2014 - September 3rd-5th - Redwoods Forest Park

On the 1st of September we left beautiful Banff, Alberta, Canada to continue our journey to our next destination, The National and State Redwood Park in California. While traveling, we stopped at a tourist information center Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. The center was filled with great information and displays. We stayed for about 45 minutes as there was so much to absorb! Outside the center was a sculpture by Rick Taylor titled "Bighorn in Our Backyard". It is a truly amazing piece that deserved some pictures. On a Google search, I found a picture of the sculpture with the real Bighorns in front of it. Too bad it didn't happen when we were there!
                 
               
              
On Tuesday, we decided to make it to Grants Pass, Oregon for lunch. Our friends Richard and Donna Sturley were going to be out of town at daughter's Megan's ranch but thought we'd find some place unique for lunch. I should have thought earlier to get the name of the place that Donna had waitressed in the past, but never thought about it until we got to Grants Pass. We found Blondie's and had a great meal in a great atmosphere.

We continued our afternoon drive to Klamath CA where we had reservations for a three night stay at the Woodland Villa Cabins in the Redwoods National & State Park. We arrived to find lovely accommodations, a forest surrounded cabin with a general store, restaurant and gas station. We really enjoyed the cabin with great amenities ... this was not camping but in that same atmosphere! The store also sells the fishing licences for the state and several folks came in to buy theirs while we were at our breakfasts.

One of the great things about the Redwoods Park, is that it is on the coast so we had the advantage of the ocean and the forest. The view on US 101 is great on both sides, either ocean view or forest view!
We drove into Crescent City about 15 miles from our cabin and found the visitor center. The ladies working there were wonderful. We were given maps and several ideas of things to see. One of the routes suggested was a scenic drive on a well compacted dirt road through the beautiful Redwoods. The information docent had told us that this was the same area that was used to film ET when the boys rode their bikes in the sky over the Giant Redwoods and also served as the Ewok Village in the Star Wars films. Nothing is marked to let anyone know this, so it was great information. Being there, one can just picture both movies and those scenes. The road gets narrow in parts allowing for only one vehicle to pass. We took our time driving through this area and also got out of the car for a little exploring too.
               
                
                 
                 
               
               
We were told of the covered bridge on one of the back roads to be sure to drive to and see. The river runs under it and is a nice sight.
               
Our next stop was in Crescent City at the Battery Point Pier. It is wonderful to have the ocean at hand so close with the forest being the main attraction. We walked the pier and watched the Pelicans dive into the water and come up with their catches. They were like bombs, flying at high speeds breaking the water surface with great impact and then surfacing. There were also many seals playing in the harbor.
               
Across from the pier is the Battery Point Lighthouse. During low-tide, the pathway to the lighthouse is clear to pass over. We were there during the right two hour time frame to walk over to the lighthouse. We learned that the west-coast lighthouses were all built in a Cape Cod house style. We are used to the typical lighthouses that are well known as tall and slender. These lighthouses are all built on hills either on shore or on an island close to the mainland. The engineers dug down through the rock and soil building the foundation of the lighthouse tower then constructed the house around the tower. The optical illusion is that they are not very tall, but in reality with the hill and the tower, they can shine their light with as much illumination as the typical east-coast lighthouses.

Another excursion was driving about two miles from the cabin toward the town of Klamath to visit the drive-thru tree. It is a living Coastal Redwood that continues to grow tall and wide with the center that has been cut -out as a tunnel.
                              
We strolled the entrance to look at the ring-history of a cut Redwood with all of the years that it stood. This tree stood for 603 years!
               
                        
Across the road from the drive-thru tree are some Emus', the flightless Australian  birds. They are the second largest of all birds growing to 5 1/2 feet tall and weighing 130 to 150 pounds.

From there, our drive took us up the coast to the small town of Klamath. The welcoming to Klamath are golden bears. They were originally just gray. Some of the town's ladies thought they would be better looking painted gold, so they painted the six located in different parts of the town boundaries all gold. The city council thought that someone had defaced them by painting them and repainted them gray. When the ladies saw this, they approached the Klamath governing body and said that they had painted them and why. The council listed and thought they were right, and repainted them all gold! The Klamath Point Overlook gives spectacular views of the ocean and bay.
             
With being on the ocean and all of the streams of the area, fresh fish is plentiful at the restaurants. Our love of fish dinners did not suffer through this trip, and Crescent City was no exception! Wednesday night we delighted on fresh local Salmon and Trout!

Up the road about a mile from the cabin was the Mystery of the Trees. It is a lovely spot and a well worth time of exploring. Many of the Coastal Redwoods are in the Ripley's Believe it or Not collection. We walked the path taking it all in. The Elephant Tree has all of these exposed root systems that are gigantic.
               
And then there is The Upside Down Tree - a tree that has two trunks & two root structures - one tree horizontal & one tree vertical growing together.
Another of the trees is the Nature's Underpass Tree that one can actually crawl through the roots that support the giant tree.
               
Even the fallen trees leave a beautiful view of the broken trucks ...
The Lightening Tree has jagged turns in the trunk which resemble a lightening bolt.
               
A popular spot for wedding ceremonies is the Cathedral Trees which form a semi-circle of these magnificent trees forming a chapel-like setting.
               
The Brotherhood Tree is 297 feet tall and has a diameter of 19 feet.
               
                         
Interesting fact about the Coastal Redwoods. Generally, the trees grow close together so that the roots of each intertwine with each other and help support these tall and heavy trees.

The trails are a beautiful walk ...
               
               
The Trees of Mystery also gave us lift tickets to the Sky Trail that takes the cabled car high above the forest and up the mountain for one mile. The views out of the Sky Trail car are spectacular for a different prospective from ground level.
               
               
                 
The option is open to hike down the one mile mountain for those who want a work-out!
             
               
This tree is known as The Towering Inferno. It has survived lightning strikes and fires and continues to grow. The Redwoods can transport their nourishment to the entire tree through the bark and outer layers of the truck thus being resistant to fires and most insects.
               
               
We also enjoyed the Candelabra Tree - a Horizontal tree has roots that feed the vertical trees and the vertical trees feed the horizontal trees by photo synthesis. The horizontal tree is not a branch but a trunk and is living and growing not a fallen tree.
There is an extensive walk through the Trail of Tall Tales - stories of Paul Bunyon and his friends sculptured in Redwood. There are many-many to see and read about along this path. These are just a few:
             
      
We drove into Trinidad for more of the ocean adventures. We found this a quaint town much as we image the New England coastline looks like with their villages. We found a great place for lunch about a half block from the ocean. Here we found The Memorial Lighthouse, another one of the nine west-coast lighthouses. This one does not have a house or station built around it, but sits majestically on the hill overlooking the bay. The lighthouse bell is outside for all to view. 
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Next to the lighthouse is an old wooden and dirt staircase that leads to the beach. At times it's pretty steep and a little difficult to maneuver! But, the 180 step walk down and then back up was good exercise and fun to do.
               
               
On our drive from Trinidad back to Klamath, we took a side road excursion for the scenic route that is posted. It was gorgeous and as the sign said, scenic. Passing the only buildings on this road, we spotted an Elk Buck and his female Does and Fawns. He was triumphant looking with his large horn rack and the "wives" and "kids" seemed very content. We didn't get close as not to scare them. But we had to take this photo op in telephoto to capture the moment.

We returned to the cabin in late afternoon before venturing into Crescent City for another fresh fish meal before leaving tomorrow morning to head for Yosemite National Park. We had a wonderful three night stay and the days exploring new adventures. The Woodland Villa Cabins will always be a must-stay place if in the area. There are several more pictures in this album which can be opened by clicking here. Off to Yosemite ... stay tuned for that post!