Wednesday, July 18, 2012

NP#39 - Redwood National Park



June 25, 2012 - Our 39th Park Visit!

We arrive at the Redwoods at a bit after 3pm. It’s a damp, drizzly day here along the northern California coast. Our first stop is the Thomas Kuchel Visitor’s Center at the south end of the Park. We spend a good ten minutes chatting with Ranger Steve who gives us the lowdown regarding the Redwoods. He recommends we take the Drury Scenic Parkway bypass rather than the freeway. He says although the speed limit on the Bypass is only 45 mph, the scenery is spectacular and it takes you only a minute longer. We take his advice and he’s right, the drive takes you though a lovely old growth grove of Redwoods. don't take the Freeway. You'll miss the reason this place is a National Park!

Note: For a full screen view of the images, click on the image.

Mill Creek Campground Site #113

While visiting our good friends John and May Kirkwood, Terry changed our campsite reservation. Instead of the Prairie Creek Campground, we wound up at Site #113 in the Mill Creek Campground. As it turns out, this site was far superior to site #35 at Prairie Creek. We investigated all local Campgrounds and jotted down the primo sites. Give us a holler if you want the insiders track on the good ones!
Happy Campers on their 30th Anniversary!

CharlieDawg is loving this weather. He takes us for a long walk around the campsite loops, sniffing and investigating each site as if he is noting which ones would be worthy for a future visit. After a good walkabout, we head back to camp, strike up a fire and enjoy our broccoli salad dinner. As it begins to rain, we retire into the Hob for a pleasant night’s sleep. 

June 26th -  Happy Anniversary! Today marks the 30th Anniversary of our Wedding. The overnight showers didn’t dampen our spirits as we awake to partly cloudy skies. Amazingly, the Hob is completely dry. The canopy of our campsite’s Redwood completely sheltered our tent from the overnight showers. Everything else surrounding us is wet.

To begin the celebration, we break out the peppered bacon. Terry sautés up some veggies and adds them to the scrambled eggs. A splash of Cholula and voila! We’ve got another Campsite delight. 

NorCal Coast

After breakfast, we pack up the dog and head south to explore the Park. Our first stop is the False Klamath Cove Overlook – a decent view of the rugged, tree lined coast. From there, we ventured up Requa Road to the Klamath River overlook. From this vantage point we stand 600 feet above the mouth of the Klamath River looking south along the coast. From here, the whale watching can be excellent. Today however, no whales. 

Tide Pools

Coastal Waters

 Giant Trees!

This Park is unique insomuch as it is a cooperative management effort between the State of Californina’s Department of Parks and Recreation and the federal National Park Service. It is also one of only three places on the planet to host giant redwood trees. The other two locations where Redwoods are found are on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and in Central China. The Dawn species are native to China.

The Giant Sequoia or sequoiadendron giganteum reside in the Sierra Nevada and the Coastal Redwoods sequoia semperirens thrive only in northern California and southern Oregon’s coastal region. 
 300 Feet Tall!

These amazing Redwoods at this Park are the world’s tallest living things reaching heights of over 370 feet. They have been known to live for up to 2000 years and the seeds that they sprout from are the size of a tomato seed.
Terry and the Tree Dog

 Tree House

Howland Hill Road is located about a mile and a half east of Crescent City. Most of it is a dirt road that was still somewhat muddy from the overnight rains. The narrow road takes you through an impressive grove of old growth Redwoods located in the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. We would make this drive three times during our visit and each time, the mighty trees were impressive! 

 Occupying Tree House!

Incredibly, this Redwood is completely hollow inside! I stood up and looked toward the canopy and lo and behold...I could see light all the way up to the top of the tree!

Only 5% remain!

Like the Bison in the plains, the Redwoods were almost cut to extinction. Once there were over 2 million acres of coastal Redwood forests. Today, less than 5% remain and about 35% of the remaining trees can be found here at Redwood National and State Parks. Thank goodness there were a few folks who had the foresight to protect these magnificent trees.  

 Bridge over Fern Creek

 Fern Creek Canyon

At the end of Davidson Road is the trailhead for the Coastal Trail. About a half mile up from the Trailhead, I came across Fern Creek Canyon. Good thing I was wearing my waterproof hiking boots as I chose to slosh my way upstream to get a look at the fern grotto. Upon first look, Fern Canyon doesn’t impress; however, after a few bends upstream you are treated to a very impressive collection of sword fern, five fingered fern, delicate lady ferns and a couple of other varieties that densely blanket the vertical cliffs. The ferns literally cling to the 30-80 foot canyon walls. The deeper into the canyon you venture, the narrower the gap and at this time of year, there is a constant dripping of water seeping from the canyon walls.

The ancestry of some of these ferns dates back over 300 million years ago so Steven Spielberg thought the site was befitting of filming parts of Jurassic Park 2 at this location. 

 Roosevelt Elk Grazing in the Grass

A picture of Light!

A photography lesson I took recently had an assignment: The Instructor said "Photograph light!" How the heck do you take a picture of something that is virtually invisible? As I sat by our campfire this morning, I discovered how one goes about photographing light!

Well folks, that concludes our visit to Park #39! We will be completing our 40 Parks in 40 months Goal this coming September when Terry and I visit Crater Lake National Park in southern Oregon. 

Until then...blaze new trails along the mysterious paths of life!



Sunday, July 8, 2012

NP# 38 - Great Basin





June 19th, 2012. Park #38. Great Basin National Park is located in northeastern Nevada very close to the Utah border. Great Basin became our 49th National Park in 1986 based around a 5,000 year old Bristlecone Pine grove, Wheeler Peak (the 2nd highest peak in NV), Lehman Caves and some of the country's darkest skies! (There aren't any major cities for hundreds of miles; hence, the light pollution is minimal! the Stars come out en mass at night!) 


The drive from Phoenix to Great basin looked like this. 600+ miles of vast wasteland. Out in the distance, the mountain range is home to Wheeler Peak. Like when we approached Big Bend last year, we were both wondering if we'd made a sound decision to visit this remote Park.

Once you head up the hill from the small town of Baker toward the Park, the landscape changes dramatically! Soon you are driving thru an alpine forest and the oxygen level diminishes rapidly! Our campsite (Upper Lehman Campground) sat at the 7700' elevation. 


Wheeler's Peak and the Bristlecone Pine Grove are key features of this Park.


Terry found Campsite #20 for us and we quickly moved in. C-Dawg adapted and found his favorite grassy knoll. If you ever venture to this Park and plan on camping, give us a holler. We scouted out the entire Park and know which sites are primo...and which are not!


Before leaving home, we purchased some peppered bacon from Fry's. It is THE BEST bacon on the Planet! Campsite cooking is the best. Nothing like waking up at 4:30 am;  (that's when the birds begin to chatter like alarm clocks) brew up a pot of hot coffee, light a fire to cut the morning chill and slap some bacon on the griddle for breakfast in the pines! 

Whoa! Nevada has an unusual approach to stop signs!


One of the key features at Great Basin is the Lehman Cave Tour. The caves were "discovered" in the late 1880's by Absalon Lehman, a local rancher. Lehman didn't actually discover the Caves. The local Indians had found them many moons before. Lehman did, however, exploit the caves charging a dollar per customer to take the tour. (A buck in 1890 was worth the equivalent of about $26 today)


Back then there was little regard for the amount of time it takes to create formations like stalactites and stalagmites. Lehman would guide his guests into the depths of the caves, help them light up their candles and then leave them to explore. As he departed, he would tell the cave explorers, "If you can break it, you can take it." Consequently, many of the cave's formations have been snapped up.


The "Poster Child" for Lehman Caves is a shield called Parachute. (pictured above) Cave popcorn, helictites and other oddities also adorn the walkways of the Caverns. Not nearly as grand as Carlsbad Caverns; however, much more interesting than Wind Cave, Lehman Caves is worth the visit. 


Caves are nice...however, I'm a tree guy so the Bristlecone Pine Grove was far more interesting to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah..I know it took millions of years for the cave formations to develop. But these 5,000 year old trees are not holed up in the the bowels of a mountain protected from the elements. The Cave's only enemy happened to be the human visitors! The Bristlecones, on the other hand,  have had to endure wind and rain and cold and fire and ice and of course...man.   

Bristlecone Snags









The wire's namesake lake.



C-Dawg sporting his normal cheerful expression letting us know how excited he was to have been invited along for this portion of our Trek thru the Parks!

C-Dawg in his normal daytime pose!