Logging places to see in the PNW?

[schmuck.k]

:agree2: verry interisting

 

[Humptulips]

Thanks for the info guys/gals.

Camp 18 is now on the itinerary. We were already planning the 101 drive, and I have done that before. It is absolutely beautiful. I can't remember the place on the way back from Ozute (sp?) but the road passes by a lake or pond with a plaque on it. The hills surrounding the site were amazing and lots of logging going on back in '05.

Slowp: the wife doesn't do 0 dark thirty. She will, but no one wants to be around her. I would love to go on some old logging roads, but the rental car probably won't get me very far.

Thanks again everyone!

Could you mean Lake Ozette?

 

[madhatte]

Another good place to visit is Pack Forest on the way to Paradise in Mt Rainier Nat'l Forest. Actually, the road uphill from Elbe/Ashford to Paradise is pretty awesome, too.

 

[PB]

Could you mean Lake Ozette?

That could be it. We hiked to the coast and on the way back we drove right by it. I want to say it was national park/forest land but not positive.

Another good place to visit is Pack Forest on the way to Paradise in Mt Rainier Nat'l Forest. Actually, the road uphill from Elbe/Ashford to Paradise is pretty awesome, too.

Thanks. We have a quite the itinerary so far.


Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[PB]

Thanks for all the input guys and gals. We have had an amazing time out here so far. The 101 from Port Angeles to Astoria is an absolutely beautiful drive. Lots of logging and big trees. We stopped at Camp 18 on the way to Portland and had a good time. I really liked the memorial they had for all the loggers, it was really nice to see something like that. The old equipment was really neat, but the back shed full of old saws the real treat. The camera chose the perfect time to run out of batteries right when we got to the saws. Saw some PM Canadien, lots of Macs, 166's and P100's.

The difference between the coast and the Cascades is amazing. The trees are relatively smaller, at least in Wenatchee. I convinced the wife that moving here isn't a bad idea.

I will post pictures when I get back next week. Thanks again!

PS: I finally found some Ranier beer. I have been wanting to try it for quite a while. It's good, but definitely no Deschutes.

 

[IllinoisJim]

PNW logging

Next time out to visit the family I must try to get to camp 18. I grew up about 20 miles from the coast in the middle of nowhere (Near Florence) - it was great. The lumber industry was still strong when I left for the military in the mid 70's but crashed not long after that. When I was a kid I remember big "wigwam" burners smoldering outside the mills to burn all the scrap wood and sawdust.

My dad's grandfather packed in to the area with mules to log it before there were roads and set up a sawmill. Dad had some interesting stories and pictures! When he was a young man he lost a hand in a sawmill accident - lots of open saws and such that would never be done today. But he never let it slow him down. Said he missed 6 weeks of work before he went back to work running cat. His hook was handy in a pinch as a ground clamp when welding, for picking up a hot part or as a wrench for a stubborn barrel bung! He was always proud to have never taken welfare or a government handout.

Guess I got a little off topic going down memory lane... Anyway, good to know about those museums for a future trip.

 

[MS260 Fan]

Camp 18 Visit

I found this thread when I was looking for places to visit near Portland, OR. I took the advice to go to Camp 18 on my way to Astoria. I had to go out there for work last week so thought I'd explore a little. My wife met me out there on day two and we did some exploring.

We wanted to go through the mountains to see the ocean and see the huge stands of Doug Fir so I picked Astoria. Solely based on it was where one of the logging companies on Axemen was situated. JM Browning. I figured I could stop in and see the yarders and so on at their yard. We stopped at Camp 18 on the way up. Beautiful spot even in the rain. Right on a river that had salmon working their way up stream to spawn. You could see the salmon from the window where we sat to eat lunch.

Here`s some big old 2-man saws from the banquet room in the basement of the main cabin. Bars were probably about 6ft long. I can`t believe I didn`t take any pictures of the log cabin itself. It was very well built and maintained. There were a few saws on display hidden all over the place. There were also some in the loggers memorial. I was very impressed with the memorial. As much as I wanted to snap some pictures, I didn`t. It didn`t feel right having the camera out in there.

I though this saw chain display was kind of cool. It looked more interesting in person.

Here`s one of me walking around the corner of the main building. The loggers memorial is to my left. Funny story on why I was walking over there. We drove an hour to get to Camp 18. The whole time my wife is ribbing me about driving all this way to see the axemen and their toys. Never saw a soul outside of passing cars. We get to the Camp 18 parking lot and there`s a familiar looking guy driving a nice F350 diesel slowly making his way to the side of the main building. I say, hey, that looks like Jay Browning in that truck. In this picture I was walking around to see if I was right. I got around the corner to see Jay Browning from Axmen coming out of the train caboose converted into bathrooms. I didn`t have the gumption to ask for a picture. Seemed weird to stock a normal guy coming out of a bathroom! BTW, the logs between me and the logger memorial were about 8ft in diameter!

Here`s a pic of some of the cool old equipment they have scattered everywhere. That`s one huge bandsaw at the tree line. Cutters on both sides. Very impressive.

Long story short, if you have a chance to get out that way, it`s worth your time. The trip to Astoria was a bust for seeing logging equipment. The JM Browning site I went to didn`t have anything but one Kenworth tractor. Astoria was very nice though. So hilly. There`s a very neat tower to climb. Locals said you could see Mt St. Helen`s from there on a cloudy day. It was cloudy, windy and rainy when we were up there. Didn`t see much but it was still worth the climb!

 

[MS260 Fan]

A few more pics