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Published: September 9th 2007
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After our usual breakfast of oatmeal and raisins and our peanut butter toast, we walked around the campsite. We spotted three elk out by the road. We took a trail and looked at the strands of redwood trees. They were massive. Dave stood inside of one of the trees whose trunk had been eaten away. It was like a huge cave, but the tree was still alive.
We drove to the road and saw the elk. We thought they were really neat until we turned around and there was a big buck strutting across the field and there was no comparison between him and the rest of them. He must have weighed well over 1000 pounds and had a huge rack and a massive chest. We drove over to see the “Big Tree” which was at least 24 feet across and about 350 feet tall. This tree was over 2000 years old.
We headed south on 101. We spotted a sign for “Avenue of The Giants” and turned off the freeway. This road ran parallel to the freeway, but did so through a windy country road barely wide enough for two cars to pass. The road snaked it’s way
through huge redwoods - hundreds of them. Most were at least 15 feet at the base in diameter. The canopies were so tight that hardly any sunlight came through. It was almost eerie.
We stopped for lunch in Garberville and got gas and groceries and got on our way again. Even though we haven’t been on the ocean a lot today, because 101 veers away from the coast, we have crossed some coastal mountain ranges and have had a lot of beautiful scenery. When we came to Leggett, CA we took Route 1. First sign we saw was “Drive-through-Tree”. So we paid $5 and drove down to the tree which was 2400 years old, 315 feet tall and 21 foot diameter. We couldn’t drive through the tree because of the roof cargo rack.
Then we headed south on Route 1 over a mountain range to get to the coast. The 25 mile stretch of Route 1 from Leggett to the coast was unbelievably hilly and windy. Anyone doing over 25 mph had to be insane. Hundreds of switchbacks, hairpin turns, one blind curve after another, where you couldn’t see more than twenty feet in front of you. There
were a few loggers and tractor-trailers using this road, and Dave would not think twice about taking a rig over it himself. He says you do what you have to do to get your job done. But as we have driven over this road and so many others like it out west here, Dave can’t stress enough how glad he is that we left the 5th wheel and truck at home, and we are in this van.
We see so many people out here struggling up and down these mountain roads in there RV’s and we don’t even want to think about the cost of the fuel. The only time we miss that 5th wheel is when we are walking in the cold and damp of the morning to the bathrooms.
Route 1 in northern California provides some awesome, spectacular scenery. It is different from Oregon, but still beautiful. We checked out a few campgrounds before we settled on Van Damme State Park.
When we were at the drive-through tree it was 93 degrees. When we hit the coast 45 minutes later it was 68 degrees. Drizzle moved in after our campfire and it became foggy.
We decide to watch our movie in the van (Inspector General with Danny Kaye).
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