2012.11.21 -- California Redwood Trip

On short notice we planned a trip to the redwoods in northern California. We had a really nice trip, thanks to google. One of the highlights was finding the unpublished "grove of the titans", which you will hear more about below.

We rented an RV from El Monte, the other big rental company that is not Cruise America, with whom we had a bad experience last time.

Itinerary

• Day 1: drive north, stay at Humboldt Redwood State Park on the Avenue of the Giants, 30 miles south of Arcata.
  
  
• Day 2: a couple hikes including founders grove in HRSP. drive north, stay at Elk Prarie campground in Prairie Creek State Park 50 miles north of Arcata.
  
  
• Day 3: great hike in Prairie Creek including Fern Canyon. drive north, stay near Jebediah Smith park.
  
  
• Day 4: search and finding the grove of the titans. drive south, stay at Patricks Point state park.
  
  
• Day 5: great hike at Patricks Point, drive south to home.

Day 1

On Tuesday we loaded up the RV and headed north, driving in the Humboldt Redwood State Park.

Katerina enjoying the RV

Day 2

On Wednesday before heading farther north, we had two short hikes, one at "Founders Grove", on the east side of the Avenue of the Giants, and one on the west side more off the beaten path.

Inside a redwood tree (1)


Mom and Katerina with her new patagonia down jacket


Stretching around a redwood (1)


Katerina for scale (1)


Inside a redwood tree (2)


Inside a redwood tree (3)


Under the roots of an overturned redwood


Moss covered redwood


Crossing a stream on the second hike


Stretching around a redwood (2)


Trailhead for the second hike


The sunset on the road North of Eureka at Humboldt Lagoons State Park, almost to Prairie Creek State Park

Day 3

We arrived at Prairie Creek state park very late and found an RV site in a misty downpour. We had advice from a friend on a particularly nice hike that was really the only one of the hikes on the entire trip that was planned more than one day in advance.

At the start of the big hike at Prairie Creek State Park


Cutting through the redwoods


Group picture


Katerina for scale (2)


The trail down to fern creek covered lots of different terrain, including this bit through more ferns


Robert and Erick goofing around on a fallen redwood trunk


On the trail down to the beach


Some colorful mushrooms. We had a discussion about whether Larissa's memory of mushroom categoritzaion is good enough to eat them or not.


At one end of Fern Creek almost at the elevation of the ocean. The stretch between here and the beach is "Fern Canyon", and it is famous and very wet, so we took an alternate trail.


On the alterate trail down to the beach


A few hundred yards from the ocean at the other end of the Fern Canyon trail.


The hike down was more than we expected, so I hitched a ride back up the hill to get the RV.

What the kids did while waiting (1)


What the kids did while waiting (2)


After I got back with the RV, Robert and I went for a quick recon of the famous Fern Canyon trail. The next several images are from that run.

Fern Canyon (1)


Fern Canyon (2)


Fern Canyon (3)


We made a quick stop at a sandy beach on the way back up the hill to the RV


One of our favorite pictures form the trip: Katerina on the beach in the late afternoon sun

Day 4

We continued north on Thursday and stayed at a private RV park in Jebediah Redwood State Park. With the wifi in the park I was able to figure out the hike for friday, and we were aiming to find the hidden "Grove of the Titans", a grove that is not published but contains some of the largest redwood trees on earth.

Our first try was from the Memorial Grove loop. We took every opportunity to follow rabbit trails here and there, and got excited more than once but did not find the Grove.

On the Memorial Grove loop (1)


On the Memorial Grove loop (2)


On the Memorial Grove loop (3)


A bug that Erick noticed


After Memorial Grove we moved along to another trail nearby where my research indicated a good change to locate the Grove of the Titans.

Armed with the topo map and a description of the topography of the grove, we set off


Looking for the Grove of the Titans (1)


More mushrooms


Looking for the Grove of the Titans (2)


Success! The Grove of the Titans (1)


Success! The Grove of the Titans (2)


Success! The Grove of the Titans (3)


Success! The Grove of the Titans (4)


Heading back to the RV after a fantastic visit at the grove


Moss covered branches on the way back to the RV


Larissa next to a falled redwood trunk

Day 5

We spent the last night at Patrick's Point park, and went for a very nice hike in the morning before the drive back to the bay area.

Patrick's Point perimeter hike (1)


Patrick's Point perimeter hike (2)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (1)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (2)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (3)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (4)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (5)


At a beautiful overlook at Patrick's Point (6)


Headed back across the park to the RV for the drive home, we coulnt oass up this little hill


The stairway down from the hill


More mushrooms


Katerina's little friend (1)


Katerina's little friend (2)


On the drive back home we cut east through the trinity wilderness. Here is a picture from a rest area along the way (1)


Rest area along the way (2)


Rest area along the way (3)


Rest area along the way (4)