Oregon into California / Giant Redwoods!

Wednesday, September 21

We woke up and enjoyed the view in pretty Humbug Mountain State Park. What a cozy little park, tucked in next to the ocean at the foothills of some lovely mountains. Nice!

We had to pick between a hike with a mountain view or a hike with an ocean view. Hmmmmmm – tough choice. In the end, we opted for the ocean, since it’s so spectacular and we know we have a lot of mountains to enjoy again once we get farther inland. So, off we went along the “Old 101 Trail.”

Well, “trail” turned out to be a bit of a stretch. The “trail” was really the old, dilapidated paved highway 101! I gotta tell you, I hate “hiking” on paved road. There is no fun and excitement. You don’t have to watch where your feet are. The tree cover has been cut down, so that you get more sun on you. Someone has already paved over the interesting plants that would be right beside you. I know – the plants are maybe six feet away instead of six inches. But it’s still not quite the same.

However, the hike wasn’t a total bust because … those views of the coastline were really spectacular. Here are a few.

After we got back to camp, I took a quick shower and then took the final steps to pack us up and get us on the road again. And yes, I did listen to a little bit of Willie Nelson as we started our drive.

We continued south down the coast. GORGEOUS! We still had a short bit of Oregon to cover, and as its parting gift, it gave us more beauty: the five to six layers of crashing waves on a vast and broad shore made for a huge cover of sea foam that looked like a veil of lace on the water. Really, really pretty.

We drove a little bit more – more pretty coastline to keep my jaw dropping. At one of the pull-offs, we took another long walk on a gorgeous Oregon beach. It was COLD water. If I’d had an injured ankle instead of hamstring, this would have been a great way to ice it!   

We finally crossed into California early afternoon – bye, bye, Oregon.

Now we were headed to Redwoods National Forest. Turns out Redwoods is actually a partnership of California State Parks and Federal National Parks. And there are several sections of park to enjoy.

Back at Humbug Mountain that morning, the park ranger had said that the Redwood trees were bigger in the more southern groves, so we drove on to the southern section around Orick. We found the Ladybird Johnson Grove. No Auggie allowed, so I walked the one-mile nature trail there myself.

Turns out this grove was dedicated by President Richard Nixon in August of 1968 to Ladybird Johnson, in recognition of her work in preservation of America’s “natural beauty.” These were some BIG trees.

Here’s a photo of me next to one – I look like a peanut compared to that thing!

On our way farther south, we encountered some crazy wild and spooky fog that was rolling in late afternoon. It had completely clouded over the coastal side of the road, yet just on the other side of the road it was sunny. Hmmmmm. Weather sure doesn’t work the same here as it does on the east coast.

And over the past several days, I’ve also discovered that my staying-warm strategy was to put on my fleece for warmth and then my slicker over top to keep out the wind. It’s cold and blustery on the coast. By the end of the day, my hair was a mess!

We found our campsite, fixed our dinner, read our Potter and then slept like logs. (ha ha – every pun intended!)  J