yurts

Camping Notebooks

Canoeing and Kayaking 

Cape Disappointment

Centralia 

Chelais 

Chinook

Chinook Indians

Clam Digging

Cloud Hands Blog

Columbia River from Ilwaco to Vancouver

Cranberries, Wild Berries, Berry Foraging 

Day Picnics and Day Camping at the Beach  

Driftwood Gathering, Beachcombing, Agate Hunting

Driving on the Beach in Washington

Facebook of Michael P. Garofalo

Fishing

Food and Seafood

Four Days in Grayland Homepage   

Four Days in Grayland Photographs and Blog Posts (Most Recent First) 

Geology Coastal, Rock Hounding, Agate Hunting

Grays Harbor

Grayland Beach

Green Way Research Hypertext Notebooks of Michael P. Garofalo 

Hiking Quotations, Sayings, Poems

Hiking Trails

Hoquaim

Ilwaco

Indians, Native Peoples in the Area

Information, Bibliography, Reading, Resources

Intertidal Ocean Shores

Jetty Fishing

Kayaking and Canoeing 

Kite Flying

Libraries

Long Beach City

Logging and Timber Mills Industry

Long Beach Peninsula

Longview 

Lower Columbia River from Ilwaco to Vancouver

Marinas and Docks: Westport, Tokeland, South Bend, and Ilwaco

Michael P. Garofalo Biography

Months and Seasons Activities

Mushrooms Foraging  

Naselle River 

Native Peoples in the Area

Native Peoples - Bibliography

Ocean Park

Ocean Shores

Oysters

Photographs of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Pier Fishing

Raymond

Reading, Information, Bibliography, Resources

Reading, Bibliography - General Information

Reports of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Rock Hounding, Agate Hunting, Coastal Geology 

Seafood and Food

Sea Shell Gathering, Beachcombing, Agate Hunting, High Tide Debris

Seaside Nature Studies

Seaside Picnics and Day Camps

Seasonal Events

Seasons and Months Activities

South Bend

Southwestern Washington - Travel

Surf Fishing

Swimming, Boogie Boarding, and Surfing  

Timber Industry

Trails and Paths

Videos from some Yurt Camping Trips

Walking Trails

Walking Quotations, Sayings, Poems

Washington - Southwestern - Travel  

Westport

Wild Berries, Berry Foraging, Cranberries 

Willapa Bay

Willapa Bay - Bibliography, Resources, Reading

Yurt Camping

Yurt Camping Reports
 

  

Open a New Door

“The name, given to the month of ‘January’, is derived from the ancient Roman name ‘Janus’ who presided over the gate to the new year. He was revered as the ‘God of Gateways’, ‘of Doorways’ and ‘of the Journey.’ Janus protected the ‘Gate of Heaven’, known as the ‘Lord of Beginnings’, is associated with the ‘Goddess Juno-Janus’, and often symbolized by an image of a face that looks forwards and backwards at the same time. This symbolism can easily be associated with the month known by many as the start of a new year which brings new opportunities. We cast out the old and welcome in the new. It is the time when many reflect on events of the previous year and often resolve to redress or improve some aspect of daily life or personal philosophy.”
- Mysitcal World Wide Web

"New Year ceremonies are designed to get rid of the past and to welcome the future. January is named after the Etruscan word janua which means door."
- New Year's Customs

"The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!"
- Edward Payson Powell

January: Quotes, Poems, Lore, Sayings, Garden Chores

Mt. Adams, Washington

Repost from 10/2018.

Karen drove our old 2003 Ford Explorer from Vancouver east along Route 14 on the north side of the Columbia River all the way to Bingen.  We climbed up a hill to visit the town of White Salmon, and then drove north on Route 141 to Trout Lake.  From Trout Lake to Glenwood.  Then south down through the Conboy Lake Refuge to BZ Corner.  Over the bridge to Hood River, then hone to Vancouver via Interstate 84.  We left around 9:30 am and returned home at 5 pm.

Spectacular views of trees and shrubs with autumn colors to the leaves intermixed or at the edges of conifers.  The many clear views of the 12,300 foot Mt. Adams from the valleys around Trout Lake and Glenwood were very dramatic. 

The views on the drive east and west through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area were, as always, very beautiful, inspiring, and grand.  

Others Have Shared Photographs of the areas near White Salmon, Washington.

The town is high up on a hill on the north side of the Columbia River

directly across from the City of Hood River.  Many dramatic views
looking south towards Mt. Hood and Oregon.

Heathen Holidays

Holiday by Madonna, 1983

"If we took a holiday

Took some time to celebrate
Just one day out of life
It would be
It would be so nice

Everybody spread the word
We're gonna have a celebration
All across the world
In every nation

It's time for the good times
Forget about the bad times, oh yeah
One day to come together to release the pressure
We need a holiday

If we took a holiday
Took some time to celebrate (come on let's celebrate)
Just one day out of life (holiday)
It would be
It would be so nice

You can turn this world around
And bring back all of those happy days
Put your troubles down
It's time to celebrate

Let love shine
And we will find
A way to come together
Can make things better
We need a holiday ..."

Heathen Holidays

Winter Solstice-Yule-Saturnalia

Young women and men dancing, bouncy, carefree, juvenile, lively, celebrating.  

Return to Wapato Valley

 I was up at 4 am today.  No rain last night and no gusty winds.  Enjoyed daybreak coffee and cannabis on the cold Yurt porch.  I figure the entire campground is 95% empty.  My Circle B was empty but for me.  I took a short walk to the beach.

Loaded up my Ford Escape and began the drive back to Vancouver.  You must leave by 11 am.  I drove home by US101 and WA4.  

Lewis and Clark called the Columbia River bottom and lowland area between Vancouver and Longview the Wapato Valley because of the many wapato roots and camas bulbs harvested by the native Chinook people in the area.  

With 14.5 hours of darkness each day, I had plenty of time to read.  In the last three days I read the following books:

Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia.  Edited by Robert T. Boyd, Kenneth M. Amers, and Tony A. Johnson.  University of Washington, 2015, 464 pages.  VSCL.  Maps, index, art, bibliography.  Outstanding collection of articles.

Cathlapotle and its Inhabitants 1792-1860.  By Robert Boyd.  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon, 2011.  Index, 209 pages, many maps and charts, place name index, detailed bibliography, art work.  Fascinating study of native people living the area from For Vancouver to Ilwaco, on both sides of the lower Columbia River, as reported by persons living then.  FVRL. 

The Chinook Jargon and How to Use It: A Complete and Exhaustive Lexicon of the Trade Language.  By George Coombs Shaw in 1909, Ranier Printing, Seattle.  Franklin Classics, 2018, 65 pages.  VSCL. 

Mountain Home: The Wilderness Poetry of Ancient China.  Translated by David Hinton.  New Directions, 2005, 320 pages.  VSCL.  

 

Seaside Days of Late Autumn

 

The California Gulls and brown seagulls
gather by my parked car seeking a
food handout from me.  It feels like 30F
with gusty winds, intermittent drizzle.

A short drive northeast from Seaview is the 
southeast side of Willapa Bay.  Then on to the
Naselle River and bridge on US101.
Beautiful county in the Willapa Bay National
Wildlife Refuge.  

The Columbia River at Baker's Bay.
Rough river on a late autumn day.

Nobody in the campground but me.

Lots of rain, day and night, all
during this trip until Wednesday night.

Seaview 

Seaview Information   South of Long Beach. 

42 Cafe and Bistro    Depot Restaurant

Sportsmens Cannery

Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and Information in Seaview

Seaview - Wikipedia

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Long Beach City

Long Beach   Population 1,390.  WB.  Long Beach 29 mile Peninsula with wide sandy beaches facing the Pacific. 

Long Beach WB   Images   Travel   Lodging, shops, restaurants, rentals.  Long Beach's 8 mile Discovery Bicycling Trail. 

Long Beach Peninsula     Images

Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau and Information   Videos on Facebook

Long Beach Peninsula.  By Nancy L. Hobbs and Donella J. Lucero.  Arcadia, 2005, 130 pages.  History, photographs. 

Long Beach Travel Opportunities

Long Beach:  Cranberry Museum and Gift Shop

Shopping on the Long Beach Peninsula

Friends of the Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Food:  Benson's By the Beach   Breakfast     Lunch    Dinner   Crab Pot

Visitor Information     Tourist Information

Ocean Park Timberland Library

Long Beach - Chinook Indian People

Ilwaco

 

39F, 26 mph wind, raining.
Dismal Nitch where Lewis and Clark
were stranded in a bad storm in
November of 1805.

Columbia River near the Pacific

North Jetty "Wakiki Cove"

Beard's Hallow Viewpont

Ilwaco Marina, Town, Hillsides

I enjoyed a seafood meal at the Crab Pot in Seaview and
purchased canned produces from the Sportsmen's Cannery.

I get up very early each day.  I could find little open at 6 am for breakfast,
except for McDonald's in Long Beach.  

Winter hours and day's open or closed for stores and restaurants vary.

Ilwaco   Population 1,200.  City and marina on north shore of the Columbia River nearest to the Pacific.   On shallow Baker's Bay. 

Work on the north jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River Bar began in 1915.  Work on the south jetty at the Columbia in Oregon began in 1885. 

Illwaco   NOKSKA'ITMITHLS  (Chinook Name)   On the Columbia River at Cape Disappointment and Baker's Bay 

Chinook River

Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia.  Edited by Robert T. Boyd, Kenneth M. Amers, and Tony A. Johnson.  University of Washington, 2015, 464 pages.

Ilwaco   Images     Boardwalk Wildlife  

American Indian Place Names in Washington

Ilwaco    Cape Disappointment State Park  CR  Camping, Yurts, Fishing, Trails 

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Ilwaco Fishing   Charter Boats    Images 

"Ilwaco: this town was named for the son-in-law of Chinook Chief Comcomly, Elowahka Jim which then became Ilwaco. ... The name “Mukilteo” means “good camping ground.” Nahcotta: this community is named for Chinook chief Nahcati who was friendly with the American settlers when the town was established in 1888."

Ilwaco:  Jetty Fishing     Pier Fishing     Dock Fishing  

Ilwaco   Food   Cafes

Ilwaco: Port of Ilwaco

Ilwaco Ocean Beach Hospital 

Ilwaco Museum:  Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum  and gift shop. 

Ilwaco:  Baker's Bay 

Ilwaco - Chinook Indian People

Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company

Ilwaco Shopping

Ilwaco: Images of Port and Docks

Ilwaco Things to Do in Ilwaco

Ilwaco  Long Beach Peninsula

Beach sightseeing in December
in the Coastal Northwest
is for a few hardy souls.
North Jetty!

Cape Disappointment State Park

 

Home for four days, Yurt Y88, Cape Disappointment State Park.

It is dark from 5 pm to 7:30 am = 14.5 hours.
It was cold outside: 35F to 42F, 26 mph wind, intermittent rain.

Inside, dry, locked tight, warmed by a small electric heater.
I bring my own 2'x3' desk, chair, books, Jackery power, toys, games, crafts.
I bring plenty of extra lighting.
For food I eat oranges, apples, dried apricots, nuts, crackers, coffee, dried beef, cookies.

Cozy Yurt Camping.
Y88 had a sturdy small 3'x3' table and two woods chairs. 
Sofabed OK.  Used bunk bed to store all my gear.  No wastebasket.

I drove and walked the road
along the North Jetty.  Very windy.

200 yards west of my Yurt Campsite
is a couple of miles of sandy beach.
Lots of driftwood from King High Tides.

 

There is a long drive from the Visitor Center
to the Yurt Campsite.  Many sloughs, lagoons, lowlands, trees, shrubs,
mosses, and grasses along the roadway

Black Lake north of Ilwaco
Many trails around the lake.

Cape Disappointment State Park  CR  Camping, Yurts, Fishing, Trails     Images

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse  In operation since 1856. 

Cape Disappointment Weather

Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center   History     Wikipedia

Discovery Bicycling and Walking Trail

Fort Canby State Park is the old name for Cape Disappointment State Park   

Travel Adventure and Ghost Tales and History  

North Head Lighthouse     Images

U.S. Coast Guard Station  

"Cape Disappointment State Park (formerly Fort Canby State Park) is a public recreation area on Cape Disappointment, located southwest of Ilwaco, Washington, on the bottom end of Long Beach Peninsula, the northern headlands where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. The state park's 2,023 acres (819 ha) encompass a diverse landscape of old-growth forest, freshwater lakes, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and oceanside tidelands. Park sites include Fort Canby, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, North Head Lighthouse, and Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.[2] Cape Disappointment is one of several state parks and sites in Washington and Oregon that are included in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.[3]"

   I have camped here twice.