Well, we made it past the fires in OR and BACK into CA, to finish our last park in the state….
It was amazing. Redwood National Park is unique in that the Redwood State and National parks are somewhat intertwined and managed together, up and down the Northern coast.
We stayed in Hiouchi, along the Smith river in the Northern most part of the park and it was heaven.
But first, let’s get down to the important stuff. Like Forest being able to get his grounds maintenance needs met at the local gas station.
So just a heads up. The rest of this post is basically going to be LOTS of pictures of green. Like this…
and this..
(this was the view from my hiding spot, while we were playing hide and seek. I was so bummed when I got found.)
We spent most of our time in the Jedediah Smith State park which was about 5 minutes down the road. All the roads in the park pretty much looked like this…
It was magical
The Boys of Stout Grove
Now Forest being Forest, finder of all bugs, and creepy crawlies, found us a giant Banana Slug! It’s an important and beneficial composting creature in the redwood forest…and also kinda gross and cool for the boys to handle.
I definitely found MY happy place. I could have stayed here forever.
There are lots of pix on this post. It was just too pretty not to share.
I mean c’mon, right?
We drove south one day about 1.5 hours to the Prairie Creek area to see “Fern Canyon” which is where part of Jurassic Park 2 was filmed. It’s a very populated little hike, but really worth the visit.
50′ walls of ferns….
I think everyone liked it.
This was the walk out of the canyon. Can you tell I’m happy?
I loved all the texture on the trees
On our way out of this area, we passed by Gold Bluffs Beach. We decided to hang out there for the afternoon before going back. There were people all up and down the road but NO ONE was going to the beach so we got to enjoy this:
A little gloomy and foggy, but totally peaceful. The boys had a blast and we all just relaxed. No one. Completely empty and quiet.
After that excursion, we just spent the rest of our time in Hiouchi, continuing to explore Jedediah Smith park and kicking it by the Smith river.
Alan and Forest paddling down the river…
Jumping off the rocks!
Now sometimes we have to divide an conquer. Alan wanted to go on an epic mountain bike ride which meat I was stuck with the kids. So the boys and I had to just suck it up for a few hours and go here:
I know. The hardship we faced. 😉
This was the Nickerson Ranch trail that a local told us about with the promise of a GIANT fallen log at the end that the kids could walk in an around.
Again, magical…
The light was slicing through the forest making this tree look like it was glowing from the inside.Wow. It was like a little magical surprise gift in the forest just for us.
The light was perfect. I took a picture of the same log on the way back just to show the contrast. Like I said, a little gift from nature to us.
Totally different, right?
This is what they call an “Octopus Tree” It’s a hemlock that has grown around a rotting log.
Forest in his natural environment.
So as promised, we found the log, and the kids LOVED it.
And after all this “time killing”, we headed back to pick up Alan on his ride. He was a happy camper (and so were we)
Our last day in the Redwoods was Harlan’s 10th Birthday. This is our second birthday on the Rig, so this is how we’ve been celebrating…we drop down the “guest bed” over the driver’s seat to reveal birthday gifts and the birthday message! (thanks to Allison Gold for the Bunting. It is festive and always up!)
We played another “epic game” of hide and seek in the Stout grove in the AM, swam in the Smith River in the afternoon, and ended with cake!
Now to end as usual, Harlan earned his Redwood Jr. Ranger badge…
…and we got to enjoy another fine glass of Scotch for adding another park to the list!
Cheers!
Thanks for coming along for the ride!