Warning this is a long post. It took us 6 days so it may take awhile.
The discussion lasted for as long as we were at Ocean Cove. Should we drive on CA-1 on our way to the Redwoods or should we drive back down to Santa Rosa and take I-5 and then head west again? CA-1 won even if it meant more-a lot more!- winding and twisting and driving along cliffs because it is beautiful. We set out a little later than our normal mid-morning time figuring we had about a 4 hour drive ahead of us. O! Sweet ignorance! Thou art such bliss!
After driving up through the few small towns along the way we stopped briefly for lunch in Mendocino and then continued through Fort Bragg, where we stopped for gas, and then to just north of Rockport where we turned east toward US-101. Well, if we thought the Shoreline Highway was the twisty part we were woefully mistaken and the drive to Leggett and US-101 finally induced Don, who was by this point exhausted, to give me the wheel and I got to do the downhill part. We had climbed and climbed as we drove east and then it was time to drop down, down, down... Finally, we got to 101 which is alternately a small highway and then in more populous areas 2 lanes. We made much better time but by the time we arrived in Myers Flat at the Giant Redwoods RV Camp it was 6:30pm. We had been on the road for 6 hours and had only gone 167 mi/268 Km! Yes, that is an average of 27.8 MPH/44.6 KmPH! But, the scenery was worth it.
The discussion lasted for as long as we were at Ocean Cove. Should we drive on CA-1 on our way to the Redwoods or should we drive back down to Santa Rosa and take I-5 and then head west again? CA-1 won even if it meant more-a lot more!- winding and twisting and driving along cliffs because it is beautiful. We set out a little later than our normal mid-morning time figuring we had about a 4 hour drive ahead of us. O! Sweet ignorance! Thou art such bliss!
After driving up through the few small towns along the way we stopped briefly for lunch in Mendocino and then continued through Fort Bragg, where we stopped for gas, and then to just north of Rockport where we turned east toward US-101. Well, if we thought the Shoreline Highway was the twisty part we were woefully mistaken and the drive to Leggett and US-101 finally induced Don, who was by this point exhausted, to give me the wheel and I got to do the downhill part. We had climbed and climbed as we drove east and then it was time to drop down, down, down... Finally, we got to 101 which is alternately a small highway and then in more populous areas 2 lanes. We made much better time but by the time we arrived in Myers Flat at the Giant Redwoods RV Camp it was 6:30pm. We had been on the road for 6 hours and had only gone 167 mi/268 Km! Yes, that is an average of 27.8 MPH/44.6 KmPH! But, the scenery was worth it.
SCENES ALONG THE ROUTE CA-1 No. of Jenner to Ft Bragg
It was a real change to be away from the ocean again and HOT. I didn't even finish registering before I had grabbed an ice cream bar from the cooler in the office and was happily licking away while I waited my turn. After 6 hours of travel, the MoHo was a hot box and even though it was already 6:30pm we had a while before sunset and I had to cook dinner so we fired up the a/c and cooled things down. The nice thing is that by nighttime the air was cool so we only needed it for about an hour.
The campground was right on the Eel River and a short walk across the wash took us to a swimming hole. The only problem was that the river has blue-green algae so Phoenix could not go in and you had to shower if you swam. Of course, this was not a huge problem as they had an outdoor shower at the end of the path.
Our reason for being here though was to see the Redwoods. Myers Flat is about halfway point on the Avenue of the Giants which runs for 31 miles parallel to Freeway 101. It is the old Highway 101. But, we needed groceries and a few things for the RV that we could only get in Fortuna, so we drove up there first and then took the exit onto the Avenue on the way back. As impressed as I was, and still am, with the giant sequoias (sequoiadendron giganteum,) there is something about giant or coastal redwoods (sequoia sempervirens) that just leaves me breathless. We drove down the road with these massive, beautiful red giants towering over us and providing a canopy of green to shade us. As it was afternoon, we did the drive through and then made our plans for where to go to hike the next day. A quick stop at the Visitor Center, which was closing, convinced us that that was where the day should start.
The Visitor Center not only has a wonderful collection of books and information available for purchase but, as usual, a small and well done museum. One of the things I loved was the Nash Quad which may have been the original RV but was built from a hollowed out redwood by Charles "Bird Man" Kellogg, one of the first proponents of saving the redwoods. An avid outdoorsman with an unusual larynx which made him able to sing like a bird, he had been raised by his widowed father, Chinese miners and local Native Americans and became a one man campaign to save the redwoods which were being destroyed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries at an alarming rate. He built this traveling home, called a Travel Log, from a section of a felled tree, attached a truck to pull it and had it shipped to the east coast where he traveled, raising awareness about the redwoods destruction.
From there we headed up to the Rockefeller Loop in the Rockefeller Redwood Forest. In response to Kellogg's campaign several prominent men traveled to see the trees and formed the Save-the-Redwoods-League. They began buying groves of the redwoods in 1921 to form what would become the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. With $2 million in donations from John D Rockefeller and matching funds from the state the League was able to buy 10,000 acres from Pacific Lumber in 1931. This is the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coastal redwood forest in the world and some of the tallest trees in the world are here. Many of them are thousands of years old. At the Visitor Center is a section of a tree that fell in 2006. The rings are labeled with historic events and the center ring is from 912 A.D. The trees in this forest are darker that the ones closer to the coast which get more weather and the forest is extremely dense. It was awe inspiring to stand and look up at the tops of these trees which, try as I might, I could not get into one frame on the camera no matter how wide the angle. We went to the Stephens Grove Loop next which was more spread out and in areas the ground was carpeted with ferns and sorrel.
When we'd driven to Fortuna we'd passed a Gem and Mineral Museum that I wanted to return to, so we made a quick jaunt up there. Don stayed outside with Phoenix while I went for a "quick look." About 1/2 hour later he texted me to hint that I might want to wrap it up. I didn't want to but sacrifices must be made and I returned to the car with photographs as memories. The place was fantastic if you love rocks and minerals!
The next day was our last and we decided to do some touristy stuff and go see the One Log Home which was also a hollowed out log made into a home. It was a nice drive down but the day was brutally hot. So, after touring the log home and having milkshakes we went back to the campsite, for a swim and to, unusually for us, enjoy the a/c in the MoHo. Because we had electricity we had done something we'd never done before and for 2 days had left the thermostat at 84 and the a/c switched to on. Both of the days we left we came back to a cool MoHo and a happy Cadbury-Phoenix had come with us and done her normal sleeping in the car-parked in the shade with the windows open and screened- while we walked.
The only negative part of our visit was due to yours truly. The dump station at this campground is just before the bathrooms. To leave the campground you turn left after the bathroom building. But, there was a guy behind me so Don said to pull up out of the way. That meant I'd be making the turn but I was so busy watching the 4 small kids I'd seen darting in and out of the road that I neglected to watch my left side and managed to swipe the end of the roof and take out a piece of wood. Ooops. Don was not pleased with the scratch I managed to put on the side but I was able, later on, to demonstrate my prowess at cleaning and show that the scratch was superficial. A little bit of Bon Ami, a sponge and water and bye bye scratch. OK I bent the frame on the kitchen window a bit but brute force by Don brought it back out.
Our next stop was also redwoods but up at Crescent City and also at an RV park. One other reason for choosing parks instead of state campgrounds was that we found that in CA the state parks were all booked MONTHS ahead of time AND even the public lands or a no amenities campground cost as much as some of the RV parks we found. If we were going to pay $35 a night we figured we'd do it where we could have electricity-if we needed a/c-and usually a laundry room.
The distance this time was 20 mi/32 km shorter but took us longer because we stopped in Eureka. We stopped to stock up at Costco but in the parking lot, as we were leaving, we stopped to talk to an elderly gentleman who was looking at the stickers on our car. He was originally from Maryland but had moved to Eureka 35 years ago. He was doing errands while his wife was out hiking with her buddies. Due to his bad knee, (not his age, 85) he no longer does but he said his wife is much younger, she's 80, so better able to handle it. It was lunch time so he recommended we stop in town and eat fresh fish on the waterfront at Jack's Seafood and that sounded really good so we left the MoHo in the Costco lot and drove into town and had lunch. We took a long enjoyable walk around the waterfront and through the historic district and after a 3.5 hours stop we hit the road again.
As we drove along Rte 101 we saw a line of cars stopped at the side of the road and as we passed realized a herd of elk had just crossed the road. We pulled over and I was able to walk back and watch them making their way across the field. When I looked at the map as I got back in the car I saw that the area is named Elk Crossing.
The drive through Crescent City, since the campground was on the north side, allowed us to see that there were several different places we wanted to see. We arrived at the campground and settled in without problems. This campground had sites that were quite private except where we were but we still had plenty of room and as it turned out really great neighbors. We were in an area that has enough water that they water the dirt roads through the campground every morning to keep the dust down. It was a little hard to get used to that as we'd seen SO much drought stricken land south of there.
Our first excursion was to the Jedediah Smith Redwood Forest in the Redwood National and State Parks. This having been the reservation I made before the one in Myers Flat, I'd thought it would be our only chance to see them. Having then seen and walked among them in Myers Flat we figured we'd see if there were any more good hikes but also take time to see some of the other Crescent City sights. As it happened we visited the Visitor Center and then decided we'd do a hike later after we'd done some other sights. We never had a chance to return since we did so many other things.
From the Jedediah Smith VC we drove south through Crescent City, stopping to see the boats in the harbor,
and then to the Enbert Beach trail which took us along cliffs and down a trail to a beautiful cove and sandy beach with a small stream coming down into it. The best part was the fog lifting into the hills above us that almost obscured the beach when we started down but lifted by the time we arrived yielding sunshine and warmth. The clouds settled down again as we climbed back up and were scattered around above and below us. The only ding in our experience were the two couples who ha chosen to ignore the No Dogs on Trail sign and had brought their large dogs along. The worse part was that one of them had bent the sign which had been in perfect condition when we started down. It is people like these who manage to destroy public places. We were discussing this later with someone who told us that in the 35 years he has been visiting Petrified Forest he has seen vast amounts of the petrified wood which is illegal to remove, disappearing. He even told us of one honeymooning couple from Canada who were caught with their van loaded up with it and spent their honeymoon budget on the fine.
From the beach hike we returned to town and timed our arrival perfectly for low tide. We stopped at the marina to look at the boats and then drove to Battery Point where we could walk out to the lighthouse. When the tide comes in the path is under water-Crescent City's version of Mont St. Michel-but when it's out you can walk along the path to the island. The winds were up and it was a blustery day so the fog and clouds kept changing. Beautiful!
From there it was back to the campground to sit and chat with our neighbors before we headed out again to visit the Tolowa Dunes which were just west of the campground. As we walked along the beach we noticed a number of people digging in the rocks. When we stopped to ask they said they were agate hunting. We had no idea what an agate would look like but gathered some of what we thought were pretty rocks, took a picture of but left a large one with fossils, and then showed them to the young woman who'd told us about them. Most of what we had were not agates but we had managed to pick up a few small pieces of "agatized" rocks, i.e. there is a bit of agate in the rock.
When we got back to the campground I stated to cook dinner and noticed that we were on the inverter and not the power we were supposedly plugged in to. I checked and our surge protector said there was a fault so Don and I looked at it for awhile before I finally went over to the office and asked for someone to look at it. The guy who came over tested all the outlets and at first it appeared that there was power coming out of the pole but not going into the MoHo. We could not figure out what was wrong because turning on the generator gave us power. Finally, he used a tester that showed insufficient power was coming from the pole so he and another man changed out the entire electrical set up and Viola! we had power again, coming from the pole. The ka-ching sounds that had been echoing in our heads imagining all sorts of electrical work needing to be done, faded and all was well.
Our time at the Redwoods RV Resort had come to an end and it was time to head north again, into Oregon. We bid adieu to our wonderful neighbors and made a quick stop in town to inflate our tires and get gas and then hit the road on Rte 199 N. Next stop OREGON!
The campground was right on the Eel River and a short walk across the wash took us to a swimming hole. The only problem was that the river has blue-green algae so Phoenix could not go in and you had to shower if you swam. Of course, this was not a huge problem as they had an outdoor shower at the end of the path.
Our reason for being here though was to see the Redwoods. Myers Flat is about halfway point on the Avenue of the Giants which runs for 31 miles parallel to Freeway 101. It is the old Highway 101. But, we needed groceries and a few things for the RV that we could only get in Fortuna, so we drove up there first and then took the exit onto the Avenue on the way back. As impressed as I was, and still am, with the giant sequoias (sequoiadendron giganteum,) there is something about giant or coastal redwoods (sequoia sempervirens) that just leaves me breathless. We drove down the road with these massive, beautiful red giants towering over us and providing a canopy of green to shade us. As it was afternoon, we did the drive through and then made our plans for where to go to hike the next day. A quick stop at the Visitor Center, which was closing, convinced us that that was where the day should start.
The Visitor Center not only has a wonderful collection of books and information available for purchase but, as usual, a small and well done museum. One of the things I loved was the Nash Quad which may have been the original RV but was built from a hollowed out redwood by Charles "Bird Man" Kellogg, one of the first proponents of saving the redwoods. An avid outdoorsman with an unusual larynx which made him able to sing like a bird, he had been raised by his widowed father, Chinese miners and local Native Americans and became a one man campaign to save the redwoods which were being destroyed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries at an alarming rate. He built this traveling home, called a Travel Log, from a section of a felled tree, attached a truck to pull it and had it shipped to the east coast where he traveled, raising awareness about the redwoods destruction.
The displays about the native peoples who inhabited the region-especially the Wiyot and Yurok tribes-were also excellent.
From there we headed up to the Rockefeller Loop in the Rockefeller Redwood Forest. In response to Kellogg's campaign several prominent men traveled to see the trees and formed the Save-the-Redwoods-League. They began buying groves of the redwoods in 1921 to form what would become the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. With $2 million in donations from John D Rockefeller and matching funds from the state the League was able to buy 10,000 acres from Pacific Lumber in 1931. This is the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coastal redwood forest in the world and some of the tallest trees in the world are here. Many of them are thousands of years old. At the Visitor Center is a section of a tree that fell in 2006. The rings are labeled with historic events and the center ring is from 912 A.D. The trees in this forest are darker that the ones closer to the coast which get more weather and the forest is extremely dense. It was awe inspiring to stand and look up at the tops of these trees which, try as I might, I could not get into one frame on the camera no matter how wide the angle. We went to the Stephens Grove Loop next which was more spread out and in areas the ground was carpeted with ferns and sorrel.
When we'd driven to Fortuna we'd passed a Gem and Mineral Museum that I wanted to return to, so we made a quick jaunt up there. Don stayed outside with Phoenix while I went for a "quick look." About 1/2 hour later he texted me to hint that I might want to wrap it up. I didn't want to but sacrifices must be made and I returned to the car with photographs as memories. The place was fantastic if you love rocks and minerals!
The next day was our last and we decided to do some touristy stuff and go see the One Log Home which was also a hollowed out log made into a home. It was a nice drive down but the day was brutally hot. So, after touring the log home and having milkshakes we went back to the campsite, for a swim and to, unusually for us, enjoy the a/c in the MoHo. Because we had electricity we had done something we'd never done before and for 2 days had left the thermostat at 84 and the a/c switched to on. Both of the days we left we came back to a cool MoHo and a happy Cadbury-Phoenix had come with us and done her normal sleeping in the car-parked in the shade with the windows open and screened- while we walked.
The only negative part of our visit was due to yours truly. The dump station at this campground is just before the bathrooms. To leave the campground you turn left after the bathroom building. But, there was a guy behind me so Don said to pull up out of the way. That meant I'd be making the turn but I was so busy watching the 4 small kids I'd seen darting in and out of the road that I neglected to watch my left side and managed to swipe the end of the roof and take out a piece of wood. Ooops. Don was not pleased with the scratch I managed to put on the side but I was able, later on, to demonstrate my prowess at cleaning and show that the scratch was superficial. A little bit of Bon Ami, a sponge and water and bye bye scratch. OK I bent the frame on the kitchen window a bit but brute force by Don brought it back out.
Our next stop was also redwoods but up at Crescent City and also at an RV park. One other reason for choosing parks instead of state campgrounds was that we found that in CA the state parks were all booked MONTHS ahead of time AND even the public lands or a no amenities campground cost as much as some of the RV parks we found. If we were going to pay $35 a night we figured we'd do it where we could have electricity-if we needed a/c-and usually a laundry room.
The distance this time was 20 mi/32 km shorter but took us longer because we stopped in Eureka. We stopped to stock up at Costco but in the parking lot, as we were leaving, we stopped to talk to an elderly gentleman who was looking at the stickers on our car. He was originally from Maryland but had moved to Eureka 35 years ago. He was doing errands while his wife was out hiking with her buddies. Due to his bad knee, (not his age, 85) he no longer does but he said his wife is much younger, she's 80, so better able to handle it. It was lunch time so he recommended we stop in town and eat fresh fish on the waterfront at Jack's Seafood and that sounded really good so we left the MoHo in the Costco lot and drove into town and had lunch. We took a long enjoyable walk around the waterfront and through the historic district and after a 3.5 hours stop we hit the road again.
When we arrived at Jack's we saw this guy, Jack Sewell, repairing his installation called Following Current Events which was installed in 2012. By the time we finished lunch he was done and gone and the birds were "flying" again.
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| I was a very creative mover when I moved with my car but this guy put me to shame! |
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| An Islamic Bookstore |
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| "There is no God but God" |
The Waterfront and Woodley Island in the Humboldt Bay Harbor
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| The sun was shining one beam at this window the rest were in shade |
As we drove along Rte 101 we saw a line of cars stopped at the side of the road and as we passed realized a herd of elk had just crossed the road. We pulled over and I was able to walk back and watch them making their way across the field. When I looked at the map as I got back in the car I saw that the area is named Elk Crossing.
The drive through Crescent City, since the campground was on the north side, allowed us to see that there were several different places we wanted to see. We arrived at the campground and settled in without problems. This campground had sites that were quite private except where we were but we still had plenty of room and as it turned out really great neighbors. We were in an area that has enough water that they water the dirt roads through the campground every morning to keep the dust down. It was a little hard to get used to that as we'd seen SO much drought stricken land south of there.
Our first excursion was to the Jedediah Smith Redwood Forest in the Redwood National and State Parks. This having been the reservation I made before the one in Myers Flat, I'd thought it would be our only chance to see them. Having then seen and walked among them in Myers Flat we figured we'd see if there were any more good hikes but also take time to see some of the other Crescent City sights. As it happened we visited the Visitor Center and then decided we'd do a hike later after we'd done some other sights. We never had a chance to return since we did so many other things.
From the Jedediah Smith VC we drove south through Crescent City, stopping to see the boats in the harbor,
and then to the Enbert Beach trail which took us along cliffs and down a trail to a beautiful cove and sandy beach with a small stream coming down into it. The best part was the fog lifting into the hills above us that almost obscured the beach when we started down but lifted by the time we arrived yielding sunshine and warmth. The clouds settled down again as we climbed back up and were scattered around above and below us. The only ding in our experience were the two couples who ha chosen to ignore the No Dogs on Trail sign and had brought their large dogs along. The worse part was that one of them had bent the sign which had been in perfect condition when we started down. It is people like these who manage to destroy public places. We were discussing this later with someone who told us that in the 35 years he has been visiting Petrified Forest he has seen vast amounts of the petrified wood which is illegal to remove, disappearing. He even told us of one honeymooning couple from Canada who were caught with their van loaded up with it and spent their honeymoon budget on the fine.
From the beach hike we returned to town and timed our arrival perfectly for low tide. We stopped at the marina to look at the boats and then drove to Battery Point where we could walk out to the lighthouse. When the tide comes in the path is under water-Crescent City's version of Mont St. Michel-but when it's out you can walk along the path to the island. The winds were up and it was a blustery day so the fog and clouds kept changing. Beautiful!
From there it was back to the campground to sit and chat with our neighbors before we headed out again to visit the Tolowa Dunes which were just west of the campground. As we walked along the beach we noticed a number of people digging in the rocks. When we stopped to ask they said they were agate hunting. We had no idea what an agate would look like but gathered some of what we thought were pretty rocks, took a picture of but left a large one with fossils, and then showed them to the young woman who'd told us about them. Most of what we had were not agates but we had managed to pick up a few small pieces of "agatized" rocks, i.e. there is a bit of agate in the rock.
When we got back to the campground I stated to cook dinner and noticed that we were on the inverter and not the power we were supposedly plugged in to. I checked and our surge protector said there was a fault so Don and I looked at it for awhile before I finally went over to the office and asked for someone to look at it. The guy who came over tested all the outlets and at first it appeared that there was power coming out of the pole but not going into the MoHo. We could not figure out what was wrong because turning on the generator gave us power. Finally, he used a tester that showed insufficient power was coming from the pole so he and another man changed out the entire electrical set up and Viola! we had power again, coming from the pole. The ka-ching sounds that had been echoing in our heads imagining all sorts of electrical work needing to be done, faded and all was well.
Our time at the Redwoods RV Resort had come to an end and it was time to head north again, into Oregon. We bid adieu to our wonderful neighbors and made a quick stop in town to inflate our tires and get gas and then hit the road on Rte 199 N. Next stop OREGON!
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