We put our days off to good use this week. Monday, June 10, we began a three day adventure to the northern California coast from Crescent City to Eureka. Our main focus was to visit Redwood NP to see the dramatic coastline and the coastal redwoods.
Coast redwoods, with heights up to 370 feet tall, are the tallest trees in the world. They grow in a narrow strip along the Pacific coast of California and southwestern Oregon. Not to be confused with giant sequoias which grow only on the Sierra Nevada's western slope (inland). The giant sequoias have the largest mass of any tree, while the coast redwoods are the tallest. Both of these trees live a long time, giant sequoias up to 3,200 years and coast redwoods up to 2,000 years.
Thankfully this rugged coast was set aside as either National or State Parks. We watched from the cliff as a mother whale and her calf frolicked in the surf.
Our first night we stayed in Crescent City, CA. After dinner we took a walk along the beach and out to the still active Battery Point Lighthouse. Battery Point Light was one of the first lighthouses on the California coast.
We were just in time to catch the sunset as the rather cool night air began to breeze in from the Pacific.
We took a one hour self guided loop trail through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. This is the site where Lady Bird Johnson dedicated the National Park in 1968.
Along the trail we came across hundreds of blooming rhododendrons among the tall trees. Quite a contrast.
Our second night we stayed in Eureka, CA. Driving around town we saw the fishing fleet and proceeded across the bridge to the barrier island discovering the historic Samoa Cookhouse, circa 1893. This is the last lumber camp style cookhouse in operation in North America.
It was a very unique dining experience. All meals are served family style at long tables. We were served hot tea, vegetable soup, salad, fresh made bread, red skinned potatoes, peas, both roast beef and chicken parmigiana and strawberry cake.
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| Historic home once owned by the Lumber Mill owner in Eureka, CA |
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This old home is currently owned by
an architect according to the shingle. |
Wednesday afternoon, on the way home, we had a picnic at Wiskeytown Lake, which is a unit of the Wiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area. Then we stopped at the Lake Shasta Dam site. This dam has the second largest mass of any dam in the United States after the Grand Cooley Dam in Washington State. Tours of the dam are offered. Although we missed the last guided tour of the day, we did enjoy the visitor center, orientation film, as well as a walk across the dam.
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| Mt. Shasta, at 14,179 is the 5th tallest peak in California |
The sun was beginning to set as we drove north passing Mount Shasta on Interstate 5 to US 97 returning home.
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