Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Crescent City, California

Leaving Brookings, Oregon, we headed south on Highway 101 into California to Crescent City.

 On the far east side of Crescent City is Howland Hill Road.  It was on this one lane, dirt road, that we entered Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.
Entering the park via Howland Hill Road

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park is the last in a long string of redwood parks that stretch up Northern California's coast. A few miles inland from the ocean, the park is densely forested with huge ancient trees. In fact, it contains seven percent of all the old-growth redwoods left in the world. No roads or trails mark "Jed Smith's" core—just pure, primeval majesty.
Our rental car for perspective 

Tree hugger

Gman for perspective







The park was named for Jedediah Strong Smith, who in the 1820s became the first white man to explore the interior of northern California. The park was established in 1929 with a small parcel donated to Save the Redwoods League by the family of lumberman Frank Stout. 






Today, you can fish, snorkel, or kayak in the Smith River, the longest major free-flowing river in California; take a historic drive on Howland Hill Road; enjoy a campfire program at Jedediah Smith Campground; or hike through a lush rainforest on 20 miles of trails. The 1936 film The Last of the Mohicans was filmed just upstream, in the Smith River National Recreation area.
Smith River from bridge on S. Fork Road before connecting to Highway 199

TK talked Gman into hiking down to the river...

...so she could wade in the cold clear water

Leaving Jedediah Smith Redwood Park we connected back on Highway 199 which took us towards Cave Junction, our next stop.

POPULAR DESTINATIONS >>

Image

Ballard, Washington

Leaving Pike Place Market we headed to the neighborhood of Ballard . Ballard is located in the northwestern part of Seattle. To the north it is bounded by Crown Hill, (N.W. 85th Street); to the east by Greenwood, Phinney Ridge and Fremont (along 8th Avenue N.W.); to the south by the Lake Washington Ship Canal; and to the west by Puget Sound’s Shilshole Bay. The neighborhood’s landmarks include the  Hiram M. Chittenden Locks  (known locally as the "Ballard Locks"), the Nordic Heritage Museum, the Shilshole Bay Marina, and Golden Gardens Park. Entrance to Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Gardens and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay, in Seattle, Washington's Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south. We wanted to know and followed the fish but didn't realize it was across the locks until we were on our way
Image

Caddo Lake State Park, Texas

While visiting the historic town of Jefferson we could not pass up the opportunity to make a short visit to Caddo Lake State Park .  The park sits near the small town of Karnack, in east Texas.  The name of this park is a bit deceiving as the park doesn't sit on the shores of Caddo Lake (the only natural, fresh water lake in Texas) but on Big Cypress Bayou. Entrance sign Entrance signs to Caddo Lake State Park Big Cypress Bayou from boat ramp (west) Big Cypress Bayou looking east.  Follow the bayou east to reach Caddo Lake. Like most Texas state parks the structures within Caddo Lake SP were built by the  Civilian Conservation Corps . Company 889 began the work, in June to November of 1933. Company 857 continued construction from October 1934 to March 1937. One of the cabins that can be rented at the park CCC workers converted 15 U.S. Army barracks and an Army mess hall into the nine log cabins and group recreation hall that can be used today.  
Image

Twilight Eagle Santuary, Oregon

Sadly, we left Astoria and traveled east on the East Columbia Highway (Highway 30) back to Portland to catch the red eye back home.  When we passed the sign, we knew we had found what our trip had been missing so we turned the Blue Devil around and headed to the Twilight Eagle Sanctuary. The Twilight Eagle Sanctuary is located within Cathlamet Bay , 2.5 miles east of Astoria, Oregon , and just downstream from Settler Point.  This wetland Sanctuary was established in 1992, and along with Columbia Land Trust acquisitions in 2009, now totals over 100 acres of old growth forest, tidal wetlands, and shoreline, and stretches nearly a mile along the Columbia River. The Sanctuary is just off of U.S. Highway 30. A viewing platform overlooks acres of mudflats, tidal marshes, open water, and islands. It is an excellent location to observe birds and other wildlife living on the lower Columbia River estuary. The viewing area has several interpretive panels about the wetlands, bald eagles,