Redwood National Park

“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.”—William Blake

Having just traveled on the Redwood Highway (aka US 101) this past weekend, I realized that a post on Redwood National Park was long overdue. I avoided writing about this park immediately after my July road trip because it was such an odd experience for me. Walking through the trees is itself intensely spiritual, but, for me, driving through the park became almost Proustian as my childhood flashed before me and I realized with a shock that I had been there before.

I had known that on a long-ago trip to California with my family we had driven through a redwood tree, but I couldn’t remember where, and I was sure we hadn’t gone that far north. But, as I saw kitschy roadside attraction after kitschy roadside attraction (the Trees of Mystery, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, the One Log House), it all came flooding back.

The next concept in the "Planet of the Apes" franchise?

It is truly a wondrous place.

Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Redwood National Park is actually made up of three state parks with additional land added on, totaling over 130,000 acres, but in no real pattern. So, one weaves in and out of the park as one drives along. It is probably for this reason that the National Park Service does not charge its usual vehicle fee. At the Kuchel Visitor Center near Orick, the ranger told me to avoid Lady Bird Johnson Grove (generally the most crowded spot since every guidebook mentions it) and said I would see just as many old growth trees by taking my planned route on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and the Howland Hill Road in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

The Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway is a brief detour off of Hwy 101 that takes you through Elk Prairie Meadow and right by the aptly named “Big Tree Wayside” stop. Although one sees them elsewhere, this is probably your best chance of spotting elk.

A Roosevelt elk in Prairie Creek State Park

At first I thought there was only one and that these were branches!

Elk were not the only wildlife I saw. In an incredible, but ultimately sad, turn of events, a gray whale and her baby had swum up the Klamath River a few weeks before my arrival and had taken up residency under the Klamath Bridge, where hoards of tourists would flock from one side to the other as the whale swam beneath it. The baby was successfully driven out to sea, but the mother eventually beached herself and died weeks later.

Gray whale in the Klamath River

Howland Hill Road, at the northern-most end of the park just south of the Oregon border, is a bit harder to find but is absolutely worth the trouble. If you follow the entire road, past Stout Grove and out to Route 199, you can loop around and rejoin US 101 without doubling back. The drive is an incredible experience with trees immediately on either side looming over the (often) one-lane road.

Howland Hill Road in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Stout Grove, off Howland Hill Road

If you want to get a taste of the redwoods and can’t make it all the way up north, you can drive the Avenue of the Giants, a 30-mile stretch of road that parallels Highway 101 as it winds its way through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The southern entrance of this route is at Phillipsville and the north entrance is at Pepperwood, just 200 miles or so north of San Francisco. If you want to walk among the trees for a bit, I recommend the Loop Trail in the Founders Grove. Even though Return of the Jedi was actually filmed on private land just north of the National Park, this trail was where I most felt like I was on that movie set.

Can’t you just see an Ewok climbing over this at any moment?

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Lassen Volcanic, located in the Shasta Cascade region, is one of California’s eight national parks, although many people (even in California) have never heard of it. The park centers on Lassen Peak (10,457 ft), one of California’s three active volcanoes, along with Mount Shasta directly to the north and Mammoth Mountain in the Sierra Nevada. Previously believed to be extinct, it experienced a series of over 150 eruptions from 1914 to 1917, but has been quiet since 1921.

Like Crater Lake, the main park road (Hwy 89), which climbs to 8,500 feet, is closed throughout the winter and spring; this year it did not open until July 16. Although this main road was designed to take in all the notable features of the park, including volcanic peaks, hot springs, boiling mud pots, and glacial lakes, unlike Crater Lake, I felt like I really could have benefitted from spending more time in the park and hiking a bit. I definitely want to go back when I have the time to do so.

Lassen Peak, south view



 

Summit Lake--this spot was so peaceful, it almost made me want to camp




Kings Creek Meadow--sadly with no audio because I could hear the frogs from here




Bumpass Hell Overlook




Emerald Lake (yes, in July!)



Little Hot Springs Valley

Little Hot Springs Valley--now with bee!





Sulphur Works



Crater Lake, Oregon

Crater Lake is Oregon’s only National Park—but what a park! At 1,943 feet deep, it’s the deepest lake in the United States, and this, along with the purity of the water, leads to the most extraordinary blue I’ve ever seen.

Crater Lake from the East Rim Drive

Phantom Ship (the height of a 16-story building) from the Sun Notch trail



Pine pollen creates pretty swirls in July but eventually settles to the bottom

View of Wizard Island from the mosquito-filled Pumice Castle Overlook

The window of opportunity to fully experience this wonder is quite small. The park receives an average of 500-550 inches of snow annually and the opening of the Rim Drive (33 miles) is completely dependent on when this snowpack finally starts to melt. This past season’s snowfall was a whopping 673 inches, and therefore the complete Rim Drive opened just days before my arrival, on July 24th.

Many hiking trails and side roads were still closed due to snow. Here is the first part of the road to Cloudcap Overlook (a 1-mile spur that takes you to the highest overlook on the lake). Sadly, I could drive no further than this, as the snow soon overtook both lanes completely. However, as long as you can get around either side of the lake, I encourage you to do so. The snows return again in early fall.

Seriously, the lake really is that blue.





2011 Travel Goals

As per usual, the coming year's travel goals remain loosely defined and I need to come up with some concrete plans in the near future.

In the spring, I head to Paris to visit family. I will be there for at least a week, guiding my brother and sister-in-law around the city. I’m really looking forward to it because, having lived there off and on in the 1990s, and visiting family from time to time, it’s rare that I simply play tourist and it will be interesting to see the city through those eyes again. As part of that trip, I’ve decided to cross the pond a week early to experience more of a “vacation” somewhere else in Europe. I really want to go to Istanbul, but don’t know if I’m up for that on my own. However, if anyone has recommendations for a place to stay, that might help seal the deal. Italy is another option I’m considering, since I’ve been working on an Italian textbook for the past year and would like to see more of the country beyond my one visit to Tuscany years ago.

Joshua Tree National Park, November 2009

My other big trip of the year will involve national parks. For Christmas, my extremely generous sister (who, like me, enjoys hiking in the parks) has offered me a trip with her to any park in the lower forty-eight. The only question is which one? To date, I have visited Joshua Tree, Yosemite, The Grand Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Big Bend, Yellowstone, Glacier, Carlsbad Caverns, The Petrified Forest, and Saguaro (although my memory of the last three is dim at best since they were visited on a family trip in sixth grade). Right now I’m leaning towards Grand Teton, which I always regret not visiting when my father and I were in Jackson Hole after a visit to Yellowstone, and Crater Lake, which I’ve been hoping to visit since moving out West. Again, I welcome suggestions.

Yosemite Valley and Half Dome, April 2009

Otherwise, this year I hope to further explore California. I've seen quite a bit since moving here, but there is so much more to see and do, including the remaining national parks on my list (Channel Islands, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Lassen Volcanic, Redwood), but also Napa Valley, the northern coast (especially Mendocino), and Gold Country.

Happy New Year and safe travels everyone!

Worth the Detour

I used to keep a travel journal. But, when I started making fewer and fewer “exotic” trips, and my obsessive neatness started to take over all aspects of my life, it became more difficult to keep it up. Instead, entering my many trip notes into my journal became one of my eternal projects, destined to remain forever in my project basket.

It occurred to me recently that a great way to tackle that pile would be with a blog. That way, I could do it piecemeal, which would be a great way to organize and label recommendations for later reference anyway. Also, I can keep the content separate from my Sly Wit blog, where I really want to keep the focus on culture.

I’ll cover trips as I make them, starting with my recent trip down the California coast, but also go back and write up previous adventures, with a focus on road trips, especially those involving U.S. National Parks and National Monuments.

As the title indicates, I really want this space to be less about entire trips and more about specific things to do and places to stay that are worth the detour. Going forward, I welcome comments and your own travel recommendations about stops along the way.