Redwoods and CA 1

Sept 14 Monday we woke up late and I just wanted to crawl back into bed. I was grumpy, all the fog and gloom has been weighing on me. I have SADS. Our stay at Crescent City was in a city park right by the water and with the fog heavy in the air, we got to listen to a fog horn throughout the night and into the morning.
Finally we loaded up and left to go see big trees. For the most part I stayed in the car with the dog while B and P checked things out. Many times the parking wasn't adequate and I had to park a distance away from the attraction or we had to slow down and pull over and I didn't want to roll down the road to look at big trees. I was grumpy cat without the cuteness.

 After a quick stop at the Redwoods National Park Visitor's Center in Crescent City for a stamp we moved on south to Newton B Drury Parkway. It parallels 101. 

We had to park a ways down the road for the girls to get out and run back to look at the tree.

 The next stop was a visitors center on Drury Lane (didn't see the Muffin Man) was the visitors center. The parking lot was small and I ended up parking along Drury Parkway while Patrick adn Becky looked around and took a short walk through the trees where they have coast redwoods. 

 From here we got back on the 101 and cruised down the coast to Route 36 where we stopped for the night at Grizzly Creek Redwood State Park. It is a little campground and we shared the place with one other group of campers. We had a fire and roasted hot dogs.

My thought was to continue across on 36 to Redding and take care of some business there on the intranet as the service has been really spotty or nonexistent along the coast. Turning onto 36 was a sign that said trailers and campers not recommended past Bridgeville. I was thinking about taking the chance and in the morning as we rolled out, the ranger walked out and we were able to talk to her about the road. She said it was full of switchbacks and dropped to a single lane. She said it was one of the "knarliest" roads in California. Guess we'll turn to the left then and go back to the coast. Now I want to drive it and find out how knarly it is.
It was a good thing we turned back to the coast because we would have missed the "Avenue of the Giants" and watching the sunset over the Pacific.
Avenue of the Giants parallels 101 so we hopped off to look at more tall trees.

See that little fish on the upper left tree trunk. That was how high the flood waters got.

Sasquatch lurks in the open tree trunk while I get my photo snapped.

 In some places the road just narrowed right up because the trees were growing right up to the road and their roots were breaking through the pavement. Sometimes the pucker factor was high!

At Legget CA 1 turns off towards the coast and 101 continues south on an inward track. We turned on 1 and the stretch between Legget and the coast has to be one of the best roads in the country. It ranks right beside the Dragon in Tennessee as sheer joy of driving. One fantastic stretch of road. 

 You come out of the trees and suddenly you are staring at the Pacific. What a sight! How many time today can I say the word wow! as we drive this beautiful road? More than I can count.

 The road just keeps on going. The trailer slows us down and I stopped a lot to let people go by and I envied people in sports cars and on motorcycles.

 What struck me was how desolate it seems. In Florida there would be high rises everywhere but here there are farms and cattle, sheep and horses. Old barns have a better view than half the people in the state. At one point I saw a sign that said we could buy a whole mile of ocean front property, 224 acres of heaven on the coast. Becky declared that she was in her element until we checked cell phone reception and there was none.

The next stop on the tour was Port Arenas Light House. The road leading out and back was an unstripped narrow thing and as I drove down it pulling the trailer, people were giving me dirty looks even though I was more in the ditch than they were. The light house was closed for the day so we were content looking at the scenery. There isn't a big turn around down there so don't take your big rig. 

Caught this little fella playing with his buddy. 

 We began searching for a campground and found several that were closed and the little state parks didn't have anything big enough for us to back in and have room to drop the rear ramp. If we could back all the way in and go in and out the man door like normal it wouldn't be a problem. California parks are expensive too even for no hookups.
Anyways as we were tugging along, I spotted a campground with campers right on the cliff looking out on the ocean just like I had envisioned. Sure there were no amenities and no cell service but what we got made up for it in spades. Plus the price was decent. Sunset over the Pacific!

In the morning, Patrick wanted to explore the small cave and so he and Becky went on a walk about while I worked on getting things ready to go. A few pictures of their travels.

We rolled to Vacaville....stay tuned.