Life in Perspective

At Alfred Loeb State Park, Brookings Oregon

Need I say more?  This was yesterday and through the night at Florence Keller Regional Park Campground in Crescent City, CA (we just got to Loeb State Park in Oregon this morning).  We have stayed at this park a number of times over the past few years.  A nice park for $15 per night, BUT, as with most places, they raised their prices to $20 per night.  No electricity, there is water to fill your tanks, no dump station, but $20 per night to camp among the redwoods is still pretty cheap. 

One thing nice about Keller Park…it is only minutes away from Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (no day use fee), which is one of four parks operated under the Redwood National and State Parks.  The four parks, together, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood old-growth forests, trees which are the tallest and one of the most massive trees on Earth.  I was up for a drive…Marcia was not, so off I went.

Just 5 miles away from our campground is the Hiouchi Information Center at the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  There I got a map, and quickly eyed just what I wanted to do…the scenic Howland Hill route which Marcia and I had taken back in 2013.  It is just the best way to see much of the park without having to do a long hike.  

      

Notice the dirt road…it was a good dirt road with just a few bad spots, 6+ miles

I absolutely LOVE the Redwoods…have for much of my life.  Back in 2013 THIS BLOG POST covered the drive pretty good, so I won’t waste time talking about it again.  I just enjoyed the drive, and was back to the motorhome within 2 hours.

 

No sooner did I get back from the Redwoods, and Marcia decides to take her afternoon nap…so Skruffy and I drove to the Ocean along Pebble Beach Drive, another 10-15 minute drive away from the campground.  I LOVE the Ocean…

Battery Point Light

Looking North

Looking south…Battery Point Light is in far distance

Well…I guess it is never too cold to surf!

How Cold Is IT?

68 Degrees, Noon and THAT is our Forecasted HIGH 

THAT's Life in Perspective

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.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – More Pics of Daybreak Camp

At Daybreak Camp, Felton, Ca

Today was a nostalgic day … going back to places of my youth.  Just about every summer I came to Santa Cruz for a week or two from when I was a baby, through my 19th birthday, and then intermittently after that.  It was a church camp, similar to the Daybreak Camp my cousin and his wife operate, which brought me here…today I was going to show Marcia some of this area.  So we get in the car, drive about a dozen miles, and Marcia says, “Where is the camera?”   Oops!!!  I forget both cameras!  So today’s pics are by our flip phones…so the quality will be poor, but it is what it is.

We did not walk the boardwalk…but we did drive it.  This is the Big Dipper, one of the last of the good old wooden rollercoasters.  Been on this thing many, many times.  The summer of 1974 I spent 10 weeks volunteering at the camp, and had a car, and probably went down to the boardwalk a couple of times each week.  On one of these occasions, with some friends and relatives, we got a “ride all the rides you want” wrist band, and we were standing in the long line to ride the coaster for probably the third time that night.  Two young boys slipped in front of us.  We allowed them to stay under the condition that they kept their hands in the air the entire ride…which is something we all did because it was more fun that way.  Although they agreed….they didn’t make it up the first hill, let alone the bottom of that hill.  I was right behind them, telling them to raise their hands.  One boy started to…got about half way up, then right back to the bar again they went.  Of course, at the end of the ride they ‘tried’ to say they kept them up the entire ride…

Been on this beach by the boardwalk many a times too…although our favorite beach was Seacliff State Beach further to the south.  Give it another 4 weeks, and this beach this time of day will be packed.  Today, hardly a soul.

We headed north along the coast on West Cliff Road, and got this shot looking back to the boardwalk.  The calm before the storm…soon there really will be thousands of people along this area…

We just love the trees along the coast…wind swept…sometimes alone…

Continued to Natural Bridges State Park, where they have a free 20 minute parking area.  Been out along the waterline here too, and that rock really has a hole in it, hence the name, Natural Bridge.  We continued up along the coast on highway 1 another 8 miles, turned on Bonny Doon Road, which turned into Pine Flat Road at the community of Bonny Doon, and then onto Ice Cream Grade road for 3 miles of very narrow, very tree shaded, very quiet country road.  Another 4 miles on the Felton-Empire Road, and soon we were back to Daybreak Camp.  Took us about 3 hours in total, dogs went with us, cameras stayed at home…sorry about that.

More about the Daybreak Camp

Above is a picture I took of an aerial picture cousin Rich has in his office.  The white markers are the boundaries, the white line down the middle show the original property to the left, and the newly acquired property they bought about 8 years ago to the right.  The RED is what I added.  The number 1 is the horse pasture we entered through locked gates, number 2 is about where we have the motorhome, and number 3 is the old, decrepit bridge.  The big circle is the area where most of the Redwood Trees, especially the old growth trees, are located on the property, although young trees are scattered here and there throughout.

Rich and Marci live in this house, which includes an office and a garage under the living area.  There is a upper entrance to the left from higher ground, so one does not have to climb steps to get into the residence.

    

I showed a picture of a cabin two blogs ago…that was an adult cabin, and the inside is the upper left picture above.  The “kids” cabins are nestled along the Redwoods, and they are long and narrow.  Upper right is the inside of one, bottom picture is an outside picture of one…they are all pretty much alike in size and shape.

       

The Redwoods are just so wonderful and peaceful.  There are trails, and Rich took me on what they call the “Prayer Trail” in a Kawasaki Mule…yea, would have never made it walking.

Dispersed along the trail are benches, with names of the people they are dedicated to…along with a cross.  Gives one time to stop, meditate, pray, and move on to the next bench…which is a welcome sight since the trail is a bit steep in places.

He stopped the “mule” along the trail leading up where I got this picture of the swimming pool, and if you look beyond the pool and a wee-bit to the right, you can see our motorhome in the far distance.

   

Of course, any good camp has to have a good kitchen.  Cooking for upwards of 250-290 people for some of these camps is a huge ordeal.  And here is the catch…all the staff working the camps are volunteers, including the kitchen staff.  Outside of the four camps that Daybreak sponsors themselves, all the other campers have to furnish their own volunteers, including the kitchen staff, all of whom have to certified by a health department as fit to work around food.  I asked Rich how he keeps the kitchen so clean with so many different folks passing through.  He says that he tells them that the previous camp (he names them by name) cleaned up the kitchen for them, and they need to leave it clean for the next camp (he names them by name) who will be told that YOUR CAMP (naming them by name) left it this way for them.  It seems to work!

Tomorrow we head out for Mariposa…frankly, I could stay here a number of weeks, it is so quiet…except for that bridge every time a vehicle passes over it.  

Note:  When they get the bridge fixed, they will have to move the RV area out to just into the new property...they plan to have full hookups, which will be nice for those who bring an RV to one of the many camps which are held here.

Felton, California

At Daybreak (Christian) Camp, Felton CA

We pulled out of my sister’s house about 9:45…Sandy was at work, and we said our goodbyes last night, but Arny was there to see us off, help guide me down the wooden ramps needed so that we don’t bottom out on the driveway, and his biggest task was to lure Bubba into the motorhome because as soon as he came outside of the house, around the corner and off the far end of the backyard he went.  I took along the leash just in case…but Uncle Arny successfully lured him into the motorhome, and off we went.  Above you can see us safely snuggled in along the RV parking area of the Daybreak Camp that my cousin Rich and his wife Marci are the Executive Directors of.  RV electrical plug, and water, no sewer, but we will be gone by Friday, so sewer is not needed.

Lodi California (yes, “Stuck in Lodi” by Creedence Clearwater Revival) is only 50 minutes from my sister’s house, nearly all Interstate travel.  It took us 75 minutes to get there because Caltrans was repairing a section of the Interstate about 15 miles north of Lodi along I-5.  We were headed to Flying J where we filled up with Propane, emptied our waste tanks, and filled up with gas.  The GPS tried to take me over to Franklin Blvd. around Lambert Road…but stubborn me said, “That seems like a long way around….” not knowing that there was road work ahead.  Just past the Lambert exit I see the sign…and there is no where to turn now.  Took 20 minutes to go 5 miles…another lesson learned.  At 12:30 we were back on I-5…yes, an hour stop because we also needed a RV Wash at the Blue Beacon next to Flying J…lots of Elm Tree blossoms all over the motorhome.  As usual, they did a good job.  From there, we drove right to Felton, arriving at 3:15, 15 minutes later than we told Rich and Marci’s youngest son Devin…who was waiting for us at the “back pasture” to let us in.

    

Daybreak Camp, a non-denominational Christian Camp, is real pretty…although we have not taken a tour yet...that should come tomorrow.  In the picture to the left is an open lawn, very large swimming pool to the far left behind those trees, a covered pavilion area where they typically have crafts, and one of the cabins to the right.  In the picture to the right, I is the dining hall and kitchen.  The campground can sleep just shy of 200 people, more if there are RVs and tents.  Rich said that for the kids camps, they have around 110 volunteers for around 140 kids, so they can handle around 250 in total.  They are not open to the public for general camping, it is for non-profit groups.  Each year Daybreak has four different camps, one for young kids, another for older kids, another for youth, and a family camp.  Churches also use the campground, especially during the summer when each week there is something going on...but it can be used all year around, something that Rich and Marci and working on.

 

   

Yes, I was serious when I said “The back pasture”.  The wooden bridge above is the main road leading into the campgrounds…nothing Rich felt would be good to drive the motorhome over, although I think we are under the gross weight ... why chance it...it is among the top 5% worse bridges in all of California.  The San Lorenzo River runs under the bridge, with the picture to the left looking north, and the picture to the right looking south.  In the first picture showing our motorhome, the river runs just on the other side of the motorhome, close to the bridge.  Little traffic goes over this one lane bridge, but when it does, it has a low rumble like thunder...or like bowling pins being knocked over in a bowling alley.  The County and Caltrans are going to have to replace the bridge soon...the work will have to be done after April and before October because of the spawning fish between October through March.  It is a county bridge, and there are about 20 homes and other establishments the bridge feeds...the camp just happens to be the first property closest to the bridge.  When this work is done, the road we are camping on will have to be used, along with the pasture road (non-paved) to give access to everyone on this side of the bridge.  Once the new bridge is put in, it will be much easier to bring RVs to the campground...but the RV area will be moved away from this road.

Here is a small stand of trees just behind the motorhome, and the river runs on the other side of them.  If I am correct with my trees, the far right is a Coastal Redwood, while the other two are Pine Trees…the barks are different between a Pine and a Redwood.  They have a number of Redwoods here at the Campground, and this whole area is known for its Redwood Trees…with the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park not too far away, as is the Roaring Camp Railroads.  My Great Grandfather once lived in Santa Cruz, and was a conductor for the South Pacific Coast Railroad, later acquired by the Southern Pacific Railroad.  His pocket watch, given to him upon retirement, was given to me by mom and dad when I earned my Masters Degree in Library and Information Sciences.  When my son Michael earned his Masters from University of California (Berkeley), I gave it to him.  The South Pacific Coast Railroad was a narrow gauge steam railroad running between the Santa Cruz Docks (at the time it was the third or fourth busiest docks in the state),  and Alameda, with a ferry connection in Alameda to San Francisco.  Starting out on the Centerville Horse Driven Train in Centerville (Newark), Charles Burdick turned that over to his brother Henry and moved on to the South Pacific Coast Railroad.  So this area has had a large impact on our family…and it is nice to see Richard working at this Church Campground where 'our' (his and my, Rich is just a few years younger than me, his father is my father's older brother) Great-Grandfather was a conductor on a train line that ran right through Felton.   The picture to the right is the road leading to or from the pasture land, which had about a dozen pretty horses boarded there, owned by local residents. 

Not sure of everything we will do over the next three days, but we plan to head to Mariposa on Friday so that we can visit Yosemite National Park.  Marci and Rich's daughter Liz is going to have a baby any day now...so Marci is not here, and Rich is on call to head back to the Placerville area on short notice 'after' the baby is actually born.