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Saturday, June 18, 2022
We drove up to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center. The entire complex is actually composed of Redwood National Park and three California State Parks (Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek). We intended to do some hikes emanating from the visitor’s center and then do the ten mile scenic drive. Just as we were arriving at the park there was a sign stating that the road was closed one mile ahead. What the heck?
Before we got to the visitor’s center we encountered a large field full of Elk. Apparently the area is lousy with them and they are a constant presence in the park. I broke out the long lens and snapped a bunch of photos before parking at the visitor’s center and talking to one of the rangers.
We were told that the scenic drive was closed for a special event. I asked, “how can you could close a public park on a Saturday?” The snotty ranger replied that the park wasn’t closed – it was just closed to cars. If you wanted to see the scenic drive you could walk it instead. It was only 20 miles round trip. I went outside before I said something impolite. Other visitors were, like me, bat-shit crazy pissed off. Many had driven hundreds of miles to see the park and this was their only day in town. The “special event” was some sort of fair that was occupying a small part of the main road. It was clear that there was insufficient parking for all the people who were presently in the park – much less the people who would be coming. They had trinkets and tacos for sale. YOU GOTTA BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!
We took “The Big Tree” trail that emanated from the visitor’s center. I must have ranted for the entire hour and half we were on the trail. Other people heard me and heartily agreed. Our one sole consolation was that we were planning to be in town for two days and the scenic drive was expected to be open tomorrow. The highlight of the trail was a very large coast redwood that was said to be 1,500 years old. It was huge but we’d seen much larger trees near the parking lot.
The other thing that was troubling us was that there was no National Park sign. We always stop at the park entrances and take a selfie with the sign. Everybody seems to do this. It’s probably the most photographed place in every national park. We Googled for places to find a suitable sign and found some. Supposedly there would be one near the trails we intended to hike tomorrow.
Next we drove up to Jedediah Smith State Park. Instead of being able to access it via the scenic drive we went out of the park took route 101. Route 101 was another twisty, turning mountain road with lots of construction. Most of it went through vast forests of evergreens and redwoods. When we got to the park the road turned to gravel and became very narrow. We were concerned that we’d come in through the wrong entrance. Had there not been some cars behind us and several that were coming out of the park in front of us we’d have probably turned around.
A note on navigation in these parks. It’s pretty rare that there is cell service in the parks and often, because the parks are in remote areas, there is no service in the surrounding areas as well. When that happens we switch from Apple Maps to Google Maps. If you download an “offline map” beforehand you can still navigate as easily as if you had service. It’s been a lifesaver for us many times.
Once inside the park the road got even narrower. In places you had to pull over to let oncoming cars pass you by and the maximum speed you could go was about 10 MPH. It was, however, fantastically scenic. The park was full of impossibly tall redwoods with trunks over 100 feet in circumference. It was truly impressive. We’d been to Muir Woods recently and, although they had a lot of redwoods there, these absolutely dwarfed them in sheer height and size.
We’d identified a trail that we wanted to hike but rather unusually we couldn’t find it using Google Maps. After a few miles we found an interesting sounding trail called, “Grove of the Titans”. It turned out to be a fantastic trail. We wended up and down through the forest getting up close and personal with the tallest living things on Earth. Many of these trees were said to be around 2,000 years old. The trees are so tall and have such large canopies that the path was rather dark, cool, and protected from the sun. It was a lovely hike.
Back in the car we realized that we were fairly close to the ocean. Let’s have seafood for lunch! We drove into Crescent City and found a restaurant that suited our needs. Deborah had fish tacos (what else) and I had an oyster po-boy sandwich. Both meals came with a cup for clam chowder. Yum!
After lunch we got back on 101 and headed South. Just as we were about to head back into the forest Deborah noticed a sign. It was the national park sign we had been looking for. I stopped as quickly as I could. I’d actually driven just past the sign. Seeing that no one was behind me I backed up into the pullout and we got our picture.
By the time we got back to Arcata, where our hotel is, it was 4:00 pm. We decided that we’d have ice cream for dinner. We found an artisanal ice cream parlor in a very residential neighborhood. The place is known for making unusual and seasonal flavors. I had a scoop of maple cinnamon and Deborah had their signature flavor: honey vanilla lavender. The ice was really creamy, flavorful, and delicious. It was $4.50 for a large scoop. The only thing that would have made it better is if they’d strained the lavender from the finished product. Biting into a small piece of frozen herb was a little off-putting.
Sunday, June 19, 2022
This morning we drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. It was dedicated to the former First Lady by Richard Nixon in 1969, “in recognization of her devoted service to the cause of preserving and enhancing America’s natural beauty for the enjoyment of all the people”. We hiked the loop trail and enjoyed seeing more of the amazing redwoods. We noticed that most of the redwoods that had lived at least 1,000 years had significant scars and charring from a fire. We imagined that the last big fire in that area was sometime between 500 and 750 years ago. That’s pretty amazing.
A few miles away we also hiked the Trillium Falls Trail (not to be confused with people who trade in Kevas and Trillium – extra points of you know that reference?). There was a picture of a Trillium flower on the trailhead sign. We looked everywhere but never did find any. The trail undulated through the redwood forest for over a mile until we got to a lovely little waterfall. We stopped to take pictures and enjoy the sounds of running water. The trail continued for quite a ways more but we decided to head back.
We re-entered the Prairie Creek entrance and were delighted not to see the sign about the road closure. We proceeded ahead and drove the ten mile scenic drive to the other end of the park. It was a very pretty drive. No one was behind us so we luxuriated at about 15 MPH the entire way.
Next we drove back to Arcata for lunch. We found a bar in the middle of town that specialized in seafood. We ordered a fried oyster basket that featured local oysters. We also ordered a calamari basket. Both came with fries. We intended to share them but Deborah preferred the calamari and I preferred the oysters, which made things rather easy.
The restaurant abutted the town square where they were having some sort of fair. We circled the entire square looking for dessert but most of the booths were involved in selling clothing and trinkets. Across the street we noticed a frozen yogurt store. It was one of those places where you fill your cup with one or more flavors of yogurt and then top it anyway you like. The yogurt was really good and the toppings were fun. We got gas and started our preparations for our move tomorrow. We have a long drive so we’ll probably get an early start.