East Coast, West Coast: Detlef Palm

Who hasn't thought about travelling across the United States? Most visitors get their kicks on Route 66. Back in 2005, we aimed for the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State and took the general direction of the Interstate  I-90. “Route 90” also offers plenty of kicks.

According to Google Maps, it is 3150 miles (or just over 5000 kilometers) from New York City to Kalaloch Beach on the Pacific Coast, and it takes 48 hours continuous driving. With the inevitable detours, one will easily clock 4000 miles or 6500 kilometers, one way. 

 

First destination: The Rainbow Falls in Watkins Glen National Park - at the Finger Lakes in NW New York State.

The energetic will explore Watkins Glen Park on foot.

Click on the button above, turn up the volume and listen to the soundtrack, while we are driving along the shores of Lake Eerie and enter Ohio. 

We passed through 12 States of the USA: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Ohio is known as a good presidential bellwether, although the 13 election streak of siding with the winner was broken in 2020.

We looked at the skyscrapers of Chicago from the distance only.

The quirky Corn Palace in Mitchel, South Dakota. The Palace is redecorated each year with naturally colored corn and other grains and native grasses.

Chamberlain, at the crossing of the Missouri River. After a good dinner, we donated to the local school, and received henceforth, once a year for at least 4 years, a porcelain coffee mug with the name of the school printed on it.

The Badlands, South Dakota 

The Badlands

It's the Middle-West, and it shows

Mount Rushmore - there is still room for Trump's countenance.

We had planned to spend a night in Sturgis, unaware that it was the day of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which is the most important bikers' event in North America. 

Next stop is the impressive Yellowstone National Park. 

We spent some time waiting for Old Faithful to erupt (which takes between 44 minutes and two hours). But there are many other hydrothermal and geologic features to admire. As one would expect, traffic is very regulated.

We also veered off to Jackson Hole to admire the Grand Teton Mountain Range. Inexplicably, I do not have any photograph, so you have to google it. 

Wyoming and Montana are Big Sky country.

Once we crossed Idaho, we entered Washington and the Cascades Mountain Range, our original objective. 

View from Maple Pass

Mount Rainier

We spent two weeks admiring the outdoors

After some warm-up hikes, we set our eyes on Mount Adams, here seen from the Snowgrass Flats. The mountain, named for President John Adams, is also known locally as Klickitat; the volcano has not erupted for the last 1000 years but is not considered extinct.

Because of its prominence, a hike from the Yakama Reservation takes two days. Sunset at sunrise camp. 

On the summit of Mount Adams, looking down on Mount St. Helens, which is releasing a puff of smoke. 

For good measure, we also climbed Mount Baker. Because of an overnight and glacier travel, one needs to carry a lot of gear.

High camp on Mount Baker

Crossing a crevasse at first light

 

Mount Baker Summit

Time for a tree-hug

And so we arrived at the West Coast

Kalaloch Beach, on the Pacific Ocean

Olypmic National Park, Washington State

What do you do with your car at the end of the trip? One party drove the car from New York to the Pacific. The other took a plane to Seattle, then drove the car back from Seattle to New York. I hope you don't mind that our story is told in reverse.

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Other photo-stories by Detlef:

• Lunae Montes - a journey to the source of the Nile, in 1980
• Operation Lifeline Sudan, the first years in pictures
• Duruusta Soomaaliya - The Somali Experience
• New York - A Walk on the Wild Side
• Into the Midnight Sun (Journey to the North Cape)
• The Door to Hell and the Path to Health (Turkmenistan)
• Magic South (Southern Africa)
• Azhdahak (from Germany to Armenia, by road)
• Top of Mexico
• At the edge of the bog - where we live
• Rudaki, a Wedding and Proto-Urban Sarazm (Tajikistan)

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More Insights from Outside the Bubble, by Detlef Palm

Detlef can be contacted via detlefpalm55@gmail.com