Twelve Bucks into the Wilderness - with Chocolates

With the gas crunch, a lot of people in Seattle are staying home and grilling on the condo deck. If you can't stand being forced to stay in-city one more weekend, you can get to the far ends of the Olympic Peninsula for around $12.00, even as far as Clallam Bay.

We live in Clallam Bay, down on Slip Point, next to the tidepools with the fresh mouth-wide scallops and the little purple sea urchins the native Makah call sea eggs; they're not big enough to be commercially harvested, but fresh out of of an icy tidepool, their eggs taste like fresh cream with a hint of salt and garlic. The beach is crowded when there are more than ten people and/or dogs or kids on the strip of pebbles and sand between Clallam Bay and the Clallam River.

The young hen eagles have usually finished river-mouth nest battles by April. Female raptors are bigger than males because they're the ones fight for the nests. They scream - eagles usually chirp - knock feathers out of wings and tails, and try to snatch each other bald-headed. For a couple of weeks, there are eagle feathers all over the beach. Not native? Don't touch; you don't want to pay that fine.

A couple summers ago, a young eagle we'd watched grow up and named Mike went crazy when he caught a silver salmon; people had to duck when he circled overhead, screaming like the teenage kid he was, proud to be feeding his younger siblings against the day he found a firey nest-fightin' girl of his own. If you're basking on a blanket and the younger eagles are fledging, they're liable to cruise shakily overhead, wondering if you're food.

But how to get here when filling up the tank can cost $120.00 and the trip is over 150 miles? One way.

You have to start Friday and come back on Monday, or not all the buses will link up on the weekends; once you get where you're going out here, the transit minds figure you're going to stay put, fishing, agate-hunting or berry-picking for the whole day before boarding the evening bus with your haul and your scratches and sunburn.

Pack light, but wear a hoodie over your shirt. Even on a hot summer day, you can run into cold arctic winds or a cloudburst in the coastal towns. You can always peel it off and tie it around your waist. Good hiking sandals and socks, because you may want to wade; shorts will serve, but you won't overheat in jeans or slacks. Sunglasses, water bottle, swimsuit, small camera, in a lightweight backpack. If you take a bicycle, you'll do a lot of transferring. Cellphone only if you get Verizon or Tracfone. Take a pocketful of quarters and at least ten one dollar bills. I carry two Sakajawea dollars in my wallet; it will cover ferry fare anyplace, until I can get somewhere I can find more change.

Catch an early bus from your neighborhood for $1.50, off-peak, to the downtown Washington State Ferry Terminal. Head to the information kiosk and grab the Kitsap #90 bus schedule (get schedules at each system; you'll have time to look up connections). Take the 6:10 Bainbridge ferry, for $6.70 per adult. Washington State Ferries offer wifi, but not for free.

You'll have plenty of time to link up to the 7:20 Kitsap Transit #90 from Bainbridge. $1.50 will take you to the Poulsbo transit point. Ask for the transfer ticket; you never know.

Pay $1.50 to board the Jefferson Transit #7, that crosses the Hood Canal Bridge; don't forget that transfer ticket.. As you go over the Hood Canal bridge, watch out for seals swimming below. Head up via Port Ludlow along a narrow, forested route to Port Townsend. It's a neighborhood route, and winds around a bit, but the bus isn't crowded and has reclining seats.

Your next transfer stop is Port Townsend transit center, where you'll have a couple of hours to look around the town. Local shuttle #11 takes you downtown, and the shops of this gentrified Victorian port town. If you need a snack - and you probably will - you'll have time. I suggest Dame Agatha Twig's Victorian Tea Room, 100 Tyler Street.

If you feel like stopping here for the weekend instead of continuing on, there are plenty of nice hotels and cabins; reserve ahead if its a holiday or high-tourism weekend. Many peninsula shops are open weekends, but not Mondays or Tuesdays.

The #11 continues uptown and passes Aldridge's market (ask the driver). Next door, First Federal Bank offers free wifi to customers and visitors.

Leave the transit center on the #8, using your transfer ticket, and sit back for the ride down the cliffs that overhang Discovery Bay. If you want to put back the trip an hour, you'll find your first choice of non-scheduled stop-off points. Choose carefully: life may be a box of chocolates, but this bus box only allows you to take one.

The first chocolate is the Johnstown S'klallam casino; the art gallery is worth it, as is the new deli. The fireworks store is open all year but no fireworks on the bus. If you sneak them on, I didn't tell you to. Catch the next bus to continue on your way.

Your next transfer stop will be the Clallam transit center in Sequim (take schedule); take Clallam bus #30, the Highway 101 commuter, for a $2.00 day pass, to the Port Angeles transfer station. You're going to need that day pass: Clallam County is a big, long, county, and you can hit a lot of busses. The pass lasts all day.

If you want to go birding, you'd better hurry. There are Audubon birding maps for central and west end Clallam county, but a local columnist who is also a fishing guide wants to have all the shorebirds wiped out for eating fish. Sequim is trying to figure out how to get rid of the native elk and cougars.

If you didn't blow your time staring up at totem poles at the casino, you'll have a couple of hours in downtown Port Angeles. Nice coffee and restaurants; the downtown Safeway has a well-stocked deli and a pleasant sitting area to eat. Downtown is small, and you can wander.

Now it's time to head out into the far end of the county. Take the Forks bus from the transit center. As you head out of town, keep a lookout on the left side of the highway for Harbinger Winery (www.harbingerwinery.com) ; on the way back home, you can plan time to stop for a wine-tasting (you're not driving) and pick up a bottle of nice home-crafted wine. My fav is the 2007 Dynamo White. I don't like whites, but this is just luscious.

There are few set bus-stops heading west, but you can ask the driver to let you down anywhere it's safe. If you want to get back on, wave large at the side of the road; if it's dark or overcast, wave a flashlight. Stay back from the road; there are wild logging trucks out there, running over hours, over-loaded and over the speed limit. Start looking Raven, the trickster spirit of the Northwest. He uses the roads like rivers for flyways; he's good luck on a journey.

The bus swings around Lake Crescent; sit on the right side and stare down into the deep icy teal blue waters. On the west end, the Soap Lady was found a long time ago; on the west end, the bodies of a couple who drove off the edge in the '20's ad recently discovered by divers are still down there - with their car and washing machine.

Now for another chocolate (just one, remember): if you catch the 3:00 bus, ask the driver to let you down at the Roosevelt Lodge stop; follow the signed trail to the lake beach.

This is where you want your swimsuit. The waters are icy cold, but there are shallow areas next to the sandy white beach that make for nice wading; wear your sandals over the rough pebbles if you have sissy feet like most of us do. The natives may originally not have had a word for "shoe," but none of us gets away without protection now. If you feel you must have some deep water, there's crystal-clear waters off the end of the dock, that go straight down into the azure. Leap off the deck and come up screaming.

The locals all use the lodge beach; it's a laid back place, and doesn't care. Sooner or later, you're going to get hungry and stroll into the dining room for a snack. When the espresso maker is working, you can order and stroll back to the long covered porch; if it isn't, the concierge may just go get you a cup from the dining room and not charge you. They're that nice.

If you'd rather wander through the woods, check out the trail to pretty Marymere falls. It's past a beautiful little river you can wade if you get adventurous. Or, if you're older, you can say, "Been there, done that," and just wander. There are some sweet nasty hikes up Storm King mountain if you need to pump some blood after all that bus-riding.

Stroll back along the trail and catch the bus after it's left Port Angeles at 5:00. This is the last one, so don't miss it, if you're not planning to stay at the lodge.

Sitting high in the bus, you can look over the edge of the road and discover sparkling forest streams, pools and waterfalls, gaze deep into the jewel-colored water of the lake, or track deer or eagles without fear of driving off the road or going head-to-head with a logging truck.

The ride gets more laid-back from here. "No biggie" and "No problem" is repeated by both passengers and drivers. If you haven't eaten your chocolate already, you can stay on the bus into Forks. Forks itself is just a spot of gray asphalt in a ring of clear-cuts, but there's one culinary bright spot.

That's the little Mexican restaurant, La Tacqueria. As the bus heads in, get off at the yellow light, by the Sweet Shop (recommended), cross the road, and walk to the little pink building in the empty lot. Real home cooking, incredibly cheap, incredibly delicious. It's the west end's version of a Seattle taco bus. Not open Tuesdays.

If you're still going out, catch the 6:00 bus from Forks. Get off at Sappho. If you haven't gone to Forks, get off at Sappho. Somebody who knew what he was doing destroyed the statue of Sappho with a chain saw. He cut down the totem pole in Forks but they replaced it.

The Sappho bus is your last transfer. 38 minutes later, you'll be in Clallam Bay. Features include our very empty beach, the Three Sisters of Clallam Art Gallery and Healing Center (art, tea, massage and clothing boutique) and the Clallam Bay Inn. You'll have to stay overnight, now, so head for the Winter-Summer Inn, a very nice bed-and-breakfast.

If you stay on the bus, you'll end up in Neah Bay. If you brought your bicycle, you can go out to the salmon hatchery, where the Makah keep salmon eggs in misted drawers. There are motels that call themselves resorts, and lots of camping where you can hang out for Makah Days, the last weekend of August (www.makah.com). Dancing. Whaleboat races. Bone-gaming tournaments. Frybread. Mmmm...frybread.

To get back, do it all backwards - or continue around the peninsula using Clallam Transit, Jefferson County Transit, Grey's Harbor Transit, Mason County Transit, and King County Transit.

Plan carefully; there are lots of chocolates out here.