More from the Redwoods...

On the Coastal Drive in Redwoods National Park, a view of the mouth of the Klamath River, and from the same viewpoint, looking south down the coast:

A shot in Humboldt Lagoons State Park, and looking north from Wedding Rock in Patrick's Point State Park:

The first elk we've seen since South Dakota (except fot the game park in Sequim, WA)! Here's a big guy lounging in the front yard of a home near Orick, CA:

A fantastic "must-see" park...

We're staying on the Klamath River and took the scenic drive through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Redwoods National Park. We took a sidetrip down Davison road (unpaved, windy, definitely not for trailers) to see Gold Bluffs Beach and Fern Canyon (as featured on Huell Howser's California Gold). Fern Canyon was incredible and worth the drive and the fee. It is a fabulous but short walk up a stream bed (you'll get your feet wet, practically unavoidable so I opted to just walk in the stream) with fern-covered canyon walls and redwoods towering overhead.

Sidenote: there is no warning in the literature and only a tiny sign on the road warning that this is a "fee area". You drive 4 miles on this gravel windy road to find there is an $8 fee to enter. Also, note the camping is $35 in most California State Parks (with no hookups), so we think they have priced themselves out of the market. We will not visit California again with any intention of staying at a state park. In Oregon and Washington, the state parks range from $16 - $22 for camping, and most parks include water, electric, plus some have sewer and even cable TV - all with the beautiful surroundings we've come to expect at a state park versus the "parking lot" RV Parks.

That said, we're glad we saw Fern Canyon, and glad we camped elsewhere.

Finally in California again...

We spent our first night in California (after the longest absence of our lives) in Smith River, at Salmon Harbor RV Resort. This was a terrific location at the mouth of the Smith River, and the park was nice, clean, with lots of long term residents but well-kept places. We had considered spending a month here (excellent monthly rate) but we would like to see Yosemite / Kings Canyon / Sequoia, which requires us to pick up the pace and spend less time in the redwoods. Rexie and I enjoyed a nice long walk on the beach. .


More lovely ocean views on our drive continuing towards Klamath and the redwoods:

Oregon Coast - South from Coos Bay to Brookings

There were too many beautiful spots to list on this drive. Here is a shot from the Coquille River Lighthouse and Bandon March NWR looking out at the North Jetty. Bullards State Beach looked like a nice place to stay but we were moving southward.

One of our favorite stops was Cape Blanco Lighthouse, a 5 mile drive west from the 101. It was incredibly windy (you could lean into the wind and be held up), and this was the awesome view up the coast:

There were countless views of rocky coastline, all the way down through Gold Beach and Brookings. RV Parks along the way were expensive, and several terrific state parks were full, so we continued on into California to the Passport America park we had found online.

Oregon Coast - Central....more

Our next drive took us south to North Bend / Coos Bay area. We stayed in town, but on our next trip through the area, we will definitely include an extended stay in this area. Sunset Bay State Park and Cape Arago are magnificent, with rocky shores, steep cliffs, tide pools, plentiful Sea Lions and Elephant Seals, wooded shorelines, and the fabulous Simpson Reef. The Charleston area is very charming. Our visit coincided with the "Cruz the Coos" antique car show, and there were shiny old cars everywhere. It was a fun stop. Now we move on down the coast through Bandon, and into Gold Beach for our next stop.

Oregon Coast - Central

From Tillamook, we drove the 101 south to Carl Washburn Memorial State Park which has a quiet wooded campground with a short path to the beach, on of the top 5 places to stay on the Oregon coast (according to some). It was a fantastic spot - wish we could have stayed a week. Along the way, we drove the Otter Crest Scenic Viewpoint near Cape Foulweather (love the name), stopped and admired Seal Rock and also Devil's Churn at Cape Perpetua. The next morning, we spent some time at Heceta Head Lighthouse which overlooks a beautiful cove with big waves and sea caves, plus the Heceta Churn. We really enjoyed this spot and could hang out for days just watching the waves. We met some friends who hosted for 1 year at an Oregon lighthouse in their RV...if the view was anything like the view from this lightkeeper's house, I'd be thrilled to take that job. :-)
We also visited the Sea Lion Caves; unfortunately, a helicopter has just flown over and frightened all the Seal Lions off the rocks. We were given a $2 discount (paid $9 each rather than $11) and the cave was really neat; however, I think they should have discounted it by 50%, since we saw no sea lions and the cave alone wasn't $18 worth. Heceta Head at $3 for parking, was much more worthwhile, and we saw lots of Sea Lions in the water below the lighthouse!

Oregon Coast - Northern

We headed from Mount Hood / Sandy area, across to the coast and spent two nights in Tillamook area (Netarts on the coast). We did the Three Capes Scenic Loop, enjoying the sunset at Cape Meares and Three Arch Rocks NWR. We also toured several spots in Tillamook, including of course, the world famous Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yummmm....