Redwood Nature Trail – Loeb State Park

At Alfred Loeb State Park, Brookings Oregon

On Wednesday evening I took a ride up the Chetco River about a mile and a half where the North Bank Chetco River Road crosses the Chetco River.  As evening grows near, the shadows along the river can be interesting.  This first picture was taken just as I was exiting the park.

I parked at the bridge and walked across it.  Above is a picture looking up river, while below…

…while this picture is looking down river.

Look at how you can see right down to the rocks down in the river.  Looked for signs of fish, but did not see any…perhaps the birds of prey keep them away from waters like this.  Had a young Bald Eagle swoop right down in front of me the other day as I was driving around.  WOW, what a surprise that was!

Well, on Thursday I decided it was a cool enough day to attack the Redwood Nature Trail, just north of the campground.  I discovered this hike last year, and I walked the Riverview trail a few days before the Redwood trail…but this year I decided to do the Redwood Trail first.  It is a mile loop (I know, the map says .9 of a mile, but when you walk from where you park to the red dot it adds up to a mile) with a gain in elevation by about 500 feet.  Last year I started to the left, this year I started to the right.

Very quickly you cross over a bridge, and stand there listening to the quiet brook that flows down and under the bridge.  Through the entire hike I only saw a handful of people…it was very quiet.

There is an abundance of plants, like one finds in many coastal redwood areas.  This particular coastal redwood patch shares its home with Douglas Firs, Maple Trees, and lots of plant life…

…including Poison Oak.

But you can see the path is wide, and I did not encounter (I hope) any poison oak growing onto the path.

     

One can really enjoy this trail.  In fact, I stopped numerous times just sit and listen to the peaceful sound, feel the cool air flow by, and pant like a dog laying out in the summer sun.

When I came upon this nature-made chair just a third of the way, I thought I was in heaven! 

Yep, look at that smile on my face.  I don’t take many selfies, but this one seemed appropriate…it is also the last one I took because here I was only 1/3 of the way done…the next third just about killed me.

      

Just about here (picture left) I hear this noise…a very slight rumble.  Suddenly this 50 year old female comes RUNNING down the path right at me.  “NO!”, I said, “IT IS NOT FAIR TO RUN!!!!”   She just laughs as she passes by me…my spirits are dashed.  By now I am soaking with sweat, she is as dry as bone.  Reminded me of when I hiked Pinnacle Mountain with a group of people in Arkansas as this guy runs up and down and up and down passing us many times.  THANK GOODNESS she did not run it a second time, I would have felt like a pea in one of those bounce houses at McDonalds.  In the picture right, I was hoping that I could make a bed along that fallen log…it was sure tempting.

Near the end of the trail, I sat upon another log and just contemplated about how long it would take to myself to get back up off that log.  At this spot one can just get a slight cell signal, so I texted Marcia to let her know that I would not be too much longer.  It was all downhill from here, and a smooth trail…I don’t think I stopped much more than two or three more times with less than 2/10ths of a mile left.

 

A point of interest or two…here is a shot of a Douglas Fir and a Coastal Redwood.  They are both large trees, but their trunks are very different…with the Fir having large gaps in the bark (left) while the Redwood is a smoother look but a very splintery look.

Near the end (or beginning depending upon which way you go) you will see this heavy cable.  It was was a logging cable, used to drag cut logs down off the mountain…err….hill. 

I made it back to the car, drove back to the motorhome, and sat in the car with the A/C going (on a 70 degree day) just to cool down a bit.  After getting into the motorhome, I sat for a bit after taking a couple of Aleve, and eventually made my way down to the showers (which they had parking at the showers so that I did not have to walk it!)  Now, 24 hours later, other than a little ache in my knees, I am doing fine.  Next week, the Riverview Trail, which is 3/4 of a mile to the entrance of the Redwood Trail, and 3/4 of a mile back.  The good thing, the elevation change is minimal.  The Redwood Trail, according to the Park’s pamphlet, is Moderate to Steep, while the Riverview Trail is Easy to Moderate.  After doing the Redwood Trail, I think the Riverview Trail will be pretty easy.

RV Block Party Weekend, Memories of the Longest Day

At Alfred A. Loeb State Park, Brookings, OR

I have sat outside for hours each day we have been at Loeb State Park.  On Thursday I noticed that there were lots and lots of people who seemed to know each other…there were many “locals” in the park, and they stayed all weekend.  The number of children on bicycles increased three fold, and on Friday and Saturday there were few turnovers within the campground.  (It is hard to see, but Bubba is looking down the street at about seven kids and three adults…at this point, most of the kids were down at the river swimming/playing.)  I commented to Marcia Saturday evening that it was like one huge old fashion block party…people talking, laughing, kids playing, everyone having fun.  It was like stepping back in time for me…we lived on a block where kids played outside all the time, football in the street…even baseball if we could get all the parked cars moved, and basketball was always at our house.  It was a time when kids could be kids…as long as we watched for the occasional car coming around the corner, all was well.  The same here at the park…it was nice to see.  By noon today, half the park cleared out…and at 3 pm, there were still 15 sites open.  This afternoon, only two children on bikes.  Amazingly, the noise level over the weekend was very reasonable. 

   

One day I went down to Brookings to get some groceries, check on getting the motorhome oil changed later on, and I decided to get some pictures of the Ocean in the Brookings/Harbor area, including a shot of the boat harbor along the Chetco River.  As you can see, the skies were clear…as they have been nearly every day that we have been here.  In fact, we had to run the A/C three times in the eleven days we have been here…but I never felt hot outside as long as I was in the shade.

I also did another walk…returning to the Redwood Trail that I struggled with on Father’s day.  No, not to walk this trail again…I am not a masochist…I just wanted to get better pictures of the scenic bridge that is at the start of the walk.  So I walked the couple hundred of yards up to and onto the bridge. 

When I went on the walk that Sunday, I turned left away from the bridge to start my walk.  By the time I got to the bridge at the end of the hike, I was just ready to get into the car and some air conditioning.  So Friday I drove back over and got these pictures.  It really is a very scenic, quiet place.

I could not decide which picture I liked the best…so you get to see the top three.  After I got my pictures, I returned to the car and drove over to the start of the Riverview Trail.  I was determined to do this easier walk again, but at a faster pace…so I left the camera in the car, and off I headed with my bottle of water at 12:20.  Made it to where the Riverview and Redwood trails meet by 12:50.  Around 1:05 I headed back to the car, and got to the car at 1:35.  That was about 20 minutes faster than the first time.

Thursday was the 21st, the longest day of the year.  As I sat in my chair outside, I see the moon rising over the trees on the hill to the east.  It reminded me of our night in Alaska…midnight as the calendar turned from the twentieth to the twenty first….camping at the Seward Waterfront RV Park.  The nights in Alaska are long during the summer…and though it was midnight, it looked like it was just dusk, and it had looked that way for a couple of hours already.  I look out the motorhome window, I grab my camera and was out the door.

A full moon just coming over the mountains on the other side of Resurrection Bay.  As I take picture after picture, I see this small fishing boat coming from the left headed out of the bay.  I see that the boat is going to pass right over the reflection of the moon on the water, and I got this shot above.  It is my favorite shot, I even have it as the wallpaper on my computer.

Later that same day, we realize that Skruffy is one sick dog…the Vet in Seward has gone on vacation, and off to Soldotna which was 90 miles away…it took three hours.  That is where the Soldotna Animal Hospital, Dr. Meezie Hermansen in particular, saved Skruffy’s life.  It was then that we found she was diabetic.  Since her recovery, she has been fed twice a day, 12 hours apart, with an insulin shot for dessert (she actually gets it as she eats).  Skruffy is doing GREAT now. That was one long day…a day which could have turned out much differently had it not been for the Soldotna Animal Hospital.

Took Me a Redwood Father’s Day Walk

At Alfred A Loeb State Park, Brookings OR

Just about a mile east from Loeb State Park along the river road is the Redwood Nature Trail.  This 12 mile hike, I mean 1.2 mile hike (it just felt 12 miles to me) takes you up 2,000 feet (make that 200 feet, just felt like 2,000 feet) into a forest of myrtle woods, ponderosa pines, ferns and other underbrush, and a small grove of Coastal Redwoods.  Some say this is the northernmost grove of Redwoods in the United States…but there are reports of other small groves just a few miles north of here, but I can’t find out if they were spared from last year’s fire or not.  The National Forest website says that the trail is “More Difficult”, but I am sure that is a mistake…it should be listed as Very Very Very Strenuous!  The map to the right shows the route, which is easy to follow, just don’t go down the few less used paths, they will probably just lead you into poison oak.  There is SUPPOSE to be a brochure telling you about what to look for at all the numbered locations…but alas, no brochures available, could not even find one on the Internet.

So I had hiked about 1/3 of the trail…stopping a few times to admire all the trees in the forest (huffing and puffing) and one time I even laid down to get this picture (took a quick nap and caught my breath)…then this lady comes jogging down the trail in front me headed the other way.  As she passed, I asked if I was near the halfway point…she chuckles, looks back behind her (which is the direction I was headed) and says, “Well…getting close to halfway I guess.”, but I could tell she was just trying to be nice.

Every good hiker knows to take water along…I ain’t no good hiker.  I was so thirsty after my first hour I wanted to jump into this stream, but figured I was so tired I might drown in the two to three inches of water passing by.

As I got closer to the end of the hike, I heard some talking behind me.  After the humiliating conversations with the “jogger”, I wasn’t about to be humiliated again, so I tried to find me a hole to hide in…this burned out Redwood would do just fine, but they caught up to me before I could slither in on all fours, and I struck up a conversation with this younger couple.  They live in Brookings, but the male had lived in St. Pete and in Clearwater, just down the road from where we live in Florida.  I asked if this misery, I mean wonderful hike would ever end, and they assured me that it was all downhill, and that noise I heard was indeed cars passing along the road just down the ridge.  Well, they were correct, and I made it back to the car, turned on the car’s AC and sat there a bit.

Looking back, it was a wonderful hike, yes, a bit tiring for this ole 300 pound boy (would have never made it a few years ago), and no…Marcia could not go because it is no where near being accessible.  Picture to the left is a part of the trail…going down a rocky slope.  At times I appreciated the tree roots in the trail as I climbed up and when climbing down…it made for sure footholds.  I only saw the three people, I was gone for 2 hours (It is a long 2 minute drive to the trailhead), and, of course, I had to pick the hottest day of the year to do this hike (camp host told me it was upper 80’s in the park today, maybe even 90).  As Redwoods go, I have seen bigger, seen better, but have never been along such an isolated trail, having the forest to myself…which was appreciated, that way I know people weren’t counting how many times I stopped, how many huffing and puffings it took to catch my breath, nor was anyone around to complain about the trail of sweat I left behind me.  Was able to get a signal now and then to let Marcia know how I was doing, and called her up on my drive back and asked her put a beverage by the door so I could sit outside and cool off.  After that, I headed to showers….what a wonderful Father’s Day it has been.