Four Days in Grayland
By Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

Part I: Southwestern Coastal Washington
Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, Long Beach Peninsula, Lower Columbia River, Oregon
A Traveler's Hypertext Notebooks, Studies, Guides, and Resources


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


Part III: Doing and Seeing
   
Photographs, Blog Posts, and Reports from 2021-2024  


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


Part V: Olympic Peninsula   
Travel, Studies, Poetry, Short Essays, Commentary, Bibliography
Quotations, Natural History, Photographs, Native People   

 

Alphabetical Index

 

Memories of Pacific Coast Places
Travels on US Highway 101 and 1
West Coast Snapshots and Snippets
Haiku, Short Poems, Photos, Quatrians
Graphics, Docu-Poems, Concetet Poems
By Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

The Four Days in Grayland Series began in September, 2021.

 

 

                                

 

 

 

 

Southwestern Washington
Notebooks

 

Grays Harbor


Grayland Beach
 

Willapa Bay
 

Long Beach Peninsula
 

Lower Columbia River (North Side) from Ilwaco east to Camas


Olympia to Vancouver, Interstate 5 Corridor South
 

Native Americans in the Area


Northwest Coastal Oregon: Astoria to Cape Lookout


Yurt and Cabin Camping in the Coastal Northwest


Counties in Southwestern Washington


Bibliography, Reading Lists, Sources, Links, Documents


 

Four Days in Grayland Homepage


 

 

Alphabetical Index to Four Days in Grayland

 

Aberdeen, WA

Astoria, Oregon 

Bay Center, WA  

Bay Center, WA: Yurt Camping, KOA 

Boating, Charter Boats for Fishing or Tours  (Westport, Ilwaco, Aberdeen, Astoria)

Agate Hunting, Coastal Geology, Rock Hounding  

Beach Camping in Yurts

Beachcombing

Beach Driving  

Beach Picnics

Berries, Cranberries, Wild Berries, Berry Foraging 

Beverly Beach State Park, Depoe Bay, OR: Yurt Camping

Bibliography - General Information for Traveler's and Campers

Bibliography, Information, Reading, Resources

Bicycling  

Bird Watching 

Bird Watching II 

Blog Reports of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Boat Usage, Kayaking, Canoeing

Books, Suggested Reading, Best Books    

Bullard's Beach State Park, Bandon, OR: Yurt Camping

Camas, WA

Cameras and Photography

Camping in Yurts

Camping Notebooks

Canoeing and Kayaking 

Cape Disappointment, WA

Cape Disappointment State Park, Ilwaco, WA: Yurt Camping

Cape Lookout, Oregon

Castle Rock, WA 

Centralia, WA 

Charter Boats for Fishing and Tours  (Westport, Ilwaco, Aberdeen, Astoria)

Chelais. WA 

Chinook

Chinook Indians

Clam Digging

Clark County, WA    Population 425,000     Cities: Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Ridgefield, Battle Ground

Cloud Hands Blog  By Michael P. Garofalo.  Blogging since 2005. 

Columbia River from Ilwaco to Vancouver, WA

Columbia River Gorge, WA and Oregon

Counties in Southwestern Washington

Cowlitz County, WA     Population 102,000     Cities: Longview, Kelso; Columbia River, Mt. St. Helens, Cowlitz River, Cascades

Cowlitz Indian Peoples

Cowlitz River, WA

Cranberries, Wild Berries, Berry Foraging 

Day Picnics and Day Camping at the Beach  

Driftwood Gathering, Beachcombing, Agate Hunting, Sea Shell Gathering

Driving on the Beach in Washington    

Driving Tour #1: Longview to Westport, WA

Facebook of Michael P. Garofalo

Fishing

Food and Seafood

Foraging, Beachcombing, Walking

Fort Stevens State Park, Astoria, WA: Yurt Camping 

Fort Vancouver, Hudson Bay Company, 1825-1850, History, WA

Four Days in Grayland Homepage   

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

Geology Coastal, Rock Hounding, Agate Hunting

Glamping: Camping in Yurts or Small Cabins, Camping Comforts

Good Books, Reading Lists, Bibliography

Gorge of the Columbia River, WA and Oregon

Grays Harbor, WA

Grayland Beach, WA

Grayland Beach State Park, Westport, WA: Yurt Camping

Grays Harbor County, WA    Population 74,000     Cities: Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Westport, Montesano

Green Way Research Hypertext Notebooks of Michael P. Garofalo 

Hiking Quotations, Sayings, Poems

Hiking Trails

Hoquiam, WA

Ilwaco, WA

Indians, Native Peoples in the Area

Information, Bibliography, Reading, Resources

Interstate 5 Travel Corridor from Olympia to Vancouver, Driving South

Inter-tidal Ocean Shores

Jetty Fishing

Kalama, WA  

Kayaking and Canoeing 

Kelso, WA  

Kite Flying

Lewis County, WA    Population 75,000     Cities: Centralia, Chelais

Lewis River, WA

Libraries

Long Beach City, WA

Logging and Timber Mills Industry

Long Beach Peninsula, WA

Longview, WA 

Lower Columbia River from Ilwaco East to Washougal, WA

Manzanita and Nehalem, Oregon

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

Michael P. Garofalo Biography   

Mike's Driving Tour #1: Longview to Westport, WA

Months and Seasonal Activities

Mushroom Foraging  

Naselle River, WA 

Native Peoples in the Coastal Southwestern Washington and Coastal Oregon

Native Peoples, Lower Columbia River, North Side - Bibliography

Native Peoples Northwest - Bibliography

Nehalem Bay, OR 

Nehalem Bay State Park, Manzanita, OR: Yurt Camping

Netarts Bay, OR

Northwest Coastal Oregon: Astoria to Cape Lookout

Ocean Park, WA

Ocean Shores, WA

Olympia, WA

Olympia south to Vancouver, Interstate 5 Travel Corridor, WA

Oregon - Northwest Coast, From Astoria to Cape Lookout, Highway 101

Oysters   

Pacific Beach State Park, Copalis, WA: Yurt Camping  

Pacific County, WA    Population 23,000     Cities: Raymond, South Bend, Long Beach, Ilwaco

Photographs of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Photography

Pier Fishing 

Quinault River, Quinault Lake, Quinault Rain Forest, WA 

Raymond, WA

Reading, Information, Bibliography, Resources

Reading, Bibliography - General Information

Reports of Monthly Yurt Camping Trips

Ridgefield, WA 

Rock Hounding, Agate Hunting, Coastal Geology 

Seafood and Food

Sea Shell Gathering, Beachcombing, Agate Hunting

Seaside Nature Studies

Seaside Picnics and Day Camps

Seasonal Events

Seasons and Months Activities

Shellfish (Clams, Mussels, Oysters) and Seaweed   

South Beach State Park, Newport, OR: Yurt Camping

South Bend, WA

Southwestern Washington - Notebooks, Studies, Travel

Southwestern Washington Home Alternate A

State Park Yurt Camping

String Figures, String Games and Play (he he)

Surf Fishing

Studies in Southwestern Washington 

Swimming, Boogie Boarding, and Surfing  

Tillamook, Oregon

Timber Industry, WA and Oregon

Toledo, WA  

Tour Driving #1: Longview to Westport, WA

Trails and Paths

Twin Harbors State Park, Westport, WA: Yurt Camping

Vancouver, WA

Videos from some Yurt Camping Trips

Wahkiakum County, WA     Population 4,000     Cities: Cathlamet, Skamokawa

Walking Trails

Walking Quotations, Sayings, Poems

Washington - Southwestern - Travel  

Washougal, WA

Westport, WA

Wild Berries, Berry Foraging, Cranberries 

Willapa Bay, WA

Willapa Bay - Bibliography, Resources, Reading, WA

Woodland, WA

Yurt Camping

Yurt Camping Reports

 

 

 

 

 

Counties in Southwestern Washington

The geographical focus area of my Notebooks for Four Days in Grayland

 

Clark County    Population 425,000     Cities: Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Ridgefield, Battle Ground; Columbia River, Cascades

Cowlitz County     Population 102,000     Cities: Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock; Columbia River, Mt. St. Helens, Cowlitz River, Cascades

Grays Harbor County    Population 74,000     Cities: Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Westport, Montesano; Chelais River, Grays Harbor

Lewis County    Population 75,000     Cities: Centralia, Chelais, Pe Ell, Toledo, Packwood; Forestry, Agriculture, Chelais River, Cascades

Pacific County    Population 23,000     Cities: Raymond, South Bend, Long Beach, Ilwaco; Willapa Bay, Long Beach Peninsula, Columbia River  

Wahkiakum County     Population 4,000     Cities: Cathlamet, Skamokawa; Columbia River, Willapa Hills, Grays River

The total population of these six Counties is 703,000   Except for Clark County, all of other five counties are in rural, forested, riverside or marine areas, famlands in valleys.  Five of these six Counties have only small cities. 

List and map of the Counties in the State of Washington

 

In contrast, the City of Portland, Oregon, across the Columbia River from Vancouver, has a population of 650,000; Mulnomath County, which includes Portland, has a population of 735,000, and the Portland Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 2,753,000. 

Our two married children lived in Portland from 2000-2016 while we lived in Red Bluff, California, from 1998-2017.  We traveled extensively in Oregon from 1999-2019.  All our family now lives in Vancouver.  Since my wife and I have lived in Vancouver, Washington, in the northeast Orchards neighborhood, from 2017-2022, we have traveled far more in Southwest Washington as well as the Columbia Gorge, and throughout Washington. 

To drive south on Interstate 205 or 5 from Vancouver into Portland involves encountering considerable traffic and reduced speeds.  It is 50 miles of urban and suburban development, and heavy traffic, from my home in Vancouver to Wilsonville, Oregon, and the start of the agricultural Willamette Valley.  Most of the roads to the Oregon coast are very busy with business and tourists from larger Oregon cities heading to the beach. 

To drive north on Interstates 205 or 5 from Vancouver is far easier, more scenic, with far less traffic, and faster.  Interstate 5 and 205 meet just north of Vancouver in the Salmon Creek area.  Interstate 5 follows the Columbia River from Vancouver to Longview.  You can see the Columbia River from Woodland to Longview.  The views include rivers, forest, hills, mountains, farmlands.  The key roads to the coast for me are WA 4 and WA6, and both have little traffic, spectacular rural or riverside scenery, and driving through forests and farms. 

So to get to my imaginary and the real "Grayland Beach" I drive north into Southwest Washington. 

 


Michael P. Garofalo

 

 

 

Mike Garofalo at the Klickitat River in Southwest Washington, 2019

 

 

Cloud Hands Blog of Michael P. Garofalo       

Facebook of Michael P. Garofalo    

 

 

 

Return to the Alphabetical Index of Mike Garofalo's Hypertext Documents
 

Green Way Research

 

November 16, 2023