Oh the places Boki goes

[bokisaurus]

Okay, many of you have seen my dioramas and have wondered where in the world do I go every time I skip town ;D
Well, I think its time that I shared with you pictures of the places I frequent during my vacations.
I am fortunate to live in a state that has so much natural beauty all around me... and I live in the big city of Seattle ;DSouth of us is the lovely state of Oregon where I spend almost half of my annual vacations
As you can see, there are many different locations that I can pull off a quick diorama.
Anyway, here we go, ready for a tour of my neighborhood?

Washington State
We have it all, from lush rain forest, majestic mountain ranges, sound, desert, cities,and the coast!
But lets leave the city behind, shall we?
First stop is closer to home for me, the Olympic Peninsula. It's a 3 hour drive from Seattle after a 30 minutes ferry ride.
The Olympic National Park is one of the 3 national parks in our state, Mount Rainer and North Cascades are the other two.
I spend lot of time exploring the Olympic National Park.
Highlights:
Elwah River - one of the most beautiful river I have ever seen. The water is just amazingly blue!
It once supported all the species of salmon that can be found in the state. Unfortunately, dams were built without fish ladders. However, those dams are scheduled to be removed, part of the largest, first of its kind restoration project.

The world famous NW rainforest

Different part of the Elwah river

Last year, I went on a 6 days backpacking trip in the Olympics.
It was a very memorable experience.
We went up and crossed 4 mountain passes, the highest being 6,789 feet, and that's with a 60 lbs backpack! ;D
The view from the top:

There were still lots of snow even in late August. Melting snow creates ice blue pools like this one

View from our tent high up

Here I am, looking down the valley! This is perhaps the scariest part of the mountain crossing. The rocks were so crumbly, the trail barely a food wide, and very high.
We camped in the valley below, just beyond the trees in the distance. We saw lots of bears and marmots in this area.

I'm not even at the halfway point up this mountain pass! ;D
The Hamahama River, another beautiful and very cold river. It is located just outside the National Park


Still in Washington, this places are no far from Seattle, about 1.5 hour drive east.
White River

Deception Pass State Park north of Seattle


Now we move south, to Oregon!
Oregon State
Oregon has some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been. The central coast is where I spend much of my time when I'm down south.
The terrain is very different from the northern part of the state.
Strawberry Hill State Park

Low tide

Typical central coastline rock formations

Bridge (forgot the name), below it is a river. Here you can find lots of agates and Jasper.There is another beach that we go to a lot and spend countless hours hunting for agates, jaspers, petrified wood, and if your lucky, fossil bones. I found a few nice pieces , mostly marine mammals.

My dog Sophie enjoying the view

Another beach park


Oregon Sand Dunes
The location of many of my latest dioramas. The dunes stretches some 60 miles. Its a vast space that begins inland by the forest edge all the way through the ocean. Truly spectacular place. Unfortunately, invasive beach grass has taken over huge areas of the dunes. Sadly, the dunes are dissapearing

The dunes has lots of small to large lakes like this one

Here, you can see the beach grass advancing. This whole area used to be just sand just a few years ago.


Well, that it for now. I hope you all enjoyed the tour of the PNW.
Hope you join me on my next adventure... very soon! ;D

[sepp]

Boki, your photos are beautiful

What's the name of the beach where you hunt for jasper, agate, and fossil bones? My boyfriend and I are going camping on the central oregon coast this june for our 4 year anniversary, and I would love to see that beach!

[stoneage]

Wow! You really have some great places to go too!

[rugops]

Indeed! and great photography!!

[dinonikes]

My brother lives in Portland, OR and was stationed in Seattle while in the army, so I have spent enough time out there visiting him in both locales to know just how beautiful that area is. I especially liked the Olympic peninsula rain forest-it is like being back in time hiking through that environment-one day we were hiking in Oregon and the next day we heard on the news that there was a sasquatch sighting right where we had been hiking- we joked that it must have been my brother that they saw as he is a big guy-

[Libraraptor]

Beautiful landscape photography boki!

[sid]

Wow, awesome places indeed!

Man, those beaches are gargantuan, to say the least, oh, and those sand dunes remind me of the place i went on vacation with my parents when i was a lil' kid (north of the Sardinia, that's it)... Sorry to repeat it, but they are truly wonderful places, hope to go there someday

[roselaar]

Very cool! Good to see there's still some places untainted by man left on this globe. Living in the Netherlands, where the original nature is all gone, tends to make you forget this...

[Himmapaan]

I'm speechless and breathless -- again!

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

That's one thing that's really cool about living in the united states; you never have to leave your country to see almost all the different types of biome!

[bokisaurus]

Greetings everyone! Thank for the all of your nice comments. Yes, perhaps some days some of you will have the opportunity to visit the Pacific NW and see the place for yourself.
Now, you guys can picture me scampering among the rocks, tidepools, forest, and dunes, trying to get that perffect diorama shot! ;D When I find it, I will add the picture of my backpack with dino figures sticking out from pockets! ;D

Sepp- if you really want to look for agates, I will suggest you go down to Yachats area and try Sunset beach, Neptune, Strawberry hill. These are the best places for Agates, Jaspers, and petrified wood and sometimes fossils. The bridge have gravels, but the quality of the agates are not as good as the ones from the locations I mentioned. Best time of the year is winter and early spring when the gravel beds are exposed. In late spring and summer, the beds are covered with sand, making it hard to see anything. Oh Moolach beach between Lincoln City and Newport is also a good place to look for Agates, Jaspers, and fossils. Plus, if you are there at the right time, you may be able to see those huge ancient tree stumps that were covered thousands of years ago, really cool.

[bokisaurus]

Here is my latest adventure pics. Went backpacking for 3 days two weeks ago. The place is in the Buckhorn Wilderness area bordering the Olympics National Park. This year, snow melt is late, so there were lot of snow patches making the hike at times scary. We went up to 5560 feet, pretty high. The hike u p was steep, but not as hard as some of the others I did last year.

you can see some of the high peaks behind me. Yes, my little puppy went with us, she was a great trooper! ;D

On our way up to the Alpine Zone, see how steep the terrain is?

Reaching the Alpine meadow, the view. Beyond those peaks is Marmot Pass, can't really cross it due to deep snow.

Me and my pup, Sophie!

Wonder dog Sophie enjoying the view. This fu-fu dog is one sturdy pup!

Well, thats it for now. I have another BIG backpacking trip planned next month. This one will take 8 days, 60 miles! Yikes! Better get myself in shape! ;D

[totoro]

Howdy Boki, my PNW brother! What a spectacular hike you took! That's some robust little pup too. Thanks for sharing the photos!

BTW, what the ink on your left arm? Do I spy a flying reptile?!

[parasaurolophus]

That is some truly amazing scenery! Especially the mountains! ^ ^

[stoneage]

Gee those pictures make me wish I could go along. Although I really don't know much about camping.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Wow, Boki, I just now happened upon this thread. Simply spectacular views you've captured! Thanks for sharing!

[bokisaurus]

Thanks everyone. I 'm fortunate to live somewhere where nature like this is accessible (just 3.5 hr from Seattle!).
And also luck to be on physical shape to be doing something like this ;D

Totoro - ;D Can't believe you notice my tattoo from that distance! It's a horse of some sort I will try to post picture of it.

Stoneage - You can do it! Camping is easy, its the backpacking part that is challenging! ;D

Meso - stay tuned, in 3 week I will be going on my longest, most challenging backpacking trip to date! It should be spectacular! It will be a 6 day, 60 mile hike up to the alpine passes! Yikes!

[totoro]

Aug 8, 2011 1:59:45 GMT bokisaurus said:

Totoro - ;D Can't believe you notice my tattoo from that distance! It's a horse of some sort I will try to post picture of it.

Oh, I'd love to see the ink. I'm planning to get a few tattoos after years of wanting to and talking myself out of it, so I'm really noticing everyone else's.