We awoke in the little town of Willits, California, to a cold fog. Almost 140 miles north of San Francisco, Willits is known as the Gateway to the Redwoods, and that was our destination for spending the majority of the day. The fog quickly gave way to intermittent blue skies, though we continued to cut in and out of clouds while, at times, the drive was almost dark due to the heavy tree cover. We stop for anything that catches our eye, such as the psychedelic roadside Country Store & Deli in Laytonville, California, known as Area 101.
One might think with only 245 miles to Brookings, Oregon, we’d not need the entire day to get there but we could easily prove you wrong. It’s not difficult to find ourselves distracted by things, places, and the sights we might have passed on previous travels; with an abundance of available time, we can do stuff like visit the World Famous Confusion Hill and The Legend of Bigfoot shop just up the road. It turns out that we don’t go into any of them as we question what the value will be, how much time we’ll have to give to explore them, and then the inevitable question of whether we are really all that interested anyway.
What we are really interested in is unadorned, raw nature, and that’s what is to be found right here in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Weott, California.
A small parking area in the Redwoods caught my eye, prompting a quick U-turn, and we took off on a short loop trail, passing fallen Redwoods, mushrooms, dripping water, ferns, moss, and the sound of a handful of songbirds.
The aforementioned mushrooms, although there were many others.
We are on Avenue of the Giants, which parallels Highway 101 but is far more conducive to pulling over for the occasional photo, like here looking at the South Fork Eel River south of Burlington, California.
Back on the main highway, traveling north with a destination of Oregon but first a stop in Eureka, California, and the first Dutch Bros. on the coast.
Not quite sunset yet, nor are we in Oregon, but we’re inching closer.
This and the previous photo were taken from our slow drive up Patrick’s Point through Trinidad.
The famous red deer in Orick appear to have adapted well to living next to the highway, as while they are free to roam, we’ve not driven through here and not seen them.
Passing over the Klamath River while the nearby Trees of Mystery were once again passed by, this time because it was closed for Thanksgiving (the other times, we were simply short on time).
We finally pulled into Harris Beach State Park, got checked into our yurt, and then raced over to the beach for a glorious sunset.
Thanksgiving dinner was barbecued under the umbrella, including mushrooms and corn on the cob with truffle butter for Caroline and a steak and the same corn for me. The weather that accompanied our dinner stayed with us over the majority of the night, with the gentle patter of raindrops dancing on our canvas roof throughout the night.