Hay Bales and Salmonberries
I spent summers in a camper on my grandparents farm in Clearwater. They had fields of cows and hay that I helped bale when I got older. The surrounding area was mainly neighboring farms and forests of Douglas fir, hemlock and red cedar trees.
In Clearwater everyone knows their neighbors. They leave fruit on each others doorsteps, help with the other's farm work and have summer picnics together. It’s an area where everyone cares for each other.
My siblings and I were left to essentially run wild. We knew all the neighbors, they looked out for us like their own grandchildren. There was a single main road that we could go up and down, so we explored short distances into the woods and played in creeks.
There was a “park” that we went to that was really just a small clearing next to a creek surrounded by trees, with a few picnic tables scattered around. This park was normally an unbusy place, except during the salmon festival.
This part of Washington was full of salmonberry bushes. This kind of berry is native to the Pacific Northwest and has a similar shape to that of blackberries, and is a pink salmon color.
I ate salmonberries all day long as I wandered through nature or took a break from moving hay bales. I haven’t had a salmonberry in over a decade, since the last time I was in Clearwater.
On my grandparents farm they had a large red barn. I remember when they built the barn, I was very young at the time. This is where all of the bales of hay were stored. Stacked to the ceiling practically. My siblings and I climbed to the very top of these stacks. At the top we moved hay bales around, creating our own hideouts within the stacks.
Occasionally my family made the hour-long drive to the nearby town of Forks, previously a small town that was unknown to the larger region of the PNW. Forks gained notoriety after the release of a popular book series “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyers. The young adult fantasy series was full of vampires, werewolves and love triangles.
My older sister was obsessed. In the summer of 2008 the final book in the series was released and we just had to go to Forks to get it. By this time the town had fully leaned into Twilight tourism, or “vampire tourism.” Bella’s famous red truck was parked outside the visitor center, restaurants featured menu items such as the “Bella Burger,” which came with a pair of plastic vampire teeth. You could get a photo with the Forks police chief.
Forks gained popularity due to the fantasy series. People from all over the United States travel to the town to see the place Bella formed a new life (afterlife?). But once there, they also discover the beauty and wonder surrounding the area.
With breathtaking hikes and scenery, the town is also a short drive from the ocean. Forks is located within a rain forest and is widely known as one of the rainiest towns in the contiguous United States. So beach trips might not be good for swimming and sunbathing, but the beaches are still incredibly beautiful. When there is a low layer of fog on the beach and you just hear the waves crashing along the sand, it gives you a sense of calm that is hard to find in everyday life.
The popularity of Forks has continued to rise since the release of the book series and the movies that followed. It went from a place to make a quick stop on long road trips to being a popular travel destination near the Olympic National Park.
Clearwater remains a small sleepy community today. Many of the previous residents have moved, but the sense of community and family is still present in the people who live there now. Clearwater Washington is a place that holds fond memories and remains frozen in time as a welcoming farming town where everyone knows their neighbor.
At a Glance:
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