The Camping Experience – Part 3

On the way to our last campsite we stopped at a most incredible beach and spent some time enjoying the big waves and warm sand! 

 Because Tim did a fair bit of the driving, I had to fashion sunglasses for him; they worked quite well. Ingenious, or what?

Arrived at Crescent City, CA. after lunch.  Spent 2 nights at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. A treed, very private campground a few kilometres off the Highway, down a windy road, deep into the forest . The park staff apparently ‘save’ site #109 for campers who may be inconvenienced by a booking error. Well, it seemed they felt we were entitled to it because of some mistake they had made. We decided to be kind, and  shared it with my sis’ family. Their site was a tad tiny and unremarkable.  This one was at least 3x as big as any of the other sites. We certainly didn’t complain about the change!  And the weather was very warm at our campsite, unlike at the beach!

We paid almost twice as much for a campsite here,  as we did in Oregon. In addition, the firewood was more expensive ($8 a bundle!!) even though there were trees everywhere! AND, to top it off, there were no soap dispensers or paper towels available in the washrooms, and the showers were coin operated. Thankfully, they were still very hot and relatively cheap.

We couldn’t complain about the park staff or anyone involved in the tourist industry, though. All were very friendly and helpful.

 A friendly park ranger enjoyed telling us all about the history of the Redwoods of California.

 

We were amazed at how much mist hovered over the ocean and vicinity, for a good part of the day. As we arrived the day before, from a distance we actually were convinced there must be a forest fire nearby, although we couldn’t smell smoke. But no, it was just a  low cloud of fog rolling in, making it very cool and grey.  At about 3 pm in the afternoon, it had completely dispersed and the skies were pure blue. The next day, the same thing happened again. The blue skies didn’t fool us, though. It was COLD and we brought along blankets, sweatshirts, and towels for warmth.  

 

 

Last day. Left Del Norte at 7:45 a.m. for the long drive home. We took the very scenic Grant’s Pass from the 101 to the I-5. Then it was basically tootling up the I-5 to the Canadian Border and then another 3 more hours to get home.

A total of 17 hours of travel that day (not recommended!) , arriving home, dog-tired, in the wee hours of the morning, looking forward to our OWN BED! You just get to a certain point and realize that it makes more sense to keep driving, however crazy long it’s taking! (Good thing we had more than one driver, though.)