Dwarfed by the Redwoods

Sometimes you just find the perfect little park to settle down in.  Today, we certainly did that.  After our two night stay at Golden Bear, we headed north to Crescent City…after we headed south to drive the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, part of the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation, along with Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, and Redwood National Park. All are free to visit, $35 to camp.  By 1:00 we had arrived in Crescent City, gassed up, and headed for what I hoped would be a two or three night stay at the Florence Keller County Park & Campground, a Del Norte County Park.  There are around 50 sites…only one has electric, and it runs $20 per night…and was taken.  The others run $15 per night, and only about one-third of them would be able to handle an RV that is our size.  The catch…no reservations, it is first come first serve.  The reality…we could have pulled into any one of around a dozen of the sites which would fit us…and the place is only15-20% full.  As you can see from the above picture…it is a nice score.  Paid for 2 nights, and in reality we might just stay for four.  There is a 5 day limit.  As shown on the map to the right, the park is very close to downtown Crescent City…only 5 miles.  It boarders highway 101, but you cannot see it from the highway, nor see the highway from the park.  However, you can hear the highway, but where we are, near the entrance, the sounds are pretty muted. 


We enjoyed another two night stay at Golden Bear.  What did we do?  One load of laundry…and walked the dogs…and slept in until after 10 am (except for short time to feed the dogs at 7 am…a must to feed them around 7 both morning and night for that diabetic little Skruffy.)  Met a lady from Maryland while doing laundry.  She was married to a police officer for around 15 years.  Her good friend was the officer’s partner and introduced them.  Well, he died within the last year of a heart attack.  Her female friend, husbands ex partner, retired.  They decided to get away from Maryland for awhile and “see the land”…and they together bought a 24’ Class C, and have been traveling since May.  They love it, they are not sure how long they will do it, how far they will go, and I gave her our website and urged her to follow some of the other blogs listed on our website.  Also urged her to get a tire pressure system…even though they just got new tires.  I sure wish them luck, two gals in their mid to late 50’s spreading their wings. 

    

We have driven the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway at least a half dozen times now.  You enter it from Highway 101, and you exit it at Highway 101 about 11 miles down the highway.  The Parkway itself is only 9 miles long…but it is NOT a shortcut…it is a 45 mph max scenic route.  I say this in defiance of the California Idiot who got behind me on the scenic route flashing his headlights over and over and over again, while I was going around 35 mph.  He, in a large Chevy SUV of some sort pulling a boat, wanted to run along this 9 mile stretch as fast as he could.  Problem was, there were no turnouts for me that were not already being taken by other cars.  So what did I do?  I dropped my speed down to 30 mph until we came upon a turnout about 2 miles later.  Marcia said I should have stopped, got out of the RV and looked around to see what was wrong…but he would have just pulled over the double yellow and zoomed by had I done that.  I get a bit frustrated by idiots like this because I am very good about letting people pass me.  I did pass by a couple of thin pullouts which I might have squeezed into…but for this jerk, it wasn’t worth the effort.

    

    

These Costal Redwoods are tall, the forests are thick, and the ferns that cover the ground are a great compliment to such a mighty creature.  We liked our drive so much, at the southern end of it, we turned around and went back the other way.  The middle picture shows that even these giant Redwood Trees are not invincible. 

   

On the way to Crescent City you get a few good views of the Pacific.  There was some road construction, but it flowed well other than having to wait a few minutes for flaggers or red lights to change to allow our side to ride on the one lane that was open.

I was so happy when we pulled into the Florence Keller Park and saw that there were many empty camping places.  I never did tell Marcia that the park was full of Redwoods…thought it would be a good surprise for her.  I did have a backup plan…and that would be the Elk Valley Casino in Crescent City.  We are trying to stay in the area through Sunday morning so that we can attend church again at the Calvary Chapel of the Redwoods, which is between Crescent City and the Oregon border.

The only thing wrong with this place is that our solar panel will be useless…won’t even bother getting it out because the trees cast so many shadows, I would be constantly moving it all day trying to catch what rays I can get.  We did fill up with gas on our way in, so we can keep the batteries charged via the engine, since the engine is not nearly as loud as the generator is.  I figure we can stay here for four nights if we wish…and there is a faucet right across from us to fill our water tank if we need more water…but there is no dump station, and four nights will be at our limit for our holding tanks.