The East has the leaves but the West has the trees. This is a flashback to about two weeks ago, making our way through the Redwoods and along the coast of Northern California.
Our day starts early, as all camping days do and we set off to explore the mighty Redwood Trees. We have met a very helpful fellow camper who gives us some tips on walks we should do today and also of other camp spots we could head for over the next few days.
Our first stop is Stout Grove, a trail that takes us along the river and into a particularly lovely grove of these giants. The Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. It is a similar area to the South West of Western Australia, where we have some very tall trees, called Pemberton. We meet a very helpful gentleman in this grove who gives us some more helpful advice and information.
These trees are majestic giants stretching high into the sky. It is a struggle to see to the top they are so tall. The fallen trees show their length even better as you can walk right along side these lost treasures. We are told that the roots of the trees are surprisingly shallow, only about 12ft down and that they intertwine to help hold each other up, actually joining roots and taking nutrients from each other.
We move along to another grove called Boy Scout and here we hike through a hilly section of forest that delivers gorgeous valley views of the giants. We come across two fallen trees that show us their root system exactly as our ranger had described. The two trees had fallen apart and their root system was still attached in parts. Even though they are helping each other it is remarkable that so few shallow roots can hold up these amazing trees. This trail has some of the largest trees in the area and the silence of the forest walk is just magical. We see lots of different undergrowth as well, such gorgeous habitat for forest creatures; perhaps there really are fairies under the mushrooms?
We move on to another trail, Nickerson Ranch, and enjoy another wander through beautiful forest. Each walk has something different to offer and all have been lovely. Our day is ended with a scenic drive through the trees, Redwood National Park and small villages of log cabins and Redwood carvings, all sorts of lovely things that we can’t fit in the suitcase. We end up reaching a town called Arcata and find a Howard Johnson that is so good that we wake up and decide to stay another day/night to catch up on everything and just take a rest.
All recharged we head off to a much anticipated famous road, Route 1, which traverses the coast of Northern California all the way to San Francisco. We finish off our tree time with a scenic drive through The Valley of the Giants, taking in a few more galleries and shops before finally heading on to the coast again. This road is quite spectacular, as all the travel guides will tell you. The Northern end is a very curving road making its way through the mountains, up down and around some spectacular forest scenery until you hit the water.
This is a wild coastline that the road hugs giving the most spectacular views. We spend the day stopping at many pull offs just soaking in the ocean views of sea stacks and river mouths and cliff faces of this wild land. We end the day in a very touristy surf area that seems to charge a fortune even to camp but we find a campground right near the beach where I beg a better deal. We wake to a morning of heavy rain, can’t be perfect all the time.
Continuing on the coast road we pass through some very average scenery before coming to a famous stretch of more magnificent winding coast and seem to outrun the rain in time to stop for lunch high on the hill. We are joined by a lovely couple from Sasquatch in Canada and spend an hour chatting with these lovely people before moving on to enjoy such a fantastic piece of coast. We visit Goats Beach famous for a couple of Toyota ads.
We stop numerous times to take in a view that is ever changing with its crashing sea and fresh fragrance that only the ocean can give. It has astounded us how much land along the coast and lakes in the USA are private property and along route 1 we came across some houses that were built way too close to the edge. These houses are gradually falling over the cliffs and into the ocean, only the front doors and surrounds hanging on, very interesting, we hope they had a good insurance policy!
All too soon another day is coming to a close, these early sunsets cutting the days shorter. We have booked a motel in Vacoville, an outer suburb of San Francisco to ready ourselves for yet another much anticipated visit to another city we’ve only seen in the movies.
Photos can be found on our Facebook page in the album NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
Here We Come World 