Among the Giants- Redwood Forest, Klamath California

We had a several days of uneventful travel, driving north through Utah, then across Nevada and finally reaching California. One thing to note - the scenery changed dramatically as soon as we crossed the border from Nevado into California along I-80. While Nevada is beautiful in its way but very stark, pretty much nothing but barren mountains with a lot of snow caps, as soon as we hit California everything seemed to turn green. Suddenly the mountains were softer and fully forested, covered with evergreens. Northern California looks a lot like the Pacific Northwest. We left I-80 and took Highway 20 all the way across the northern part of the state to Highway 101. While some parts of 20 were a little dicey (steep climbs, sharp descents and hairpin turns) the scenery was stunning.

Northern California along Highway 101

We stopped in Willitts CA for the night and were on our way the next morning. Driving most of the day, we arrived in mid-afternoon at the Chinook RV Park in Klamath CA, which would be our home for the next few days. Klamath is located right in the heart of where the Redwoods meet the Pacific Ocean, which is a beautiful place to be.

Our backyard at Chinook in Klamath

The next morning we drove up into Crescent City to stock up on groceries - got to atttend to business before play. But the next few days were pretty much all play. We spent a lot of time on backroads around the Redwood forests. Some of these giants are not mere hundreds but thousands of years old. We always think of ours as a young country - there is nothing as old as the castles and ruins of ancient cities of Europe. But then you meet trees that have been growing since BC times...and you realize that their stories are every bit as far-reaching as those man-made ones are. And even better - these incredible trees are nature-made which to me is much more impressive than anything made by man.

Stout Grove - Howland Hills Road

As always, I'm frustrated at my inability to record these amazing sights. It's just impossible to take pictures that even remotely show what it's really like. I have to to just let the experience live in my memory.

We don't ususally do the "touristy" things, but we made an exception for the Trees of Mystery  (treesofmystery.net) attraction in Klamath. At only $11 per person to get in, we were able to walk around the trails that included a lot of information on many of the huge trees, and culminated at the end of the trail in a gondola ride all the way up to the top of the mountain, like a ski lift. At the top you  hop off the gondola and walk around the observation area which provides a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean through the trees.

Then you hop back onto another gondola and ride back down.

At the bottom there is a wonderful museum of Native American artifacts and history from the Yurok tribe, who lived in the area. As tourist attractions go, this one was well worth it.

This big guy was carved from a single piece of Redwood

Besides the trees, the ocean was the other attraction in the Klamath area. 

We drove up Requa Road to the Klamath Overlook, where we were lucky enough to see gray whales down below, two days in a row. There is a trail that goes about a half mile down to Klamath Point - well, Bill took a pass on that since the only way back is to climb back a half mile pretty much straight up. But I decided to do it, so he got comfortable waiting up at the overlook and I started down. About halfway down the trail I could hear the seals barking down on the rocks and when I got to the bottom there was a gray whale swimming back and forth between the rocks and the shore. I couldn't get a picture but it was great to stand there and watch her. 

Well, I knew I'd have to start the climb back up sooner or later, so I took a deep breath and started up. It wasn't too bad, but I had to stop and catch my breath more times than I liked. And it pretty well trashed me for the rest of that day. But I made it to the top. Whew!

Our campground was a really nice place to relax, and we had a communal campfire every night with our neighbors and fellow travelers.

We left Klamath this morning and headed north on Highway 101. We are now in Lincoln City, Oregon where we will stay till Sunday. But the Oregon coast merits its own post, so more on that later...