Redwoods National Park

August 29, 2017 - Tuesday

We broke camp about 7:45 and got breakfast when we stopped for gas at Queets.  We drove 101 south most of the day with just a short jog on 4E and 401S to keep from driving 20 miles out of our way.  We crossed from Washington to Oregon when we crossed the Columbia River at Astoria.  The river is huge at this point.

Lots of fishing boats on the Columbia

Driving over the Columbia River bridge

We passed by many Lewis and Clark National Park sites but didn't have time to stop.  At the beginning in Oregon Hwy 101 went through mountain valley regions that had lots of dairy farms, with mostly Guernsey cows.  Then the highway hugged the Pacific coast and we had many nice views of the ocean.   We decided to stop and have seafood for lunch because we kept going by so many neat restaurants, but we couldn't find a place where we could stop and find a place to park with our trailer.  Finally, about 2:30, we chanced upon a place called Corner Cafe in Lincoln City where we had fresh halibut and chips.  Worth the wait because it was very good.

Pacific Ocean view from Hwy 101

Another ocean view

At Newport, we turned east on Hwy 20 then Hwy 34 to get to the KOA at Corvallis.  In Corvallis we stopped at a Safeway to get supplies and gas so that we would be able to head out early in the morning.  We had showers at the KOA.  They had plenty of warm water but were dirty.

August 30, 2017 - Wednesday

We left camp by 8:00 am.  We headed south on I5 for about 65 miles then took 38 west back to 101S.  We stayed on 101S for most of the way.  There were more fantastic ocean views in Oregon and California.  We stopped at an overlook in Port Orford, Oregon for lunch  and  even saw a whale and a couple of sea otters.

View of Pacific at Port Orford

View of the Pacific from the highway

When we passed into California we had to give up the cherries we had bought the day before because the port of entry person said they were quarantined.  Funny, because we bought cherries in California from the same company.   Not far into California we turned off on the Newton B. Drury Parkway to get into the Redwoods area.  It was a pretty drive through old growth trees.  Our campsite is in the Prairie Creek State Park in the Elk Prairie Campground; site 58.  The campground is pretty, but the angle into our site was wrong for the one way direction of the road.  Took a while, but we finally got the trailer in.

Site #68 - very tight

Another view of the campsite

We had lots of road construction again today which cost a lot of time.  There are lots of bushes around our campsite which means mosquitoes.  It was hard to sit outside.  I fixed spaghetti for dinner and called it a night.  When I made the 1/4 mile trek to the bathroom for the last time, I saw an elk in the field across the road from the bathroom.  This campground does not have hookups, but has flush toilets and showers.  However, the showers were kind of funky so we never used them.  We only stayed here 3 nights.

August 31, 2017 - Thursday

After breakfast we drove to the visitor center to get information.  The ranger who we talked to was very enthusiastic and helpful.  She gave us lots of good ideas.  We drove south on 101 to the Davison Road (we nicknamed it the 'Dusty Fern Road') to the Fern Canyon Trail and Gold Bluff Beach.The trail into Fern Canyon was cool, literally and figuratively.  We saw thousands of ferns on the walls of the canyon.  The trail goes by and through a stream in the canyon with foot bridges in the stream.  At one point we saw 2 small waterfalls flowing over moss on the canyon wall.  We named them diamond falls because of the effect of the drops of water over the moss.  Beautiful.

Ferns on the wall of the canyon

Stream and the trail

Another shot of the stream and trail

'Diamond Falls'

We ate lunch by the beach campground then hiked on the beach.  This beach had dark gray sand and was steep.

Gold Bluff Beach

Gold Bluffs

After returning to camp we hiked about 3 miles on the Prairie Elk Trail that begins in the campground.  It was a very interesting hike through the Elk Prairie Meadow then old growth redwood forests.  We saw one large redwood that seemed to have been struck by lightening.  This was a nice trail and we were pretty much the only ones on it.

Mary in front of a very large fern

Sign at entrance to park by trail

 Lightening struck tree

Mike in front of a large log

 After going back by the visitor's center we walked part of the Revelation Trail to camp. We had leftover spaghetti for dinner and then called it a night.  All of the hiking had worn us out.

September 1, 2017 - Friday

We slept late this morning.  All the hiking and traveling has us worn out.  After breakfast we parked at the visitor's center so that we could hike the Cathedral of Trees and Foothills Trail loop that goes by the Big Tree.  Overall we hiked about 3 miles.  It was an enjoyable hike.  We pretty much had the trail to ourselves again.

Mike by the roots of an overturned redwood

'Dread Lock' Ferns

In front of The Big Tree

Another shot in front of The Big Tree

A funny sign

View up through a large tree

After our hike we drove south on 101 to the Kuchel Visitor's Center that is by the ocean.  The visitor's center didn't have a lot but we did find out where to get lunch in Orick.  Orick is not a very large town, but we were able to get a burger and fries at the Snack Shack.  We got back to camp about 1:30 and spent the rest of the day getting ready to head out in the morning.

We have enjoyed staying here, but 3 nights and 2 days was plenty of time here.  On to the next park in the morning.