September, 2025
Ah, yes, I need to leave today, later this morning. Why is it that, when I leave home at the beginning of a camping trip, I look forward to getting home again. But then, once I’m set up and comfortable in a campsite, I never want to go home again! Hmmm.
This morning here at Coho Campground at Lake Wynoochee was no different. I didn’t want to leave.
But I got up, tidied the trailer inside and out. Prepped the truck. But then I decided to go for one last walk-about.
I didn’t have to go far to get beautiful photos. This Coho Campground, on the edge of Lake Wynoochee, is so beautiful.
In the photo below, I simply walked to the campsite that was next to mine (and yes it was empty at the time, no one was there). You can see how far apart these campsites are. The campsite on the other/far side of mine was even further away with more trees and undergrowth in between.
Then I took a walk behind my campsite and found this. (below)
I don’t know whether the original tree had been cut for lumber or other reasons, but it seemed it had been cut a few decades ago. Look at the tree that’s growing out of the left side of the stump. Its root are intertwined with the original tree for sure. And there is a tree on the right that is doing the same thing, although it’s more in the center in the photo above. But when I walked around, it too was growing out of the far side of the stump. It hurt that the original tree had been cut down, and such a huge tree! … but it felt good to know that new growth was happening all around. The original tree was about 11 feet in diameter.
Then on around I went on my walk. I had previously walked past the campsite in the photo below, but hadn’t explored it in detail. This time I walked way into the end of the campsite because it did have a bit of view of the lake. Note that on the right side of the parking area there is a small clump of roots above ground. Let’s go look at that.
Here’s what I found in among those roots … below. Right in the middle was a metal blue sort of “thing” there, with a flat top to it. What’s that?
Upon closer inspection … it’s a survey marker! It’s a US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey mark. I don’t know if your photo detail can show it, but the year of this marker is 1972 … 54 years ago. It was put here by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Here’s a link to info about them … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers.
In my almost 30 years of boating experience around Puget Sound in the State of Washington, I’ve come across one or two other USACE markers, and was pleased to share dock space with a USACE survey vessel one weekend at La Conner (it was a wooden boat show that weekend and the USACE boat was an old wooden boat tho it was still in perfectly good condition and still doing it’s job perfectly well). I didn’t really know what the USACE did at the time. Now I know a little bit more of what they do.
But, eventually, here in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains, I wandered back to my campsite and to Towhee the Trailer and to the big white truck. As I was hitching up and tidying up, I stopped for a moment and looked up into the trees … and felt so grateful and so peaceful.
This is one of my favorite camping spots for sure. Maybe my most favorite spot.
I hitched up and headed out.
I arrived back at the storage lot where I keep the trailer and parked the trailer there safe and sound.
And yet … I still thought about my friend Douglas the squirrel back there at Lake Wynoochee. I hope he’s safe and well fed. And I hope he’ll be there when I return.