Northern California – trees, trees, trees

We left rainy San Francisco and continued our journey northwards with the goal of getting to the southern end of Redwood National forest that night. We had pockets of no rain that let us appreciate the beauty of wine country (from the side of the road) and the treat of a rainbow.

During one of the gaps in the rain we pulled over to deal with a kayak that had become loose. Rather than haul the ladder out of the trailer (a complicated effort), we used teamwork to get things fixed! It gave Hunter a lot of giggles…

We pulled into our campground in Myers Flats in the dark and pouring rain. We looked at the incredibly soggy ground and thought there was no way we could park here as we would never be able to leave in the morning. Luckily someone else arrived at the same time and the owner came out and found us 2 gravel sites (still really muddy) that we would live with for a short stay.

We pulled out in the morning and headed up the road towards the park. We pulled off in Scotia to get gas and did a small detour to check out the sawmill. Turns out Scotia has a pretty neat history as a company town (Pacific Lumber Company) from the 1880’s – it recently went bankrupt so is going through transition now.

With intermittent rain, fog and chilly weather we stuck to the main highway (101) through Redwood National Park instead of driving the Avenue of the Giants. Being 49 feet long (and heavy), we have learned that windy mountainous roads are not really our thing – doesn’t make the truck happy and doesn’t work well for Hunter in the back seat.

We stopped in at the Ranger Station to get our usual Junior Ranger program and he generously deputized Mom so that we could do the program in the car and I could lead the reading of the oath and hand over the badge upon completion.