Part 2, Late September – Early October; Napa, CA; Mendocino, CA; Redwoods NP

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San Francisco

Redwoods NP

We are heading to the San Francisco airport to pick up three of Nicida’s school friends then head off to Sonoma where they will visit and possibly/probably sample some wine.  Fortunately, they all arrive around noon making rendezvousing easy.  The drive into and through SF is a bit more intense, especially with four women getting together for the first time in a long time; and driving a truck camper down crowded city streets.

We make it and are able to say we crossed the straits of the Golden Gate on the bridge of the same name.  We make the obligatory stop at the H Dana Bowers Memorial Vista Point to see the Golden Gate Bridge from the north end of the bridge.  It is packed with tourists, like us, posing for selfies.  The never-ending traffic continues, we lose a few cars to other destinations, picking up others to take their place.  These roads are lined with vineyards, one after another.  

Napa Farmer's Market

In comparison, if I was driving in Wisconsin the road would be lined with cornfields – just a different product.  All in all, we enjoy a safe 3-hour ride to Sonoma.  I am invited to lunch with a total of seven graduates already telling stories and preparing for a great reunion.  I empty the camper of four women’s luggage making space for me, for the next three days.  After lunch, I conduct camper tours for the girls.  Some are amazed at the space we have; others are amazed that we can travel and comfortably live in such a small space.  After the tours, I leave them, heading to Napa, staying at the Expo Center campground.

Napa

The RV park in the Expo Center is within walking distance of downtown Napa.  After breakfast I clean up the camper, check propane and do laundry, so we are ready for another week of travel.  All jobs completed it’s time for a walk to downtown Napa.  As I walk I notice a few hot air balloons floating over part of town.  Instantly, it reminds me of the hot air balloons floating around Albuquerque each weekend culminating in the huge gathering of balloons in October for the Balloon Fiesta.  The riverfront has wide walkways inviting people to walk along the river.  Crossing the river into downtown I see many wine-bars, restaurants and places for wine-tasting.  Today is Saturday and I see the farmer’s market is in full swing.  There are many merchants selling soaps, coffees, and flowers.  I stop to purchase some gluten-free pasta and at another booth, tea.  Further into the market I find tables of carrots, melons, heirloom tomatoes, squash and sweet potatoes.  This is the kind of market I remember my mom taking my sister and me to when she would buy bags of pickles to can over the coming days.   

I didn’t really find anything else to exciting, I’m not a wine drinker and I have lots of food to choose from in the camper, so I slowly make my way back home.  On the way I spot three old fashion type windmills at the opposite end of the park I am camped in.  I sense a photo op later this afternoon with lots of experimentation to see which looks the most interesting.  The afternoon is comfortable with some reading, starting to write this trip for the blog you are reading, and just enjoying the day.

Sunday, another nice day 80’s and sunny.  I make a grocery run, picking up food for the upcoming week.  We will be staying at a couple state and national parks over the coming weeks.  Great for enjoying nature, not so good for grocery shopping.  I enjoy the rest of the day getting ready, reading and continue writing the first blog installment of this trip.  Tomorrow, I head to Sonoma to pick up Nicida.

It takes me an hour to get to Sonoma, lots of traffic.  Nicida has enjoyed her visit, getting together with longtime friends and having a great time seeing the area.  She is ready to continue our trip on to Mendocino, and Redwoods National Park.  We are trying to stay ahead of the hot weather, 90’s are forecast for the Sonoma area for the next few days.  We hope to avoid that by heading north.

Hwy 1

Along Hwy. 1

We decide to follow the coast taking the scenic route, Hwy 1.  Leaving the valley, I notice the outside temperature goes from 83 to 63 once the ocean comes into view.  We stop to see and hear the waves crashing below us.  Opening our doors, the wind hits us, filling our lungs with salt filled air.  We know we are at the ocean.  The blue of the water, and the continuous crashing waves are spectacular, maybe that is because we live several hundred miles from such a large, restless, turbulent, body of water.  We follow Hwy 1, for the 2+hour, 80-mile ride towards Mendocino.  The road winds along the coast.  We have to slow to 15 mph numerous times to get around the tight curves.  Did I mention guard rails – there are very few, if any, along our drive.  We see small towns, sea stacks, pine forests, beaches.  At times the road towers 200’ above the ocean, other times we are alongside an empty, wave pounded beach.  Continuing north, the road leaves the ocean leading us into forest.   This is not southern California.  At Van Damm State Park, our campsite is in a tree-lined deep canyon.  We are astonished when the park ranger asks us if we want to purchase wood for a campfire.  Given our continual drought conditions at home, we can’t remember the last time we could have a campfire.  We pass on the campfire, instead walking down to the beach to take in the never-ending waves, mounds of kelp washed up on the beach, and body-sized pieces of bleached driftwood deposited by storm driven waves.  The temperature starts dropping as the sun sets, our cue to head back to the camper for the night.

Mendocino

Along the Headlands Trail

We experience one of our first cool nights, pulling up one of our sleeping bags for extra warmth.  We depart for Mendocino for a day-long visit.  The downtown area is several blocks long and at least two blocks wide.  We find many galleries, restaurants, tourist and coffee shops.  We start at the GoodLife Café with coffee, hot chocolate and a morning bun.  All are quite tasty.  We wander the town finding the Sock Shop picking up a few gifts for family back home.  We also wander through the cemetery, finding headstones dating back to the early 1800’s.  There were lots of immigrants at that time, Irish, Italian, Spanish to name a few.  Lifespans were quite short, we notice there are many children that didn’t make it to their teens.

Along the Headlands Trail

We hike the Headlands trail which follows the coastline from above.  We spot only one beach in a protected cove. One has to take many steps down to the beach.  The views of the sea stacks, small kelp forests and crashing waves draw our attention.  The leeward side of the headlands is warm, low 80’s with no breeze.  As we work our way around the point of land we become exposed to the cool, north winds.  We continue hiking for another 20 minutes, taking in the everchanging scenes.  The cool wind wins, we decide we have had enough of the wind, turning back towards town.  We start a search for local restaurant for a nice lunch.  Filled with seafood street tacos, we take in one more treat – Frankies, for Mushroom Cap ice cream for Nicida and Mango Pineapple Sorbet for me.  Both are equally tasty even though Mushroom Cap ice cream doesn’t sound very appetizing to me.

We head on to Russian Gulch State Park.  This was another campground we were looking to camp in.  Unfortunately, the campground is closed for the winter, but the picnic area is open.  We walk down to the Russian River, more of a stream this time of year, seeing the open-spandrel deck arch bridge from below.  It is picturesque from river level.  We end our day listening to 30-minutes of the vice-presidential debate, before retiring for the night.  Tomorrow Hwy 1 to Redwood State and National Parks.

Redwood State/National Park

The first part of our 200-mile drive is on Hwy 1.  We weave our way along the coast, fewer people, the same high cliffs, and very few guardrails.  Somewhere south or Eureka we leave the coast following the road into the coastal mountains. We enter dense forest.  It is sunny but you wouldn’t know it driving through sections of forest, it is dark, the sun only peaks through in spots, resembling a single spotlight highlighting the lead actor on a stage.  We wind through the mountains, to a valley leading us to Eureka.  We are back on Hwy 101.  Gas in this remote city tops $5/gallon.  We encounter the first sign of smoke from a wildfire; natural or prescribed?  We don’t know, the locals are not fleeing so we assume all is well.  A dozen miles later the air clears.

Nicida among
the Redwoods

Entering Redwoods National Park, we learn from a park ranger that Hwy 101 actually goes through the park.  Exits from the highway lead directly to campgrounds, picnic areas, and hiking trails. 

The ranger gives us a list of hikes to take in different aspects of the park.  Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Drury Scenic Drive (old 101), South Fork Trail, Rhododendron Trail, Brown Creek Trail.  That’s just the first day.

We start at Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  As we exit the truck, we are stunned by the size of the redwoods.  They are massive, tall, especially tall.  They are different than the sequoias we visited a few years ago.  The sequoias are much larger in circumference, up to 29’, but not quite as tall, only 250’.  The redwoods are narrower, 23’ circumference, reaching to over 350’ in height.  There are also other differences but we are awed by the scale of these trees.  We walk in silence, as in a church taking in all we see.  Golden shafts of light pierce through the branches as the sun approaches sunset.  What an introduction to Redwoods NP.  We continue on to our campsite, enjoying our dinner beneath towering pines. 

The night is cool, we add a second sleeping bag to fend off the cool, damp air.  The next morning fog rolls out from the open field of Elk Prairie Campground.  Stopping at the edge, we scan the meadow looking for elk, no luck.  We start our drive down Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.  The 10-mile parkway cuts through an old-growth redwood forest.  Along the parkway are pullouts for parking for the many trailheads that lead into the forest.  We stop at the 3+ mile loop of the South Fork Trail, Rhododendron Trail, and Brown Creek Trail.  There are perhaps a dozen hikers at the trailhead.  As we continue into the forest the number of hikers dwindles to just Nicida and me only a mile into our three mile hike.  Again we have entered a sanctuary.  We speak in low voices not to disrupt the peaceful quiet.  Shafts of morning sunlight highlight ferns, newborn trees, and mosses.  The air is cool, as the last of the fog dissipates.  We climb up and over ridges finding another tree-filled valley.  Duff covering the forest floor muffles all sound.  Birds seem to chirp and sing at lower volume recognizing that this place is sacred.  We see ‘nursery trees’, those that have fallen long ago.  They provide fertile conditions for plants to start life; mosses, ferns, small unfamiliar shrubs and the start of new redwoods have moved in the lush conditions of the ‘nursery trees’.  Nearing the end of our loop trail we visit with several hikers enjoying the forest as we have.

Mushrooms

Continuing on towards our next campsite we stop in Crescent City, stocking up on fruit, cheeses, chips and salad fixings in preparation of our next couple days in the redwoods.  Ranger Michael introduces us to the northern end of the Redwoods Park.  We learn of the geology of the area, especially the plate tectonics.  We find the evidence in the rocks and stones along the Smith River near the Jedediah Smith Campground where we are staying.  We meet a couple visiting from Mexico, they are introducing their three year-old daughter to the Redwoods and many other parts of the Northwest.  She demonstrates how the chipmunks and squirrels hop from place to place searching for morsels of food.

The next morning we wake to even cooler conditions.  We find out that I inadvertently left the camper backdoor open.  We are glad there are no bears in the area.  We head off to Howland Hill Road, an eight-mile long graded road through redwood forest.  Each of today’s redwood’s hikes is crowded.  Stout Grove looks like a manicured redwood park.  The Grove of Titans trail winds through another portion of the redwoods ending with old-growth redwoods.  Our senses are working overtime with the sights, smells, and feel of the trees.

Crescent Beach

There is one more stop for us before our tour of the redwoods is complete, Enderts Beach.  Cresent Beach Overlook gives us a wide view of the beach as it bends to the north.  Enderts Beach, to the south, is small, bordered by high cliffs on either side of this small patch of sand.  We enjoy our up close and personal experience with the crashing waves, before returning to our campsite for the night.

Today is a travel day.  There is no direct way to drive to Lassen Volcanic National Park from here.  Either south, the way we came.  It was beautiful the first time, probably not so much on the return trip.  Or north, up into Oregon, to Grants Pass, following a valley on one of the few through roads to the east.  Either route is over 250 miles.  The larger cities on the northern route are appealing, we have laundry to do, refill our propane tanks on the camper, and more food shopping.  

We are forced to give up on the dry ice option for the cooler, it seems to be a seasonal thing in this part of the country.  We only have a few meals left so regular ice will keep everything cold.  Laundry is our first priority.  I feel like I won at Vegas when the laundromat change machine spits out $20 worth of quarters.  While waiting for laundry we assemble lunch from what we have in the refrigerator.  Propane and gas tanks filled we stop at the grocery store before the final push to our destination.  We follow I-5 for 80 miles, all the time Mount Shasta grows in our windshield.  Turning off the interstate we are back on two-lane roads.  We follow valleys, surrounded by forest.  Evidence of recent wild fires are apparent, miles of tree skeletons line the foothills.  Other places are untouched.  Dirt roads lead off into the forest.  Progressing further east means the landscape dries out.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark