NorCal and the Redwoods

Thursday

We started out on a short ride to the coast.  We went south on 101 and turned towards the coast near Leggett.  After about 40 miles of the absolute windiest road (5 mph signs on some of he curves/switchbacks) we saw the ocean.  The views were spectacular.  We actually took the truck down on the beach in several locations, just because we could!

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We arrived in Fort Bragg, about 40 miles south on Highway 1 just after lunch time and just in time to see the famous Skunk Train leave the depot.  Unfortunately, a landslide has closed the tracks between Fort Bragg and Willits so this ride is only a seven mile turn.  Another train is making daily trips to a halfway point, but it will be at least 2020 before the entire line is open again.

We found a Mayan restaurant a little off the beaten path for lunch.  The food was great, Cathy is still talking about her meal (I really don’t know what it was but it did look good) and Jason enjoyed his cheesy chips enough to have them again for dinner.

Jason, running and dancing in Fort Bragg, in front of the Mayan Fusion, our restaurant choice.

We walked the several mile cliffside trail in Fort Bragg and enjoyed the scenery, the foghorns and the buoy bells in the distance.  We sat for a while and watched fishing boats coming and going and several boats with “diver down” flags,  probably abalone divers.

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We came across this educational sign about halfway through the walk.  I had to read it twice to realize what I was reading.  This is very unusual “truth in advertising” and it is remarkable that it is still standing . . . and on a government sign!

We returned to camp via Highway 20 from US 1 to the town of Willits, the other terminal for the Skunk railroad.  This town has grown somewhat from what I remember, but it has been years since we were there. We had another 50 miles back to camp and it was starting to get late so we did not spend much time there.

Friday

We decided to make today a short, easy day so we made the ten mile drive to Richardson Grove State Park, in the redwoods. This state park is one of the north coast’s first redwood state parks.  It started with a grant of 120 acres in 1922 and has grown to about 2,000 acres today.  We visited the historic lodge (when I first visited this in the 1950s / 1960s, this was just a “lodge”.  Jason immediately found the bear.

Jason signed up immediately for the “Litter Getter” award and spent the first hour picking up litter in the area.  He was issued a bag and a pair of gloves.  Believe it or not, there was very little litter to be had so we walked down the beach area on the Eel River and he managed to get a bag full.  After all, the 4th of July weekend just passed.  We took the obligatory photos of Jason on a fallen tree, Jason in front of a burly redwood (complete with his litter getter gloves) and Jason standing with a partially burned giant. Redwood trees are pretty impervious to fire.

Jason is getting some help with an interpretive sign on our morning litter getter walk. I somehow wound up with the bag.

Jason is looking up at the giant trees.  What could he be thinking?

This is what Jason was looking at.  Some of these trees exceed 360 feet in height.

Jason decided to walk the boards back to the interpretive center.

These two trees are growing very near the center.  The building is built around these giants.  Some of the larger ones date to B.C. !

After receiving his “Litter Getter” certificate and stickers, we found out about another program for children, a walk through the woods on the Woodland Loop Trail.  We were advised to drive to the trailhead but it was only about an inch (on the map) from the interpretive center so we chose to walk.  It was more than an inch!  Once we got to the trailhead, we found that the trail was about two miles in length and listed as “strenuous” or very steep and there was a recent mudslide about halfway up.  We did manage the mudslide, make it to the top and back down in pretty good shape.  Here I am holding up this tree.  We are about halfway up at this point.

Jason picked up a redwood branch and carried it for most of the distance.  It was a poker, a walking stick and sometimes a gun.

We came across some water on this very small stream and found these wildflowers in one of the few areas that received sunlight on the trail.  It continues to amaze us how nature always seems to find a way!

Heading back to the center, tuckered out Jason rested on the railing.

I asked Jason to pose in front of this fallen tree and he insisted on climbing the stump.

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Back in the interpretive center, I though we saw a dead deer on the carpet (there were a lot of animal skins and stuffed animals on display).  This sucker jumped up and was alive!

Back in camp, after a full morning of hiking and learning, Jason wanted to go swimming in the pool.  There is an adjacent water park but the water was too cold so he used the spa and the pool.  He is still working on his “cannonball”.  Too much energy for me.

Tomorrow we have to backtrack to Eureka to catch Highway 299 to Redding.  We had planned on taking Highway 36 to Red Bluff but that highway is closed for repairs.  We intend on making it to Hat Creek on Highway 44, just north of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  There should be time to get in some mountain climbing (non-technical of course).