In Crescent City we stopped at the quirky Curly Redwood Lodge (all the wood comes from one single curly redwood tree and built in 1957). Yes we were in the giant coastal redwood area so we went to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park where we stopped for short hikes to see big Redwood trees like the Corkscrew (3 redwoods growing and twisted together to form one), the big tree reputedly 1500 years old and the Cathedral of trees.
We saw endangered Roosevelt Elk on the elk prairie and then lots of brown pelicans and the last surviving World War 2 radar station on the coast just off the coastal trail at Klamath. We also had, of course, to do the slightly tacky tourist thing of driving through a Redwood tree.
Then on down highway 101, hopping off on side roads to visit places like Sue-meg village – a traditional native indian village of buildings that are still used for teaching and a redwood dugout canoe that takes 7 years to make and is then handed down through generations.
We drove on through the towns of Arcata, Trinidad, Eureka, Samoa (fog bound) and on to the lovely old Victorian town of Ferndale – full of beautiful old buildings, often used in films. We stopped for a pint in the very atmospheric Palace saloon, complete with antique shuffleboard, original bar backdrop where local characters play dice for a pot behind the bar (barkeep said it’d been won 3 times the previous week so could be expensive now – winner buys everyone a round plus 10% for the bar!!!).
Our accommodation for the night was Shaw House Inn, an old frontier house built in 1854. A beautiful house with so much character still within it and everything you could possibly ask for in a B&B.
Before leaving Ferndale, we popped into the cemetery to see the great pair of headstones put in place by a married couple who are still alive – loved the carrot cake recipe on the back of her headstone.
Then on through Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the Avenue of the Giants to see more trees!!!!! The Founders Tree is allegedly the tallest at over 300ft. Coastal Redwoods are among the fastest growing trees on earth and can grow between 3 and 10 feet a year. They also have a unique thick bark that protects them from insects and fire. Sometimes, if fire does get through the bark and into the heartwood, it forms caves known as goose pens. We saw lots of these here.
It was a lovely drive but the temperature was rising fast so we just headed off to an air-conditioned motel in Willits (accommodation is cheaper inland than at Fort Bragg or Mendocino where we had originally hoped to stay) for the rest of the afternoon!