Thursday morning we decided to move on. Cape Blanco is a beautiful place, but we felt like we should continue our exploration.

The drive south on US101 rewarded us with spectacular views. It was a fairly easy drive, a few hills and a few twisty bits, but overall not too taxing. The biggest challenge for me were the bicyclists. This is obviously a popular bicycle touring route. The road is narrow in many places. Although I haven’t ridden much since we moved to Michigan, I’ve been a bicyclist most of my adult life. I try to give bicycle riders a fair share of the road with a minimum of three feet of separation from my vehicle.

On areas of US101 with little or no shoulder, the three feet of separation wasn’t possible. At one point I followed a bicycle at 25 mph on a twisty downhill with cars lining up behind me. There wasn’t an opportunity to safely pass, so I just followed. Eventually I pulled into a turnout and watched other drivers make dangerous moves to get past the bicycle rider.

Before we crossed the California border, I topped up our gas tank in Brookings. I knew gas would be more expensive in California. It’s about  30 cents per gallon higher!

It was a short day on the road. We arrived at the KOA a few miles north of Crescent City, California a little after 2pm. It’s a nice campground, surrounded by redwood forest. We have full hookups with 50 amp service and cable TV. We took advantage of the KOA promotion offering a free Saturday night if you stay on Friday the 13th. So, we’re here for three nights. I’m tempted to extend a day so I can catch the NFL games on Sunday though.

Yesterday the campground owner, Kevin, advised us of the best tour of the giant redwoods in the area. We rode the scooter through Crescent City, stopping at the post office along the way to mail a few items. From the south side of town, we followed Howland Hill Road and entered the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park.

The gravel road through the park winds its way uphill into the forest. The road is narrow and you have to be alert for oncoming traffic. At some points, the road passes between giant redwood trees where it’s barely wide enough for a car to get through. As we were heading out of the park, we saw a Cruise America rental RV coming in. I wonder how they made out.

We hiked the Nickerson Ranch – Mill Creek Loop. This trail took us into an old growth redwood forest. We crossed a bridge over the creek and stopped to eat our lunch. Donna made chicken salad wraps and we had fresh plums for dessert.

Some of the trees were astounding. The hike had a kind of eerie feel to it. I was reminded of the “Ents” from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We kept stopping and posing for pictures at the base of the larger trees. Eventually the novelty wore off. There were so many ancient giants.

 

 

We passed a few other hikers on the trail, but we were alone most of time. At one point I spotted a banana slug crossing the trail. It was a bright yellow specimen. Sometimes they’re spotted or even brown in color. They can move at speeds of up to six inches per minute! The banana slug is the mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz. John Travolta wore a UC Santa Cruz banana slug T-shirt in the movie Pulp Fiction.

The vast forest of giants becomes mind numbing. Everything is on a different scale. The hike took us back along the creek, past a swimming hole and out to the road about a half mile down from where we parked. The total distance was just over two miles.

We continued on the scooter through the park. The dirt road is about seven miles long. We exited the park and followed the Smith River to Highway 199. I drove across this highway with my daughter, Shauna, about ten years ago. It’s a twisty road that goes from US101 on the California coast to Grants Pass, Oregon. When we came through here that time, we saw elk on the roadside.

After we returned, Donna crossed a few things off her to-do list. She also researched our travel plans. We’ll continue south on US101, eventually landing in San Diego. We plan to stay there for a few months.

When we visited Jimbo and Cindy in Idaho, they gifted us with elk steaks. The steaks were cut from the backstrap, the best cut. A butcher would call this cut filet mignon! I grilled them for dinner with sauteed onions, sweet potato and white corn on the cob. Top shelf!

Donna will be working on her book today. She has a deadline looming. I have no plans at all. We’ll see what the day brings.