Talking Story Archives - Page 112 of 114

Graffiti

Posted by Ken Campbell June 4, 2008 0 Comment 777 views

Daybreak is not a precise event out here on the western edge. Over time, night changes to morning, and the sky changes from black to dark gray, then ever-lightening shades of gray until it arrives at the one it chooses for the day. And that’s that, and daybreak is in there somewhere. It’s just that […]

The boardwalk

Posted by Ken Campbell June 3, 2008 0 Comment 732 views

The birds and the seals seem to speak with almost human voices down here. There are times when I could swear I just heard peoples voices as they peered over the edge of the ravine, but there are no people there. The grunts and the cries of the animals are almost distinguishable as words, thoughts […]

Caves

Posted by Ken Campbell June 2, 2008 0 Comment 703 views

I leave Tacoma in the morning. A low fog hangs over the streets, gray skies and a stiff breeze. Not many cars on the road between Bremerton and Port Angeles. Sort of feels like I have the road to myself. It’s a Sunday, but even at that, it’s a quiet one. I pull into Port […]

Old places

Posted by Ken Campbell May 31, 2008 0 Comment 1104 views

I have heard it said that it is not possible to step in the same stream twice. Meaning, as far as I can tell, that regardless how many times you do a certain thing or visit a certain place, it will always be new in some elemental way. You have changed; the stream has continued […]

Bent wood

Posted by Ken Campbell May 31, 2008 0 Comment 992 views

A Northwest native classic, the bentwood box. In which a single plank of cedar is kerfed and steamed, then bent to form the walls of a box. Decorated with carvings and colored designs, inlaid with bits of shell and flakes of metal, the boxes are valued posessions, often used to store items of wealth and […]

The dragon’s claws

Posted by Ken Campbell May 30, 2008 0 Comment 791 views

If you look at a chart of Puget Sound, and you glance up at the area around Admiralty Inlet, in the northwestern end of Peter Puget’s protected waterways, you’ll see something, well, interesting. At least, I think it’s interesting. I can’t remember now whether I was originally told about this geographical feature by someone else […]

Just rocks, thank God

Posted by Ken Campbell May 29, 2008 1 Comment 896 views

The first men to cross the Olympic Mountains went from north to south, more or less. Beginning on the Elwha in the middle of what was (and still is), one of the harshest winters on record, the Press Expedition took almost six months to get to the other side. They left the interior by way […]

Tatoosh

Posted by Ken Campbell May 27, 2008 0 Comment 793 views

Off the coast of Cape Flattery, about a quarter-mile from the rugged shore, lies Tatoosh Island. It seems very close – it’s a mere 10-minute crossing in a sea kayak – and it feels as though it’s even closer than that. From the lookout at Cape Flattery it is easy to see the birds wheeling […]

Best of the rest

Posted by Ken Campbell May 25, 2008 0 Comment 790 views

The largest Sitka Spruce in the world is anchored in the fertile soil near Lake Quinault. At 191 feet tall and with a circumference of almost 60 feet, it is the biggest of its kind remaining anywhere. I cannot help but wonder if it is the record-holder because it truly is such an arboreal over-achiever […]

Rivers

Posted by Ken Campbell May 24, 2008 0 Comment 835 views

There are, by my count, nine major rivers that drain the Olympics. Clockwise, from the lower west side: the Quinault, Queets (above), Hoh, Bogachiel, Elwha, Dosewallips, Duckabush, Skokomish and the Wynoochie. There is room for disagreement on this point. The Hamma Hamma, the Humptulips and the Satsop, for instance, could be argued to be distinct […]