Walking Among Giants - The Redwoods, 5.4.21 - 5.8.21
A couple of months ago I got a call from my old friend Paul Olson. He and his wife Karen were planning a road trip and wanted to know if we could meet up with them somewhere along their route. Looking at their itinerary we decided that the Redwoods of northern California looked like an ideal meeting spot. Since they would be off to another destination each day, Bridgit and I decided to spend a few days in the area to experience a good sampling of what the Redwoods had to offer. I plunged into one of the joys of life which for me is researching and planning trips. I picked out several great spots to see and hike to in two different parts of the Redwoods. I also decided it would be fun to come home a different way and made plans to visit a spot I have long wanted to see called Castle Crags State Park near Mt. Shasta.
No sooner had I made all these plans and booked sites then everything changed. Upon our return from southern Utah, it had become blatantly obvious that the lack of towing a vehicle with high clearance was severely hampering our wanderlust. We bought the Corolla because it was light enough to tow behind the Navibahn but rode so low to the ground that a grasshopper’s hind legs might take out our oil pan. I have always wanted a Jeep but there is only one model that is light enough to meet our towing requirements and that was a 2-door Jeep Wrangler. We had looked at them before buying the Corolla and didn’t buy one for several reasons, with one big reason that it was extremely difficult for Bridgit and Dana to climb into the back seat. But that was then and the new 2021 Jeep Wrangler Sport is not only well below our towing capacity but has many improvements over the older Jeeps including much easier access to the rear seats. In a burst of spontaneity and burning desire, we jettisoned the Corolla and bought a brand new Jeep. Say hello to “Mr. Green Jeens”!
Mr. Green Jeens
Back to my story. It was several weeks before we could get Mr. Green Jeens set up for towing and we had already traded in the Corolla so we would have no tow vehicle for this Redwoods trip. Compounding the problem, most of the places I had picked to visit were off dirt or narrow windy roads that are not suited for RVs. Suddenly, three of the places I had picked out in the Redwoods we would not be able to access and the one hike I wanted to do at Castle Crags was also at the top of a very narrow, winding road that RVs are not allowed to drive. But I laugh in the face of adversity and rising to the challenge of my dilemma, I quickly accepted the fact that we would have to go back for those spots some other time. Carefully plotting and planning, I came up with a new set of things to do and at 4:30AM last Tuesday we set out down I-5 in the Navibahn, unencumbered by a tow car of any kind. In southern Oregon at Grant’s Pass we veered off onto 199 and by 3PM we were pulling into Redwood Meadows RV Resort in Californ I-A.
This campground is ideally situated right on the eastern edge of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Unlike any other National Park that I know of, Redwoods National Park is actually a cooperative combination of National Park land and three separate California State Parks. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is the northernmost unit, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park lies just below that, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park runs along the ocean to the south with Redwood National Park at the southern end and actually encircling the three State Parks. Within these boundaries are some of the last vestiges of the tallest living things on Planet Earth. The giant Redwoods once covered over two million acres but logging almost eliminated these trees, some of which grow as high as three hundred eighty feet and can can be two thousand years old. Within the confines of these parks are hundreds of tree groves that vary greatly depending on how close they are to the ocean or if they are in low valleys or high on hillsides.
That next morning we got up right with the sun and drove just three short miles into Jedediah Redwoods and parked at the Simpson-Reed Trailhead. No other cars were there that early and our timing was perfect. As the sun began to work its way down to through the forest canopy to the floor of the grove, we walked the roughly two mile loop with no one else around. The size and grandeur of the majestic Redwoods humbled us and we spoke in hushed tones so as not to disturb the tranquility.
Only a few others began to show up as we arrived back at the trailhead. It was still quite early so we drove back for a fine breakfast at the Hiouchi Cafe before continuing on to Crescent City and the National Park Visitor Center. Due to a massive landslide that had taken out a big chunk of Highway 101, there were all day closures with only two one hour periods that they were letting cars through on the bypass. One of those was at 11AM. We got there in line around 10:15AM and got through quickly. Our next stop was at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center. Behind the building we started up the Prairie Creek Trail, crossing the road near The Big Tree and returned via the Cathedral Trees Trail. These trees were even larger than the ones we had seen earlier that morning and the two hikes combined were a spectacular sampler of beautiful old growth Redwoods.
Continuing down the Redwoods Highway we ended up at Elk Country RV Resort where we would meet up with Paul and Karen the following day. Elk Country was a nice resort with less than half the sites taken. As a matter of fact, the three campgrounds we stayed in all had tons of empty sites so I guess April and May are still pretty early before the insanity of summer throngs arrive. A nice feature in this park was a large grass lawn with an extremely photogenic old schoolhouse. But the place isn’t called Elk Country because of the schoolhouse. No, it’s because more often than not, large herds of elk wander into the resort to hang out on the grass of the lawn and even in the grassy areas in the campground sites and they warn you to look before even stepping out of your rig in case you come face to face with one of these very large beasts. Of course we saw no elk whatsoever that first day and I told Bridgit if the elk don’t come I’m bucking for a refund.
The Old Schoolhouse
The next day Paul and Karen arrived around 1PM. Paul and I go back to 1971 at Manning Junior High School. Both budding young guitarists, we were inseparable. Throughout junior high and high school we played together a lot. Talent shows, variety shows, keggers, anywhere we could find somebody to listen. We lost touch after high school but reconnected some years back. We have had only one or two opportunities to play together since then so shortly after they arrived we broke out the guitars and the years just melted away. Cat Steven’s “Father and Son”, Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”, it all came flowing back and we had a great session with plenty of wine and appetizers to keep us fueled. Steaks and asparagus on the BBQ, a good warm fire as the night air became chillier and I’d call it a perfect day.
Paul and Jon. “Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy”
I’m usually up by six and with coffee in hand I stepped out that following morning and met up with Karen who was walking their dog. Right on cue, from across the highway I saw a pair of ears, then a head and soon perhaps fifty or so elk ambled across the road and gathered around the old schoolhouse. If you’ve never seen an elk and want to, I guess this is the place to come.
Paul and Karen were heading for the Oregon Dunes and Bridgit and I were heading for Castle Crags so we said our goodbyes and hit the road. We drove south to just before Eureka and then took 299 along the very scenic Trinity River over to I-5 in Redding, California. From there it was a fairly short drive north to a highway exit with a trailhead to Hedge Creek Falls. Compared to the Trail of the Ten Falls we had just visited in Oregon it wasn’t that spectacular but it did have a nice trail that went back behind the waterfall and that’s always kinda cool.
Hedge Creek Falls
Behind Hedge Creek Falls
This only took a few minutes so we then backtracked two exits to Dunsmuir where we had a reservation for two nights at the Railroad Park Resort and Dining Car. When I originally booked this spot it was because I planned to hike the Cathedral Crags Trail up into the Crags for a closeup view of these amazing pinnacles. However, this was one of the trails that starts at the top of a very narrow windy road so we couldn’t drive the Navibahn up there. Instead, I had scouted out a set of three waterfalls called McCloud Falls not too far from where we were camped, I thought we could go check out the waterfalls the next morning and then drive up an exit or two to Lake Siskiyou where we could hike along the lakeshore trail with great views of 14,179’ Mt. Shasta across the lake. We loved the campground. Despite it being an RV resort, it was in the woods and felt much more like a national forest campground than an RV Park. I played guitar that night for our neighbors in the next site. They told us they had visited a different waterfall called Burney Falls which turned out to be a little further down the same road as McCloud Falls. They said Burney Falls was pretty impressive so we decided that the following morning we would go there first, come back to see McCloud Falls and then go to Lake Sisiyou.
The drive out to Burney Falls is on Highway 89. I had been down this road years before on a ski trip with my friend Gerry Swafford. It goes past Mt. Lassen National Park to Susanville and then on to Reno and Lake Tahoe. Burney Falls was in a state park called McArthur-Burney Memorial State Park about an hour from I-5. It was a really nice park with a great looking campground and a beautiful lake called Lake Britton which would be perfect for paddle boarding and swimming in the summer. We parked down by the boat launch where the RVs park and hiked a one mile trail up to the Burney Falls Overlook. We took another short trail down to the base of the falls and they really were spectacular.
Burney Falls
Burney Falls
Burney Falls
We never did make it to the other falls or the lake. Once back in cell range Bridgit got a text with some bad news about her ailing father. She was supposed to fly back to Connecticut on Wednesday but it sounded like time was of the essence so I drove her straight home from Burney Falls. We arrived home this morning about 12:30AM and she changed her flight to go out this evening. So the ending of the trip was a bit sudden but we were really glad we went and saw some amazing scenery along the way.