Week 23 Oops life happens and this was one of those weeks as we continue to explore Northern California

April 30, 2023

Well this was a week full of amazing adventures and some heartache as we experienced an accident in our RV, Fancy and now she is not quite as Fancy. We are waiting to hear from the insurance to see what our plans will be for next week. This week we still managed to see some amazing things both before and after our accident.

4/24- Today was a day of hanging out around our beautiful campground. We got all the laundry done today. As we travel we have stayed in various campgrounds and most have washers and dryers but I believe this was the first campground we have stayed in that all the washers and dryers were working and there was not one out of order sign.

4/25- Spent most of the day out and about. We left this morning to head to the North Entrance of Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park. https://www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm There are two entrances into the park and you are able to drive through the park from one entrances to the other, but due to a winter of heavy snow the road through the park is closed. We were only about to drive in about one mile at the North Entrance. The Park Ranger reminded us not to walk on the “meadows” on either side of the road as they were actually lakes covered with snow and due to the temperatures being in the 50’s the ice was now very thin.

Instead we hiked along the park road to see if we could get some pictures of Mount Lassen. Frank hiked up a dirt road while I hung out and waited and watched the wind blow pine cones down onto the road.

The people at our campground had recommend going to see Barney Falls so we headed off there next. We meet some people who had lived in the area their whole life and said they had never seen the Waterfalls running like it was running due to the winter’s rain and snow. The Waterfall is 129 feet tall and the water does not just pour over the Falls but also pours through the rocks around the side of the Falls from an underground reservoir. On average 100 million of gallons of water flow daily from the underground springs. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=455

We hiked around the waterfalls on one side and crossed over the river running to the waterfalls. It was beautiful. On the far side of the river is the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from the Mexico border to the Canada border for a total of 2650 miles. https://www.fs.usda.gov/pct Not something we are up to hiking but many people do hike it every year.

Then we headed down to the base of the waterfalls where we misted as we enjoyed looking at the waterfalls up close. The hike down and back was pretty steep and we were worn out by the time we got back up but we still had one more stop we wanted to see at the park.

We grabbed a snack from the park store and headed to Lake Britton where all the water from Burney Waterfalls ends up. There wasn’t anyone else at the lake so we enjoyed a peaceful stroll around and enjoyed the view.

4/26- Today we decided to drive to the South entrance of Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park. The drive was an hour and half each way but we really were looking forward to hiking to the Sulpher Works hydrothermal area to see the boiling mudpots and steaming vents. Our drive was beautiful and we enjoyed the landscape as the temperatures dropped from the 70’s to the 50’s. Before we even arrived at the park entrance we saw the massive amount of snow that had fallen in the area. We had to stop and take lots of pictures of all the snow.

Once we reached the Visitor Center we saw that it was the end of the road. The Visitor Center had been completely covered by snow and even though they had made a path to the front door there was no access out the backdoor to the Sulpher Works. We wanted to try and climb up over the snow and see if we could hike to the Sulpher Works, but the ranger took one look at us and advised us against it. I am sure he could imagine having to hike out and rescue us. We did see a much younger couple attempting the hike. Not sure if they made it or not, but we both thought oh to be that young again and willing to take a chance.

4/27- Today we started the long drive on Highway 299 from our campsite to the coast. Frank had to work this morning so we had to stop in Redding for a couple hours while he took care of some business. We found a Wal-Mart in Redding to park at and while he was on the phone I went inside and did some shopping. Since we didn’t get on the road and the drive was a hard one, we decided to stay in a small campground along the Trinity River. The water was running high and we were able to sit by the RV and watch it run by. We were told there was some amazing fishing in the river.

4/28- What a day. I could just cry! We left our campground this morning and headed to the coast. The road was long and steep with lots of curves. We found ourselves pulling off again and again into pullouts to let traffic go by. As Frank drove into one of the pullouts he hit a pothole and we were concerned it had done some damage so he carefully walked around and checked out the RV but everything looked good. It was only a short distance down the road when a women in a red Jeep signaled us to pull over. Luckily there was a rest area nearby and we were able to pull in there. We discovered that our rock guard that hangs from the back of the RV had broken on one side and was dragging on the ground making sparks. Frank had to climb under the RV and detach the other side before we could continue our trip. Our trip became quite a bit longer than we had expected so we were happy to reach our campground in Trinidad, California.

We pulled into the campground which is full of redwoods and really a beautiful spot but the roads in are very narrow with not much room for error. As we reached a turn there were two cars parked on one side of the road sticking into the road and a work truck directly in front of us sticking into the road we needed to turn onto. Frank was trying to carefully work his way around them when we heard a horrible noise. The rear of the RV had gotten stuck on a small fence and ripped the back of the RV off. It looked terrible and at first I feared this was the end of our trip. With some help from the park workers and the people whose vehicles had been in the way we were able to tie up the back of the RV so we could get it to our campground and Frank called our insurance to file a claim, but since it is Friday night we won’t hear anything until Monday. At least the inside of the RV is still livable so we are able to camp in it. We have this campground booked through Tuesday and by then I hope we will know what we will be doing.

4/29- We could have sat around the RV all day and be upset about the damage but that just isn’t what we do. Our family motto has always been we can laugh or we can cry, we choose to laugh. That became our motto due to all the unexpected challenges we have had over the years and this is just one more that we have to get through. So we got up this morning got in our Jeep and headed out for a full day of adventures.

First I wanted to go to Trees of Mysteries where I had been many years ago as a teenager. I had to see the Giant Paul Bunyan and his Big Blue Ox Babe. https://treesofmystery.net/ After getting pictures with Paul and Babe we were ready to tour the park which had been around since the 1940’s.

We enjoyed our visit through the park where we climbed on the Redwood Canopy Trail through the trees. The Redwood Canopy Trail consists of 8 netted bridges. The 8 bridges are cabled suspension bridges that allow subtle movement along with the trees and wind. At least they said it was subtle movement. When crossing over the bridges I felt like I was being bucked around. I think people around me got a kick out of me squealing as the bridges moved.

Frank is super calm crossing the bridges

The park had lots of redwood trees and even a gondola ride that we were able to take up into the trees. Unfortunately it was pretty foggy so we weren’t able to view very much.

As the trail came to the end there were multiple chainsaw carved pieces of redwood art that we were able to enjoy and a tree truck that showed it had been around for over 1000 years.

Then we drove through the Redwood National Park where there were lots of Big Trees everywhere. They were amazing to look at and standing next to them we felt so small.

Before heading back to our campsite we had one more place we wanted to see and that was Fern Canyon. The road in was an adventure with a bit of pavement, a lot of dirt and having to drive through two streams but this is just the sort of drive we love. As we approached Fern Canyon we came across a heard of Roosevelt Elk and where to see them up close but not too close as there were signs posted about aggressive elk.

Then we were off to get our feet wet hiking up Fern Canyon. It was so beautiful we were glad we had made the effort to see it.

4/30- Well, everything Frank did on the 28^th caught up with him and his back was doing terrible today. We did drive into McKinleyville this morning so I could do the laundry. We saw the world’s largest totem pole nearby before heading back to the campground.

Late this afternoon he felt a little better so we decided to drive down to Clam Beach and watched the river run into the ocean and the seals sun themselves along the river. We also saw some beautiful California poppies.

After that we drove into Eureka where we wandered around in old town and saw the Carson Mansion, the home of William Carson an early lumber Baron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson_Mansion The architecture in Eureka was amazing and we enjoyed looking at both houses and businesses. We stopped and got ice cream and sat on the pier to eat it before heading out for our last stop of the day.