Breakfast today at the Rusty Tractor - the hot local spot! We learned at breakfast that Elma's claim to fame is a 1914 bank robbery. The robbers took $2,300, but left $7500 on the cashiers desk.... they were captured and not a shot was fired!
With our history lesson over for the day there were more backroads calling so down Main St we went (Rte 108). The little towns here have great names. We turned onto Monte-Elma Rd and rolled through the town of Satsop. Fishing opened yesterday but we haven't seen anyone in the rivers yet. We pass lots of nurseries and bulb farms.
Winding along the Satsop River on Middle Satsop Road we turn left onto W Boundary Rd. The landscape is turning to a mix of forest and then pastures as we reach Cougar Smith Road which was paved but soon turns into a gravel logging road. Fortunately there are no logging trucks or traffic because it's Sunday. The forest gets thicker as we cross the bridge over the Wynoochee River. The gravel road now becomes National Forest Road #22 and we followed it to the Wynoochee Dam and then into the Olympic National Forest with openings that give us great mountain views.
To our left was a dirt path so we took it deeper into the forest. Heavy logging is going on in this area. There wasn't much to see so we retraced our route back to the main road. Soon we came to the Wynoochee Lake area with lush ground cover that looks like carpet under the Douglas Fir & Spruce. Unfortunately we came to a gate. The rest of the road was closed for wildlife habitat enhancement until May 1. We sat on the side of the road by the gate listening to the sounds of nature when a high pitch sound came from the woods like a sharp whistle. We listened for a few minutes, to try and figure out what it was. The call came one more time, but we couldn't see anything. Down the road we parked in a pull off next to the river and followed a path for a way. There were lots of big tracks that were fairly recent - we weren't sure what they were. The sound and the prints could have been Elk. After a while we returned along the river to the car.
We turned back and took a road we had seen on the right which led towards the dam. The dam is a very old metal dam which is badly rusted. Continuing up the road we came to another "closed" gate so we decided to pull over for a snack. We are in the rainforest part of the Olympic National Forest now. The temperature and air has changed since we left the dam. This area looks like it constantly rains.
We turned onto Forest Rd #2220 and followed it back to Rte 101 and then followed backroads home through the Wenatchee Valley with towns like Brady and Montesano. Montesano is a charming 150 year old town which became the county seat for Grays County in 1860. It lines it's Main St with Japanese Cherry trees and as we drive through they are all in bloom. It was beautiful. We've put on over 1000 miles since we got the Jeep 9 days ago.
Joseppi's Pizza was our dinner stop tonight. We watched TV and called it a day.
Tomorrow we have to deal with the rack and pack the Jeep. The boat will fit even if I have to buy a Sawzall!
Pictures: (right to left) The Rusty Tractor, Forest Road 22, Wynoochee River (2)
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