Redwoods and Clouds

July 16, 2007—After hearing the rain patter on my car roof all night, I finally saw the two poor Chong look-alikes come trudging back to their car at 5:30am. A couple hours later I got up myself, warm and dry, and headed north to Redwoods NP. It was a heavily overcast morning as I took off onto the Coastal Drive, and I was one of the first in the park, making the deep silence of the huge redwoods even deeper and more pervasive. I stopped first at the “High Bluff Overlook” and snapped a couple pictures of the Redwood coast:

As I was about to get back into my car and leave I noticed an old unmarked trail leading down the hill to the water. I wandered down what was apparently an old road down to a huge flattened out area that had obviously been cleared of boulders, most pushed to one side against the cliff and a few pushed into a small group. Further to the left there was a depression that looked like it had been excavated with a road leading down into it.

I took a look around, finding all sorts of interesting rock designs some bored people apparently put together.

(Note: I asked a park ranger about this area later, and he knew nothing about what used to be down there…. It’s a mystery ;-)

Heading back up to my car there were all sorts of pretty flowers, too.

Up the road there was a cool historical site—apparently after the bombing of Pearl Harbor there were Japanese submarines all along the west coast, so the American government set up several surveillance sites meant to detect any suspicious activity off the coast. This site was set up to look like a working farm, with shingled roofs set on top of cinderblock buildings, fake windows and dormers, and an early warning radar station and anti-aircraft machine guns inside!

In the middle of the park, which is actually a collection of strips of national and state-level conservation, there is a Klamath Indian reservation, complete with a casino and soon to have an associated “Gentlemen’s Club” as well—the “Honey Jar.” How sketch does this look??!?


Redwoods was by far the most commercialized national park I went through, with signs everywhere advertising drive-thru trees and what not—this one’s draw was its massive replicas of Paul Bunyan and his ox, Blue.

Seals are loud. Seriously. I heard them at this lighthouse I stopped at north of the park, so drove toward them. I found a spot to park along the side of the road as they got louder, figuring they weren’t far off. I then walked at least a mile until the land ended, where all I could see was this far-off island and hear them even louder.

At this point I had planned to drive to Crater Lake, but I was told I should get there early to get a boat tour, and I had spent too many of the early hours checking out Redwoods. So instead I headed up the Oregon coast, which I had heard is the prettiest of the entire PCH. Sadly the clouds from the front that came in to rain on the hippies the night before refused to clear, so all the views were dominated by dreary, overcast skies. There were certainly a lot more cool crags and arches to check out down in the water:

Finally I headed inland to find a hostel in Eugene, passing first by an “Elk Viewpoint.” Funny how wild animals can be so predictable, always choosing the same spots to hang out and allow themselves to be photographed by tourists.