5/3 - I got all my prep done to head out again. I did laundry, took a shower, emptied tanks, and filled water tank. Unless I know my drive is going to be pretty flat, there isn't much point in filling it over 80% (18 gallons?) because I think it just ends up draining out until it gets to 75 or so when its very hilly. After that I headed to Cheryl's in Mt Shasta and visited with her and her friend for a bit. Cheryl gave me a tour of all the work they had done on the garden beds and irrigation. It's going to be amazing!
I got the handle for the fridge and at first, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do it without breaking something (I didn't want to be stuck having to drive somewhere to get it fixed without the ability to keep the door shut) and then I got mad at myself for my lack of confidence and I did it. It was super simple, but the old one was sticking and it felt like it would break. Anyway, I'm so happy to have that fixed!
From there I headed to Hummingbird Estate HH for the night. There was one other van there when I arrived and two more showed up. I walked Zoe down the drive and so many cars were arriving. When I got back to the van there were a ton of prom kids getting their photos taken in the beautiful spot. It was really cold and the girls were pretty much all in sleeveless gowns.
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| From where I was parked |
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| I don't think they knew they were being watched. 😆 When did girls carry bouquets at the prom? I'm guessing that many of these people just go without a date and just go for the party, which is great as it takes the pressure off. How many people haven't gone to prom because they didn't have a date? |
One of the reasons I picked this HH was because they also had locally brewed beer, but they ended up not having much, so I did a wine tasting. It was really good and reasonably priced. The tasting was $15 for 5 wines (which they didn't charge me for even though I asked 3 times) and a glass was only $10. I really enjoyed their Pinot Noir and I'm not a Pinot fan.
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| Hummingbird Estate |
5/4 - After leaving Hummingbird Estate, we took the back road (238) to head towards Crescent City, CA instead of going back to Medford and taking I-5, per Cheryl's suggestion. I stopped at the Fish Hatchery park and did a hike there. Tons of poison oak, so that wasn't fun. It's hard to enjoy a hike when I have to stare at the greenery to see if I need to keep Zoe away and then she has to be on leash. Poor girl. I don't think she cares that she's on leash except for when I pull her away from what she wants to sniff.
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| Stopping for a drink and to cool off those feet and belly. |
From there, we headed down 199 towards Crescent City. I was planning to stay at Jedediah Smith State Park, but of course didn't have a reservation. Along the way, I pulled into Panther Flat US Forest Service campground, which was only $15, looked nice, and had showers! I decided to still head down another 12 miles to check on availability at the State Park. When I arrived there was no attendant and it said FULL. I doubted it, but what can you do? So, I turned around and went back to Panther Flat, which was a great decision. I'm also glad that I drove down to the State park because I caught amazing views of the Smith River, which apparently is the cleanest river in the lower 48. OMG! So beautiful and clear! The color is just amazing - and I thought the Eel River was gorgeous. This one is so much more so with the rapids and canyon walls in spots.
I had a nice flat spot closer to the river (couldn't see it from the campsites), so I could hear it from my site. Rte 199 is close to the campground, but I didn't often hear it. Chatted with some neighbors. I went to one neighbor's site to offer them some fire starter and their 95 lb Border Collie, came running out at me. Thank goodness he was tied up, it held, and I was outside of his strike distance. I'm quite sure he would have put some holes in me. Very scary. And then while I talked with Jerry, he was eyeing me and lifting his lip at me. Of course I was well out of strike distance!! I would have a Beware of Dog at that site and keep him on a shorter leash to ensure people like me don't stop in like that.
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| Someone doesn't want to go out for her last potty of the night. |
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| Morning at the river at the Panther Flat campground |
5/5 - I had a lovely hot (too hot - unheard of at campgrounds! - at first and not adjustable, but I got used to it) shower for 75 cents! I wasn't sure if I'd come back, but decided for $15, I'd just pay for it.
After visiting the visitor center to get some ideas, I took Zoe for a walk on Walker Rd (dogs not allowed on trails, but ok on roads) and it took us down to the river. The forest is just so beautiful and just awesome. These trees are so very special.
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| I wonder when this tree sprouted. How could it be that big and have been dead for such a long time (or so it appears based on the state of the stump) |
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| Wish I was camping on the beach like the truck camper on the other side. |
From there we drove into Crescent City to scope out a possible place to park for the night. It was on a pier and it was just so out in the open, it didn't seem like a good idea. I wasn't going to stay there that night 'cuz it was super windy, but good to check out. And it brought me to the lighthouse, which was very picturesque.
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| Lighthouse in Crescent City |
From Crescent City, I decided to drive Howland Hill Rd back towards the campground. The road is not recommended for RVs or trailers and anything longer than 22'. The woman at the visitor center told me that I should be fine, but go in the morning or afternoon when there should be less traffic. I should have a dash camera to video stuff like this. It wasn't too terrible, but I definitely had to be aware of how I approached some of the narrow passages between the trees. It was very cool, but definitely a bit stressful. I have to be aware of height as well as tight turns due to the long wheel base. The van is pretty narrow (built for narrow German roads), so that isn't a big deal, but making sure to go wide when turning and evaluating if things hang low or bend into the road definitely keeps me on my toes! The road is mostly one lane with many pull offs so that you can pass by which works very well. There was only one instance where I thought someone was going to hit me, cuz they were driving way too fast and came around a bend and skidded to a stop (dirt road) to avoid hitting me. Why would anyone be driving so fast through that beauty???
I stopped and did the hike to the Grove of the Titans. I wasn't planning on doing the whole thing (1.7 miles), because of my foot (that I was working too hard too soon after stopping wearing the boot) as well as leaving Zoe in the van, but I realized it was a destination and I kept going a little further and a little further and finally I just gave in to do the whole thing. It was cool enough, so I knew Zoe was fine, so I just kept going.
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| So much life on the dead trunks |
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| Grove of the Titans |
I went back to the same campground and enjoyed a warm evening. It was the first time in so long that I had my windows wide open all night. It was so lovely as I could hear the river.
5/6 - I went to Stout Grove as I was told it was a must see and it really was. I know the photos don't do the trees justice as it's hard to get a good sense of the size of the trees. And, of course, I can't capture the peace that comes along with it. This Grove somehow was even more serene than the others. This was on Howland Hill Rd again, but only a couple of miles in, so I figured I'd just turn around and go back the way I came, but I realized that it would be a lot shorter to just drive through again (in the opposite direction from the previous day), so that's what I did. Maybe I was so preoccupied the first time through, but this time the trees seemed even more impressive. I almost scraped the van on a trunk that was on the side of the road up high, but was covered in ferns, so I didn't realize it was a trunk. Someone had pulled over so I could pass and I was paying more attention to them than the right side of the van. Thankfully it was just an almost incident!
From there I headed down to another section of the Redwoods National park as the trees were supposed to be even bigger. And it was a normal road. 😃 More spectacular woods and we did a short walk on a closed road. This was magical having the road closed. I didn't see any poison oak, so I let Zoe off leash. There is no way I would have taken my van on this road! It was very narrow and made the other look like a highway.
Cal Barrel Rd
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| The inside of this tree is burned and the last time the fire burned was around 1850! |
I considered staying at a campground down there in the Prairie Creek section, but they said they were full. I checked with one and he had an ADA site free, but I couldn't get it for another hour and the other campground was down a rough dirt road due for grading and I wasn't up for that. I decided I'd done enough in this park and headed back north. I stopped for gas and got to see a herd of Elk hanging around in the nearby field. Stopped at a beach overlook and finally found a mixed recycling bin so I could get rid of my stuff I've been lugging around - so exciting! 😆 I would think CA would be better with recycling than they are.
I decided to stop in Crescent City to go to Seaquake Brewing. Supposedly I could stay overnight across the street, so that's where I parked. I ended up deciding that I didn't want to sleep on the street and would go to a nearby County Park. There were two to choose from and Ruby Van Deventer was a bit farther away, but was said to be nicer than Florence Keller. I decided due to the fading daylight I would go to Florence Keller and was pleased with my choice. I didn't go to the other so can't compare, but I found a good spot and in the morning I found there were some trails through the redwood forest and Zoe got to run around and seemed super happy, which, of course makes me happy!
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| Excellent (not greasy) fish and chips. Well, the sweet potato fries were cold, but that left more room for the local fresh fish! |
5/8 - I'm curious about the woods here because the old stumps are enormous, but there are no big diameter trees standing. What happened???
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| This stump looks so unreal because it's sooo big |
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| Zoe sunning herself at our site. See how big that stump is on the left? |
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| New life |
Back in Oregon! I've been in California since February 17! And basically just did the coast. It is one big state and so much more to see. I have been to Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, and maybe Sequoia (This was all on my honeymoon back in 1988, so my memory isn't 100%. I do know we saw big trees, but I had thought it was near SF. I'll have to ask Jeff as he remembers everything.) I'd definitely like to go back, but I felt it was too early, though later will be busy...
First stop in Oregon at Chrissey Field visitor center where two lovely ladies loaded me up with info on Oregon and Zoe and I took a walk on the beach.
Came across this Azalea City Park in Brookings, OR. I was heading for another park, but it was right next to the waste treatment plant so I decided to find another option and I was happy to enjoy all the rhodedrons.
Just a couple of miles north was Harris Beach State Park and online it showed a few available sites. On the way there, there was a sign saying campground full, as well as one at the entrance booth (no attendant). I drove through to look at the sites showing available online (apparently a more accurate system that California State park online system), but those sites showed reserved. I found a ranger and she said that they don't have the staff to manage those signs, so if they're available online I could go ahead and book it. I found a tent site for only $24, so that was perfect as I don't need hookups (though I could add some water to my tank). The hookup sites were $47 for non-residents, while there was no upcharge on the tent sites. And free showers. We took a couple of walks to the beach, but it was quite chilly. I didn't see any poison oak on the walk around the campground or on the trail down to the beach, but on the way up, I spotted some. Hopefully Zoe didn't get into it on the way down... So, now I have to be cautious again... 😞
In between walks I actually cooked up some spaghetti (not good for my heartburn) with some ground beef (organic grass fed - is this humanely raised? I hope so!) that I had purchased and some mushrooms and onion. I'm proud of myself for actually cooking dinner! And it was quite good.
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| Sunset, such as it was. Still beautiful! |
5/8 - It's very foggy, so I'm in no hurry to leave (checkout at 1 PM). I had a nice chat with Heather and walked Zoe around the campground for her morning business and sniffs and then had a wonderful shower. Temperature adjustable, hot, and lots of pressure. Three days between showers is long enough. I've gone 5, but 2-3 is ideal. My foot was really bothering me on the walk this morning, but it seemed to work through. The left side of my ankle was hurting and the top of my foot. I wish I could see what was going on without having to get another x-ray.
I'm going to head up the coast, but not sure what I'll do. Hopefully the fog lifts as I have some hikes/stops marked for views of the coast.
That's all for now. Reminder - you can subscribe to the Substack blog that will link back to here at cjbinavan substack.
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