Redwoods - Jedediah Smith State Park, and home

Our last adventure was a trip north to Jedediah Smith State Park.  With the plan to drive the Howland Hills Road and hike a couple of the trails along the way.

from park web page

This is a 10 mile narrow dirt road, not suitable for a large pickup truck, like Michaels F-350 :)  But he did fine.

Stout Grove:
Our First stop ... This is a half mile delightful stroll through a beautiful old growth grove. 

The trail is well maintained allowing close encounters with the trees.

Fran in the foreground adds scale

These redwoods are monsters!

Both Audrey and Jm explored this crawl space under this tree.

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Jm took a picture of the chamber inside the crawlspace.

And said there is enough room to stand and turn around... I'll take his word for it!

Jm demonstrating his balance and climbing abilities as he walks around this tree on its knurled roots.

Not sure he knew he was being watched.

And with a lizard waiting for lunch

A raised platform sits in front of the largest tree in the grove.  Audrey demonstrates just how big it is.

Another wannabe candelabra tree.  T

This was a nice easy and fun stroll through some massive old growth trees.

Grove of the Titans:
Perhaps the most popular trail in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods.  Too popular, the trail was closed while stairs and a raised board walk were added and the trail reopened in 2022.

From park web page

The trail starts out like any well used trail

But I found the stairs are open metal grates with no handrail.  ARG!  Not hiking pole friendly.

The trail does get narrow in spots

This tree with the octopus roots is pretty amazing.

I'd like to see the structure as the log it rests on decomposes. 

After a mile we’ve arrived at the entrance to the Grove of the Titans.  This Titan with his broad shoulders guards the entrance.

As in the NPS picture the raised boardwalk is not boards but open metal grates.

Rather than endure the crowd and not being able to balance with my hiking poles I turned back at this point.

Back at Camp:

Lori completed one of the puzzles in our jigsaw exchange.

I think only Lori was not intimidated by by a puzzle of flowers on a flowered tablecloth on an uneven picnic table!  Nicely done Lori!

After the exchange Marty suggested I take the remaining home ... so I took thebox containing the remaining puzzles.

YIKES!  Geez! - A half dozen are ones I offered up last time :)
Well the puzzle table will have a use for awhile.

Homeward Bound:

We had some time for the return drive and wanted to avoid the inland heat.  We took 101 with a side trip to Ferndale.

Ferndale

I learned of the Ferndale Victorian mansions from Bill and Jodee On the Road Abode.  I knew then I wanted to visit.  So a quick stop it was.  The entrance to town is via this NARROW 1911 bridge.

Glad Fran was driving :)

The town is noted for it's many Victorian Mansions.  I had the misconception that this might be a 'theme' town like Leavenworth, WA.  Nope like Solvang, CA this is the real deal!  The mansions were built with 'Milk Money'!, and dairy is still king!

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Next time we'll come hungry!  This is Guy's hometown and he did a Food Network episode on its diners and dives.

Avenue of the Giants

We jumped on the Avenue of the Giants as this scenic byway parallels 101.

We then crossed form 101 west to Hiway 1 on the coast.

Fort Bragg

Our destination here was Glass Beach. 

The day was overcast and the the tide was in.  There was not much beach to visit.

Mendocino

One of our first family outings was organized by Marty with Mendocino as the destination.  It was fun to wander the familiar streets where Murder She Wrote was filmed.

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Salt Point

We spent the night at Salt Point State Park, without hook ups.  Now that's more like camping!

We finally took our bikes off the RV for the short downhill ride to the beach.  It's all uphill coming back!

Bodega Bay

We have done The Birds tour of Bodega Bay before, so this would be just a breakfast stop.  Crab is a special on the waterfront, but not available until lunch!  ARG!  But what an awesome parking spot on the harbor enjoying our breakfast of fish and chips!

Looking thru the screen on our dinette window
What a great breakfast spot!

Golden Gate

There is now a $10 toll on the Golden Gate Bridge for an RV.  But we wanted to stay by the coast and figured it was worth it.

Solvang

Solvang is also the real deal, founded by Danes for Danes! and a fun stop too!

After walking around a bit we stopped for a Danish lunch at the Viking Vineyards, not great meal, but their wine was good! 

And bit of walking we found dessert!

Kami introduced me to Aebleskiver when we were here.  She has the mold to make her own, would be a huge treat on a camping trip ... hint!

Ventura

That evening we scored a nice waterfront site at Faria Beach Park.

Our last sunset on the road

The little park had a food truck, where we picked up a breakfast burrito, and were now ready to finish our drive on 101 to home.

The following day was Kg’s 21st birthday.  I felt too ill to attend, maybe it was the burrito, altho Fran was fine.

But we took her out to lunch a couple days later, with a nice big birthday brownie for dessert.

Happy 21st!!!

As I told Kg, we cared enough to bring a card and present when it was not her birthday.  How many of her friends did that?

Does Fran look happy to be home?  For sure! on her SUP (Sit Up Paddleboard) in De Anza Cove.

Not sure what’s next, as Kami is going off to Indy for GenCon.  Jason and Kg are off to Boston.  Kg for grad school, dad to help with getting her settled.  Aj will be returning from her humanities study in Spain.  Fran has made her reservations for a visit to Dayton in early September.

Ssooo… once I am done with the airport runs … stay tuned!  I’ll be unsupervised!

Redwoods - Fern Canyon

Our next adventure was to Fern Canyon.  From of our Mystic Forest campsites, it is located in the Prairie Redwoods, about an hour south. 

We eagerly chose to drive the Newton B. Drury Scenic Pkwy to check out the views and a stop at the ‘Big Tree’ Wayside.

Lori at the Big Tree

Big Tree is estimated at over 1500 yrs old 286’ tall and 23’ in diameter.  It is a Big Tree among many other big trees.

Once back on 101 we turned onto Davidson Road, which is paved, but quickly turns to a narrow unpaved track to Gold Beach, a bit over 10 miles. From the Day Use parking lot we began on an easy level trail.

The trail guide pamphlet mentioned that foot bridges would be installed, but we should be prepared to get our feet wet. … We all brought a second pair of shoes to change into.

Michael just walks in the creek, while the rest of us try to keep our feet dry.

Jm likes to demonstrate his balance by bouncing on the foot bridges.

and climbing on the logs

This bridge was a bit short and I managed to get a foot wet.  But notice the 150’ high steep walls just laden with ferns.  I was admiring the walls and not what my feet were doing!

Michael, Lori and Jm

Cousins Jm and Audrey

We had to pause as another couple was returning down stream.  The trail really is that narrow.

No way around this one.  We all got our feet wet!

Where the water trickles down the sides of the, canyon the ferns cannot get a purchase and there the walls are covered with moss.

there are no benches on this trail, so Marty and Juanita take a break on a log.

There was no way around this dead fall, but to go straight through!

This is not a redwood, there are very few of them in the canyon, but the ferns will grow wherever they can find purchase.

I didn’t get a good picture of our picnic lunch at the day use area.  But Marty and Juanita were exiled for bringing nuts!  Claira has a nut allergy.

Jm and Lori did the hike to Gold Beach.

On the way back to camp I noticed this sign

offering dancing lessons with elk?

And we did see elk!

This gal is giving me the eye … must be time for my dance lesson!

Back at camp Claira and Nikki did a walk up to the ‘Chimney Tree’.  Long ago this tree was hit by lightening and left hallow.

From inside the Chimney Tree

Next up the Del Norte Redwoods, at Jedediah Smith Redwoods