Big Trees, Coastlines, Dunes, Rivers, Waterfalls and more
Our original plan for Spring Break this year was to go Backpacking in the Eldorado Forest a little south of Tahoe. However, Mother Nature had different plans. Due to the Atmospheric River that was hitting the Northern California and the mass amounts of rain we were getting, we decided that hiking along a river valley with only the supplies on our back was not really the best plan for the weekend. Instead, we choose to load up the car and drive. If we went South, the roads were washed out. If we went East, we would hit mountains and too much snow to be fun. So, we went North.
The beauty in all of the rain was the abundantly flowing rivers and the occasional amazing rainbows.
Note: Throughout this blog, if you see a photo that you like, click on it to make it enlarge
Day 1: The Avenue of the Giants
A 32 mile stretch of Highway 254 along the Eel River where Giant Redwood trees line both sides of the road. We stopped there and did a short hike and enjoyed a misty light rain. This area is the largest remaining old-growth coastal redwood forest and has 40 of the 100 tallest trees in the world.
We stopped for lunch in a town called Miranda and then continued on North all the way through the rest of the Redwoods National Park to the coast through the town of Eureka and onward to Crescent City, CA.
We stayed at the Crescent City Motel again. We had stayed here in October and it was just as great this time as last. The hotel itself is not much, however, the view cannot be beat. You literally are right on the beach when you open your door! There was a pretty intense storm that night so we watched the waves be angry and listened to the wind howl.
Day 2: Oregon Coast
The seas where still very angry today but also still beautiful. We drove north from Crescent City up into Oregon, through Brookings, Bandon and on to Coos Bay.
Along the way we stopped at Lake Tahkenitch and took some really cool drone video. (which will be added soon)
And continued on to The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. The Oregon Dunes is one of the largest expanses of temperate coastal sand dunes in the world. In 1972, Congress designated this 31,500-acre portion of the Siuslaw National Forest as a National Recreation Area. Renting and riding ATVs is very popular here but not really something either of us was interested in. Instead we hiked around one of the campgrounds that was currently closed but looked like a very cool place to stay during the summer.
That night we stayed in a fancier place. The Inn At Otter Crest was a beautiful resort. Most of the rooms are Time Shares or even full time condos. The resort has an infinity pool, gym and a great restaurant. Since we were traveling in the off season again we were able to get a fantastic deal on our room and got to pretend like we were High Rollers for a night.
Day 3: Sunshine, Lighthouses and Wildflowers: The Coast to The Capital
The next morning, the sun finally came out and we enjoyed breakfast with a view.
We decided to head back down the coast and then cut inland to go explore the Capital of Oregon, Eugene. On the way down the coast we visited the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and stopped to take some pictures under a bridge where the Cape Creek meets the ocean.
The city of Eugene is really cute. The University of Oregon is here and so the city has a College town feel with the added bonus of a picturesque backdrop of the Willamette River and the Cascade Mountain ridges. Unfortunately we missed the famed Eugene Saturday Market, but something tells me we will be back Eugene. Don't you worry.
Day 4: Along the Umpaqua River and back into Cali
When we did our Autumn Adventure to Crater Lake we ended up driving along route 138 through the Umpqua National Forest. We fell in love with this route and decided to do it again on this trip. We followed the Umpqua river and journeyed on some amazing hikes to see the spectacular water falls. Being a Tuesday and somewhat rainy gave us the road and trails pretty much completely to ourselves.
Slightly west of Steamboat, OR we stopped to hike the Falls Creek Falls hike. It was misty raining but nothing too bad. We had the entire trail to ourselves and it was awesome! It was also a good thing that we had our raincoats on as we got to the waterfall, it was quite misty too.
Next, onto the roadside rest stop that was one of the most beautiful places ever!
Then we went on to Toketee Falls where we hiked along the Aquaduct for most of the way up to the majestic waterfall. The colors in these photos have not been enhanced, these greens and blues were really this stunning!
After our hike we continued the drive to Whitehorse falls and Clearwater falls. These were the pieces that started our love affair with this route and this time they did not let down.
The campsites at these waterfalls were most definitely closed as they were still under a few inches of snow! The elevation here is around 5,000 feet, so even in April they were still pretty snowy. Snow is also what stopped us from our next wishful destination on this trip, Crater Lake. At more than 6,000 feet above sea level, Crater Lake still has road closures due to snow. So, we had to skip it on this trip. But again, we will be back!
We did stop at Diamond Lake and watched the ice chunks accumulate at the boat dock.
We continued on to our final night stop at the base of Mt. Shasta back in California. In October we stopped to take pictures of the dormant volcano that rises 14,179 feet above sea level. Below are the side by side comparisons from April and October.
We stayed at the Shasta Inn, where we had stayed on our first night of our Autumn trip. One of the yelp reviews for the Shasta Inn called it "Woodsy Chic." I like that! I'd like to think that is how you can describe us!
Day 5: The Journey Home
The next morning we woke up at 4:00 AM and started the last leg of our journey home. In all we (Ryan) drove almost 1,300 miles. We saw some incredible sights and were able to recharge ourselves after a long dull winter. Although our Backpacking plans were put on hold, we made some pretty great lemonade out of those rainy, wet lemons.
