Blogs from Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California, United States, North America

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10/22/15 Little River, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Benbow Inn, Garberville Dave and I missed the allegedly spectacular meteor shower in the night at Heritage House in Little River because we were too tired to stay up until 3AM. We didn’t lose any sleep over it. We later heard that the weather was too cloudy and we wouldn’t have been able to see much anyway. We woke to a chilly morning with brilliant blue skies promising to be a gorgeous day. Wanting to enjoy as much as we could of the luxury resort we first enjoyed our coffee in front a our fireplace and then spent about an hour walking to the cliff and gazebo enjoying the ambiance and as we tried to figure out where the various movie sets were located over the resort’s 37 acres. Since ... read more
Typical water tower in Mendocino.
Mendocino coast.
Mendocino Botanical Garden.


The parts of the ocean and cliffs we saw through the fog were amazing. Kept our lookout for tsunamis, but didn't see any, so we ignored the signs. Decided to head inland to warm up and see the giant redwood trees. Then back to the coast to see Glass Beach. All I can tell you is not to believe everything you see in brochures or Roadside Attractions. Avenue of the Giants (redwood trees) was really neat to drive through. Headed to Oregon on Tuesday.... read more
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Wednesday 18/07/12 – Of course it was raining and misty this morning, it seems like that’s what happens along this coast! We took Highway 101 which is renowned for being the most spectacular road on the west coast of the United States. It runs almost the entire length of the coast from Seattle to LA. However I don’t think this is the right time of year to be doing it, as it’s mostly blanketed in fog. From what we could see it appears to be similar to the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. We had only been on the road for about 20 mins when some jerk in a Ute came around a blind corner on my side of the road and almost wiped me out! After what felt like an incredibly long time of careful ... read more
A tight squeeze to enter the Oregon Caves
Cave formation
The caving pirate


After hemming and hawing, we decided to make the long trek up to see the Redwoods. We didn’t go all the way up to Eureka, but did go 4 hrs up north to Humbolt National Forest. They have the 4th tallest redwood living in that forest. In fact, one out of every five redwoods live in this forest! We took the Avenue of the Giants which is the scenic drive through the forest. So glad we drove up! These trees are seriously tall! Not as big around as the sequoias, but still huge compared to an average tree. One of the redwoods had fallen across a ravine and formed a natural bridge you could walk over! We saw some magnificent sites – trees you could walk in, walk on, some that had fallen and the roots ... read more
Our first Redwood!
It could be a house!
This fallen one made a great bridge!


I woke up this morning in a roadside campground in Humboldt State Park south of Scotia. This park in the Eel River Valley is the largest of the redwood parks created by the Save the Redwoods League. The campground illustrates what motivated people to fight so hard against Maxxam. It is located in a second growth redwood grove. The trees are visibly smaller than the old growth forest I saw yesterday. Even worse, like Lynn Canyon near Vancouver (see ), the huge stumps of the original trees appear all over. Unlike eastern forest second growth (see ) the contrast between this environment and what came before is quite obvious. If Maxxam had had their way, the entire valley would have looked like this. This campground also shows a consequence o... read more
Second growth redwoods
Shrine Drive Thru Tree
Car in a tree


After a week chilling out and recharging the batteries we hit the road again; this time hiring a car for a month so we can try to cover as much ground as possible. We headed north into Redwood country, home of some of the oldest and biggest trees in the world. We drove through Napa Valley – the famous wine growing region although we did not stop due to our decision to detox for a while after SF and anyway we will hopefully be going to Walla Walla in Washington – an up and coming wine region. We headed to the coast by the Navarro River and stopped at a beautiful state beach. After a relaxing afternoon we set up camp in the forest campsite…and then the paranoia of bears kicked in for the first time!! ... read more
Navarro State Beach
Cormorant - we think
Isolated river spot


Problemerne med RV´en var ikke overstået endnu. Da vi vågnede næste morgen i Fortuna, opdagede Steffen at vi havde et fladt dæk. Da vi ikke har noget reservedæk og AAA kun kommer ud og skifter dæk, hvis man har sådan et, var vi nødsaget til at køre til det nærmeste dækcenter. Heldigvis lå det kun få minutters kørsel væk fra vores campingplads. Overalt hvor vi været med vores RV, har vi mødt de mest venlige mennesker - lige fra den gang hvor vi skulle have skiftet gearkasse, til olieskift, til check af dæktryk mm. Og vi blev også mødt med en (næsten overdreven) venlighed på dækcenteret. Det viste sig, at dækket ikke bare var punkteret med flækket og ikke stod til at lappe. Så vi skulle have et nyt dæk. Da dækkene er helt nye, mente ... read more
Roden Steffen
Avenue of the Giants
Rockerfeller Forest


Today we were heading towards Portland. We weren’t too sure where we would end up as we had the next few days to get there. After brekkie we jumped in the car and headed towards the worlds crookedest street which is not too far from the Hotel. Lombard Street is the world’s crookedest street and it is famous for the sharp turns and being very steep. We drove down and took a few pics before heading north over the Golden Gate Bridge. Today the weather was not the best and very foggy. You couldn’t even see the tops of the towers on the bridge. When we got over the other side we headed towards the Muir Woods National Monument which is one of the last stands of old-growth Redwood forests on Earth. It has trees that ... read more
Building down our street
View down to the Bay and Alcatraz
Steep


Fog is the order of the day. It blows hard and chilly in Eureka. A 'light' continental breakfast at Travelodge consisted of 2 cereals, coffee, and a couple of buns. With nothing holding us in Eureka we headed straight out. Petrol $3.03/gallon. The drive to Avenue of the Giants was not far south. The redwoods are magical and majestic. With stunning size, some trees are within a foot of each other. I had to drive slowly through the various groves of redwoods as we made our way south. It would be a gross insult to nature to just speed past. We stopped at the Founders Tree 20min walk, where I revelled in the quiet of the woods (once we'd told Joseph to stop blowing his whistle). Most of the photos are from there, although I wish ... read more
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Fallen tree


Today I have been surrounded by massive read wood trees. They are huge. I've had another easier day today and have been chilling amongst the trees which has been great. The mornings are getting colder, I had to put gloves on to start with today. I had to take them off again after not very long tho as I had to fix another flat tyre, that’s three now. After I was back on my way again I had about 50km of highway riding before getting onto the avenue of the giants. A road that runs parallel to the freeway but goes through red wood groves. There is also an interp trail with stops every few miles which has been really interesting. I went for a walk through one of the glades and you really get a ... read more
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