Wilderness Wandering

August 3,2024

We left Sequoia NP mid afternoon on Friday to journey to Redwoods NP. We hit Fresno at rush hour. We were crossing the Bay Bridge in San Francisco at sunset.

I found a rest stop about an hour away. Tim thought that was too early to stop. So we continued driving. We found a rest stop on Hwy 101 about 11 PM. We pulled in and went to bed. We slept wonderfully! The rest stop was very dark and surprisingly quiet. When we got up, we saw it was rather beautiful!

We took the path less traveled on The Avenue of the Giants,  a winding scenic two lane highway that used to be the main north south route.  It wound through grove after grove of beautiful redwoods! 

We stopped at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. We toured their museum and learned some very interesting history! Charles Kellogg was an early crusader to save the redwoods. He decided to show the world that  redwoods deserve to be protected. A lumber company donated  an 11 foot diameter redwood log and Charles cut it to 22 feet long and built his Travel Log. Starting in 1917, he toured the country educating people about redwoods and selling war bonds. Charles was a friend of John Muir. The Travel Log was donated to the museum and was on display. It was very cool!

Burlington campground was next to the VC. We walked through it and it was the most beautiful campground either of us has ever seen. But they were full and it was too early in the day, so we continued on. 

About mid day we reached the southern most Visitor Center of Redwoods NP. We got some information and based on a recommendation from people we met at Sequoia, we decided to go back south about 15 miles to check out Sue-Meg State Park. They were correct! It’s a winner! We toured a native Yurok village. We walked the Rim Walk that has spectacular oven views and ended up at gorgeous Agate Beach beachcombing. Later we hiked Wedding Rock and lastly, we played in the tide pools and found amazing marine life!

I cooked pork tenderloin for Tim and fries and made a salad for dinner and we sat in the parking lot and ate listening to sea lions barking on the rocks below us. What a magical day!

We got here two days before our reservations in the park started. We tried to get a campsite at Sue-Meg and a few other places without luck. We decided to try the rest stop just north of Trinidad, CA.   We weren’t the only people with this idea. There are signs saying “no camping”, but it also says you can rest there up to 8 hours. So we found a parking spot and got ready for bed. Tim returned from brushing his teeth with a new friend. Tim met Joey, who had a Toyota Tundra pickup christened Fundra. Joey and his wife were camping in their pickup with their dog Snicker. Joey came and checked out the van, and we checked out their great set up as well. 

August 4, 2024

We slept wonderfully. We got up and walked around the wayside. It is the most gorgeous wayside ever. Even nicer than last night! Clean bathrooms, a paved walking path through redwood trees, picnic tables, drinking water, and an outlet so we charged the Jackery. 

Today is our official first day in Redwoods NP. It was only established on January 1, 1968. It consists of 133,000 acres of land, of which only 39,000 is old growth ( never logged) forest, representing 45% of all remaining coastal redwoods. Only 4% of the original old growth forest remains. These are the tallest trees in the world. Many tower more than 370 feet into the air, more than twice the Statue of Liberty!

Our first stop of the day was The Lady Bird Johnson Grove. A large tree had fallen during the night on the road leading to the grove. Two other cars reached the point about the same time as we did. We all hopped out and dragged branches and the 

tree trunk off the road and continued on our way. 

The Lady Bird Johnson Grove was beautiful in a rather eerie way. It was a foggy, damp morning and the redwoods blocked the light, and the other trees are dripping with moss. A man got out of his car at the same time we did. We invited Dave to walk with us. Dave was from IN, and lost his wife a year ago. We enjoyed his company on the walk. Towards the end of the walk, we ran into Joey and Jasmine that we had parked next to at the rest stop. We stood on the trail for a good half hour sharing camping life stories. 

Next up on the day’s itinerary was a 2.75 moderate hike on The Trillium Falls Trail to see the waterfall. We found the trailhead and had lunch at the van. As we set out, we saw Joey and Jasmine just ahead of us. They hiked as far as the waterfall with us, then they turned around to start towards Oregon. We finished the hike and did the scenic drive. We stopped at a scenic overlook of the ocean and hung out for a while just enjoying the ocean. Then we drove to find our campsite for the night at Angler’s Cove Campground. As the name suggests, they cater to people fishing on The Klamath River that runs beside it. 

Tim had a hot shower and made a campfire. Another great day. 

August 5,2024

There are several hikes and areas in Redwoods that are so popular they have implemented a reservation system. We didn’t know about this before we got here. I was able to get a day reservation for the Fern Canyon hike. We left the campground and attempted to do The Klamath River overlook, but it was completely fogged over. 

We headed over to do the Fern Canyon hike. We discovered it was 6.5 miles down a very hilly, twisty, narrow gravel road. We made it about 2.5 miles before we decided we couldn’t continue and turned around. Bummer. 

We drove up the coast to Crescent Beach and had lunch overlooking the ocean. 

Our next stop was the much acclaimed 6 mile Boy Scout Trail. We were well down the road when once again it went from pavement to gravel. It was about 2.5 miles again on a narrow gravel road. We got close to the trail head and found a pullout big enough to park the van in and we set off on the hike. The trail started out bedded thickly with pine needles, but a short way in the trail was riddled with tree roots from all the redwoods along the trail. You had to watch your step so you didn’t trip.  The trees were beautiful. The trail was lush green with ferns.  We saw banana slugs and caterpillars on the trail. At the end of the 6 mile out and back were the Boy Scout Tree, a really gigantic redwood, and another 1/4 mile down a pretty little waterfall. 

We had a good chat with Tim, a fruit farmer from Palm Beach, Ca who grows oranges and figs. He stopped in Redwoods on his way to visit his daughter in Seattle. 

We rattled back out to Highway 101 and stopped in Crescent City to get ice. Tim discovered that his bike had become dislodged from the bike rack and was moving around beneath the cover! After he got the bike back on the rack, we continued to our campsite at Jedediah Smith State Campground. What a beautiful campground!  It has nice bathrooms, several coin operated showers, a general store and private campsites nestled in amongst redwood trees! We had a simple supper and a nice campfire and made it an early night. 

August 6, 2024

California state campgrounds have showers. So we began the day enjoying showers and then walked to the far end of our campground and crossed the crystal clear Smith River on a little footbridge and then crossed Mill Creek to enter the magnificent .5 mile loop of Stout Grove, beautiful old growth redwoods in the Smith River floodplain. 

Returning to the van, we headed into Crystal City to get Tim a haircut, do laundry and grocery shop. 

After that we drove to the Crystal City Harbor to check out The Battery Point Lighthouse. At low tide you can walk to it, but at mid day, it was high tide, so we just admired it from afar. 

Our last stop was CC Diner, a well rated local ice cream shop. Tim and I both had huckleberry ice cream, which we highly recommend!

We really enjoyed Northern California! You have the ocean and the redwood forests, and it isn’t too developed and crowded. 

Now, off to Crater Lake.