Crescent City, CA

We said goodbye to the Oregon coast and have now worked our way down to the northern California coastline.  We stayed in Crescent City, CA.  for a few days to visit one of the redwood forests in the area.

A little history about Crescent City, CA:  On March 27, 1964 the Good Friday Earthquake (measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale) set in motion a tsunami down the west coast of the U.S.  Crescent City was struck with four waves destroying hundreds of buildings (including most of the downtown area) and killing 12 people.  And, on March 11, 2011 a tsunami generated by the 9.0 earthquake near Japan severely damaged the harbor and claimed one victim.  There are signs along the beaches warning people of "deadly waves at any time....."  I guess every place has its hazards.

The first day we were there it was foggy along the coast and you couldn't see the shoreline.  However, the next day turned out to be sunny and mild.  On day one you didn't even know there were rocks in the water! 

A lot of the bigger rocks have trees growing on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could hear sea lions while we were sitting in the car looking at the beach and rocks, but we couldn't see them.  We got out the binoculars and we were surprised to see that there were hundreds of them on the rocks. 

 

Kite flying along the coast is big in some areas.

 

The sea lions below were on floating docks outside a restaurant where we ate dinner one evening.  It's a good thing we ate inside and not out on the deck.  They are very noisy.  Check out the boat that is shrouded in fog. 

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park:

This is a state park preserving old-growth redwoods along the Smith River located just outside Crescent City.  It is named after explorer Jedediah Smith ,who was the first American to travel, by land, from the Mississippi River to California in 1826, passing over the area of the future park
One of the driving tours through the park was called "Walker Road".  It is a one lane (move over when you meet someone coming towards you) dirt road.  There are also areas you can stop and walk on a trail through the forest. 

The trees lay where they fall forever unless they are blocking a path and then they are cut to open up the path.

 

These are some really big trees!

This was a tree that we parked in front of .  You can get an idea how big it is compared to the car.

I went around to the back and climbed up on the stump.  It was not an easy task....but someone has to do it!  Right?

 

 

These are only the beginning of the redwoods we will encounter.  Next week we will be touring the "Avenue of the Giants".

 

 

 

 

 

Trees of Mystery:

 

 

We stopped at the "Trees of Mystery" to see what this was about.  We saw some interesting trees, but it was not worth the admission fee or the 20 minute walk up to the gondola rides.  I think I liked the wood carvings on the walk back down the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture of the Cathedral Tree was taken from the path above.

 

 

 

 

There was a long line for the gondola ride but it went pretty fast.

 

 

Almost our turn to load.

 

 

We are next! 

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed the view from the gondola.  We went over the tops of some of these really big trees.

 

 

 

The next few pictures are of wood carvings on the walk back down to the gift shop.

 

 

 

 

 

The Pooped Logger

 

 

 

 

Squirrel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay.....we just had to do it!

 

 

 

 

 

We can check this off our bucket list!  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two gold bear statues at each end of the Klamath River Bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

When we passed the small town of Klamath, we noticed signs for a "Salmon Festival" so we decided to stop and check it out.  There were lots of vendors (both food and crafts) however, we only saw one person selling anything to do with salmon.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crater Lake

We took a day trip to Crater Lake National Park.  It is located in southern Oregon about 120 miles inland from the coast.  It is the 5th oldest national park in the United States and the only one in Oregon. 

Crater Lake is 5 by 6 miles across, with a caldera rim ranging in elevation from 7,000 to 8,000 feet and an average lake depth of 1,148 feet.  The maximum depth is 1,949 feet.  The caldera was created by a massive volcano eruption between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago.  Lava eruptions later created a central platform, which is called "Wizard Island".   After the caldera cooled, it allowed rain and snowmelt to accumulate and eventually formed a lake.



It was hard to get a picture of the entire lake even though we were so high above the lake.  This shot came close.   It doesn't show "Wizard Island"  which is located to the left in this picture.

Below is "Wizard Island".

Usually the water is VERY blue.  However, the day we went it was cloudy so we did not get to see the beautiful water so many had told us about. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice lady took our picture.

There are trolleys that will take you around the lake and stop at the viewpoints. 

But on these narrow, steep, curvy roads I felt a lot more comfortable knowing the person that was driving me was in a good state of mind.  :0

 

 

 

Some of the roads may have been wider, but there was nothing to keep you from plunging over the edge!

 

Ken Lamb......you would not have liked this drive!

They gave boat tours of the lake for around $27.00 per person.  However, you have to walk down to the boat from the rim road.  I am sure they probably chose an area that was closest to the bottom, but it was still a 700 foot climb down to the boat and of course, a 700 foot climb back to the top.   You can see the path starting up on the right side of the picture below. 

 

 

I had packed us a picnic lunch and we had quite a surprise when we stopped for lunch.  Our Dorito bag had blown up due to the altitude change.  We just left it alone and when we got back to town later that day, the bag had gone back down.

We  stopped at a waterfall located just a very short distance off the main road on our way to Crater Lake.  Just had to show you all. :)

 Standing right over the top of the falls.

Jet Boat Trip - Gold Beach, Oregon

We took a jet boat trip up the Rogue River while we were in Gold Beach, OR. 

Jet boats are a descendant of the original mail boats which carried news and parcels from the outside world to settlers upstream since 1895.  The jet boats are designed specifically for safely navigating strong currents and shallow, rocky areas.  They can travel in 6 inches of water over the rocks.

It was cold and foggy when we left.  However, as we headed inland away from the coast if was warmer and sunny.

We took the 80 Mile Roundtrip Whitewater trip.  We left the dock at 8:30 AM  and didn't return until around 2 PM. 
Our captain stopped numerous times for everyone to take pictures of the different wildlife we happened to see. 

We saw this black bear eating berries.   Her cub was in the shadows above her.

 

 

 

We saw a couple of Bald Eagles while on the boat. 

 

 

 

 

 

The scenery along the river was spectacular.
 

 

 

 

Some interesting camping choices along the river.

This is another on of the jet boats we passed along the river.

 

 

 

 Spinning the boat was part of the trip to make it more exciting.  They would do this at cruising speed.  The captain would reverse the thrust and turn the steering wheel at the same time.  This would cause the nose of the boat would go down we would spin around 180 degrees and end up heading the opposite direction and of course everyone gets wet.
We went upriver about 25 miles past the small town of Agness, which is in the middle of the wilderness.  We stopped there for a bathroom break.  From there we headed on upriver to shoot some rapids.   It was a little too rough to take pictures during this part of the ride...........

but this was the aftermath!  When we left the dock the young captain told me I would not get wet..........but somehow I knew better. 
After the rapids we went back to Agness to eat lunch.  We were there for about an hour and a half and that is about how long it took us to dry out. 

Below is a picture of the dock where the boats let everyone off for the trek uphill to the restaurant for lunch. 

There was a van that would take you up the hill, however, standing at the dock it didn't look that far.  We decided to walk.......what were we thinking?   At least we burned off some of the calories we were about to consume.

It was a really fun trip.  We took several videos of the trip, but they were too big to load on the blog. 



This dog was at the loading area for the jet boat trip entertaining everyone while we were waiting in line to get on the boat.  He would slide this rock across the parking lot from the Gift Shop to the Jet Boat docks.  He never took his front paws off the rock while he was sliding it.  He just used his back legs to move himself and the rock along.  People would pick up the rock and he would go crazy.....like a dog that wants you to throw the stick again.  Some people would take the rock back across the parking lot for him and he would slide the rock back.  It was really fun to watch. 

Other interesting things around Gold Beach.

 

 

We noticed a lot of boats in the river when we came across the bridge in the motorhome.  We found out this is one of the hotspots for catching Chinook Salmon.    

 

 

 

 

It reminded me of the boats in Boca Grande Pass fishing for Tarpon.  In some areas it looked like you could walk from one boat to another.

 

 

We saw some men cleaning their catch and stopped to talk to them. 

 

 

 

Alan asked if he could hold one up to take a picture.  The guy had 3 this size to clean.

 

 

 

 

The guy in the picture below was fishing on the river when we went for the jet boat ride.  He was in the process of reeling in a fish when we passed, so the captain stopped to see what he caught.  I'm thinking he's a local?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were leaving Gold Beach, we passed an area called "Turtle Rock".  We looked over towards the beach and saw this.........turtle rock!