2024 Alaska Road Trip (Days 54-58)
This journal posting chronicles Days 54-58 of a road trip to Alaska and back with Diane, Kenny and Deneen.
Days 54 - 58 (Thursday August 15th - Monday August 19th)
On Thursday we moved from our temporary campsite to the one we have rented for the rest of the long weekend. We were ready to go, but the problem was that the people in our new site stretched out leaving as long as possible. Checkout was 1 PM, and they finally left about 1:30 PM. Which interrupted our day a bit as we waited for them to leave.
This set of journal entries is about the trip Diane, Kenny, Deneen and I took to Alaska and back. So I am not posting anything about the great time we had with our cousins at the annual Camporama gathering.
But I have posted here a few of the photos of the sights around Taidnapam Park.
There is both a vehicle bridge and a pedestrian bridge that crosses over a narrow part of the lake, see photos below. I thought the architecture of the vehicle bridge was interesting, although it is really nothing more than a log truck bridge. The pedestrian bridge appears to be built on the old supports for a previous vehicle bridge, however, it sure looks like one of the supports on the pedestrian bridge is missing. It bounced a bit as Kenny and I walked over it.
The pedestrian bridge was originally designed to fish from, but Tacoma Power, who manages the Riffe Lake reservoir that we are on, is keeping the lake artificially low due to some safety concerns with regards to the spillways on the Mossyrock Dam that holds the lake back. This makes the bridge too high off the water to fish from.
From Pedestrian Bridge - Taidnapam Park, WA
Also due to the lower lake level, the boat ramp in the campground is closed. There is no way to extend the ramp far enough to work due to how quickly the lake bottom drops off here.
End of Boat Ramp - Taidnapam Park, WA
Another consequence of the lower lake level is that there are grassy fields in places where their should be water, and their is day use park that looks like it had a great kids swimming area that is just large sandbox now.
Lake Bottom above Lake Level - Taidnapam Park, WA
Despite the lower lake level, Taidnapam Park was a great place to camp and I would definitely go back.
Some of the plant life that Diane photographed while we were here.
On Saturday night, a significant thunderstorm came through the area. Fortunately we knew it was coming so we finished our group meal outside and everyone was able to head for cover before it started to hail and rain in earnest.
A few members of our group who were in tents decided to leave a day early to avoid the rain, and other tenters ended up in family trailers to weather the storm. One couple tried to leave but a tree had fallen blocking the way out for the night, but they managed to snag space in someone’s trailer.
Thunderstorm - Taidnapam Park, WA
Most people left on Sunday, but I like to stay an extra day. So finally on Monday the last day of the trip arrived and we headed out Hwy 12 to I-5 and then south.
Cowlitz River Bridge - I-5 (South), WA
We crossed back into Oregon on the Lewis and Clark Bridge in Longview, WA.
Entering Oregon Sign - Lewis and Clark Bridge, over Columbia River, Longview, WA
It was strange seeing the last little stretch of road before home after 8 weeks away.
Almost Home - Hillsboro, OR
Home as we drive in.
Home - Hillsboro, OR
This trip has been great fun. We saw lots of sights, enjoyed the drive, cooked and ate lots of good food, and had a good time with each other on the trip.
The total distance we traveled in my truck on this trip was 7,841 miles, or 12,618 km.