July 25th Day 17 Redwoods NP to Cloverdale,CA

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July 25th Redwoods National and State Parks

We wook up to a cool morning with the fog having set in. Apparently that is normal for this area. The damp foggy area helps keep the redwoods moist and safer from fire. We started heading south and stopped at the visitor's center to get some info. This park is a little different-no actual entrances or need to pay at the gate. The park runs down the coast. It combines the Redwood National Park and several stae parks together. The ranger was very helpful in telling us where to go and where we couldn't go with the RV.

We followed 101 sounth thru some great groves of trees. They are everywhere on the sides of the road. The road varies between 2 lane and 4 lane,sometimes on the coast and sometimes not. It's still weird to see the ocean on one side of the road and mountains on the other.

We stopped on the side of the road and got some awesome pictures of the sun coming thru the giant trees encased by the fog. Wow!

We stopped at the Trees of Mystery- a typical tourist place but hey, we're tourists! A gaint Paul Bunyon and his Babe greet you in the parking lot. I'm talking huge! Great photo op with Lori getting under Babe and checking out the intimate parts! Paul Bunyon talks to the kids as they walk up. Some guy some place with a microphone commenting on their hair or heir clothes and asking them their names. What a treat!

We paid our $12 a piece and walked thru some neat looking wooded land and then took the sky tram up to the top of the mountain. We were above the tops of the trees! When we got to the top we didn't have much of a view because the fog hadn't burned off yet. We chose to take the trail down "for experienced hikers only". We asked the guy what that meant and he said "good knees, good trail-bad knees,bad trail" . There was some 45% inclines we had to walk down with the use of a walking stick and a rope. It was a great hike!

We continued on our way and hit a little bypass the ranger told us. We pulled off and parked on a wayside and took a marked trail off the side of the road. It was beautiful. we hiked in for about 30 minutes and then hiked back out. We saw some awesome old BIG trees and took some fun pictures.

We passed an area that said to watch for Elk. We saw these huge elk just hanging out on the side of the road. I love the wildlife. I hope to see some more.

We stopped in Cloverdale,CA at a KOA for the night near some wine country. We didn't get a chance to see the wineries beacuse it was too late in the day. The KOA was full of peole-just a lot going on. A lot of people there for the weekend up from the hot south to take advantage of the cooler weather. Phil bult a campfire and we got 2 loads of laundry done. We cooked kielbasa on the grill and did a little bit of internet blogging. Off to San Francisco tomorrow!

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