6 posts tagged “california”
Here are some pictures from the golf tournament I went to yesterday. The golf course was at the top of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay. From certain holes, you could see all the way from San Francisco to San Jose. The on-course scenery was nice, too. Beautiful hilly course, cut into the natural terrain -- typical rock-strewn grassy California hills and the state flowers (California Poppies) are blooming...
I stopped just north of the bridge on my way back from Healdsburg. There are better cities overall, but I can't imagine a better view of a city anywhere...
We in the Bay Area are blessed by being so close to such amazing natural beauty. With Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and Sequoia/King's Canyon just a few hours' drive away and the amazing California coast right here, it's so easy to find incredible hiking or driving for views.
This weekend, I went hiking with my friend Angelique at Point Reyes on the coast north of San Francisco. We went on what was supposed to be an easy hike around Drake's Estero (the Drake's Bay estuary) to the beach at the outer edge, but it was still pretty tiring and soreness-inducing.
Still, we got great views of the estuary, with its oyster beds and sea lions sleeping on sand bars, hiked up and down the hills dotted with wild purple lupins (only know the name because Angelique is a gardener) and grazing cows, and made it out to the rocky beach with excellent views of the rocky coastline and cliffs of Pt. Reyes. And on the way back, we stopped for a rest on a bridge and spotted a deer stepping out of the woods and a 5-foot leopard shark in the shallow waters of the estuary. How many other places could you spot a wild deer and a shark from one bench? Pretty cool.
Day 2: Eureka, CA to Klamath Falls, OR
Trip stats: 2 days, 2 states, 604 miles
Song of the Day: Upward Over the Mountain -- Iron & Wine
It was the best of road trips, it was the worst of road trips.
First, the worst. Here's the problem with only loosely planning your trip. Last night in Eureka's Old Town, I saw a sign with some tourist destinations. It included a picture of a place called "Fern Canyon" in Prairie Creek State Park, and it looked pretty good to me, so I decided to go there. Flash forward 24 hours, and here I am, sore and tired from a crazy 10-mile hike through the redwoods to see Fern Canyon. OK, yes, the hike was pretty amazing -- one of those terrific trails winding around and across a creek, up and down hills, and in and out of canyons. The trees were incredible, of course. Imagine standing on the ridge of a canyon, 100 feet above the base of a tree, and still having to look up another 100 to see the top of the tree.
However, I pulled one of my signature moves -- hiking without water (stupid) -- and I hadn't eaten breakfast (also stupid) and I wasn't exactly prepared to hike 10 miles. After an hour and a half I finally arrived at the Fern Canyon and guess what? It wasn't worth the walk. (I bet you thought I'd say it was totally worth it.) It was a little creek bed, with high canyon walls, yes, but not fern-covered like the picture. Very disappointing. Now, imagine how bad it is to leave an unimpressive canyon after a long hike in, and see a sign reminding you there are another 4+ miles to hike back.Luckily, it didn't take too long for my body to recover after I was sitting in my car and drinking a Diet Coke in Klamath, home of "The Trees of Mystery". I didn't even go into The Trees of Mystery, but it was worth it just to see the giant Paul Bunyan and Babe in the parking lot. The best part was the weird, muffled voice that came out of somewhere near the head. "Hi there, welcome to The Trees of Mystery. Hi, how you doing? Hi there, you, climbing on my foot..." Hilarious.
From there, off to Oregon, with a quick stop in Crescent City on the coast. A day and a half into a cross-country trip and I finally get away from the Pacific. But first, I stopped at the Crescent City lighthouse, a great little house on an island off the coast. The best part was that tours are available at the lighthouse, but it's only possible to get over to the island during low tide. (The lighthouse was closed today, but I couldn't have gotten there, anyway, as you can see.)Next, I headed inland and north into Oregon. After a brief scare from a giant Caveman in Grant's Pass (yes, that look is supposed to be fear :-), I headed up into the Cascades. The scenery was pretty amazing. Pine forests, mostly, and the occasional farm or ranch. There were even big ranches at the top of the mountains -- giant fields dotted with cows, or steer, with the tops of the mountains on all sides. It looked kind of like Brokeback Mountain, only with cows instead of sheep.
My destination today: Klamath Falls, OR. A small town with a very lowercase "s". Nice enough, though, with a little Main Street. The town and the people in Oregon already make me feel like I'm heading to middle America. People seem pretty "salt of the earth," not freaky, like in California. I saw more dogs in the back of pickup trucks today than I ever saw in California (though I expect that record will be broken later on this tour.)Tomorrow's agenda: Crater Lake National Park.
Day 1: San Francisco, CA to Eureka, CA
Trip Stats: 1 day, 1 state, 330 miles.
Song of the Day: Over The Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin ("Many times I've gazed along the open road.")
"A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step" - Confucius.
A journey of 7000 miles begins with a 330 mile drive up through redwood country in Northern California -- Me.
Well, today felt like just a warm-up. Easy drive, half of which I'd done before, few stops, great scenery, but not so great that I had to stop every half mile to take another picture. Not too much driving around looking for the next attraction, etc.
Of course, it wasn't all perfect. Hit a few bumps to begin with. Leaving San Francisco with plans to take some great shots of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city for "starting point" pictures, I found myself in a thick fog. San Francisco would be a really nice city if not for the hideous weather. If San Francisco fog is the worst weather I see on this trip, it will be a great month. In any case, I got a couple shots of either San Francisco or a polar bear in a blizzard.
Headed north on 101, the Redwood Highway -- basically the only road I took all day -- up past wine country. Before too long, the short hills with the yellow-brown grass and round leafy trees give way to more jagged terrain and taller, pointier trees. And then the trees start to get bigger and bigger.
But first, a stop in Willits, California, the gateway to redwood country. Willits was the first stop on my USA roadside kitsch tour, home to an oversize "muffler man" statue. Things do not look good for the giant chicken, loaf of bread, and Iraq War soldier I plan to see, because I couldn't seem to find the Willits statue anywhere. To be honest, I would have given up on it much earlier, had I not so desperately wanted to put a picture of it on my blog with the caption "What you talkin' 'bout, Willits?" I moved on, saddened but unbowed.
Heading north into redwood country, the first tourist trap one finds is The Drive-Thru Tree (one of several in the area). I couldn't resist. Yes, it was very exciting driving through a giant tree, but maybe even more entertaining watching to see bigger and bigger cars/SUV's attempting it themselves. (Felt like a tight fit in my little Civic, but I watched minivans bravely stop, turn their rearviews aside, and squeeze through.) There wasn't much else to do there, but the gift shop was very impressive. Leaving the Drive-Thru Tree and heading north, I passed other classic redwood tourist traps: The 1-log House, The Tree House, The Chimney Tree, etc.
I decided to save the rest of the sightseeing for nature, heading onto The Avenue of the Giants. It's a road that parallels rte. 101, but goes through the redwood forest instead of around it. It is truly incredible. There are grove after grove of just massive trees. It makes you feel very small. (Nerd alert: One might say Ewok-sized. Yes, the redwood forests up here were the location for filming Endor scenes in Return of the Jedi. Remember the amazing speeder bike chase?) Anyway, I drove through the forest, stopped a few times, saw giant redwoods and wound through the Eel river canyon. Even had time to get out and go for a short hike in one grove.
Then, headed out to Eureka, my stop for the night. I have no idea what the history of Eureka is. The name makes me think it had something to do with the gold rush (brilliant, aren't I?) but it seems more like a fishing village on the coast. Anyway, it is now a small city with a pretty little "old town" and marina, but it seems to be populated entirely by freaks. And not the happy-go-lucky Subaru Forester-driving pothead hippie freaks like in Willits (one section of the 101 was "adopted" by the "Medical Marijuana Patients Union" there). In Eureka, they were the unfriendly, locals-only, ne'er-do-well types. I took my pictures of the harbor and got out of there.
Day 1 in the books. Only about 30 more to go. Tomorrow I see more redwoods, then head for Crater Lake in Oregon.
