We did a 3-week road trip around northern California to mark Richard's retirement from SLAC. The first stop was at Ft Bragg, followed with stops in Eureka, Crescent City, Klamath Falls (Oregon), Mt Shasta and Redding. From Klamath Falls we did side trips to Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument.
It was the first time we had taken CA Hwy 1 up the coast to Fort Bragg - you get to see the remarkable coast, but it's quite the windy road. We were also reminded that June in northern California on the coast means cool (60F) and foggy. That cleared up as we headed inland, with Redding taking the cake at 105F.
We kayaked 5 times in all, with outings on the Big and Little Rivers near Fort Bragg; Trinidad Bay near Eureka; the Smith River near Crescent City; and the Wood River Wetlands near Klamath Falls. The Smith River outing was in inflatable kayaks on Class 1-2 rapids. Richard was the only one to dump in the biggest Class 2 rapid.
Redwoods are the highlight between Fort Bragg and Eureka with the Redwoods National and State Parks. While there are plenty of redwoods in the Bay Area, there is not so much old growth (aside from Muir Woods). Hiking through the old growth groves was a treat.
Eureka's Sequoia Zoo featured the Redwoods Sky Walk - connected platforms some 100 feet above the ground. It was quite well done and gave a safe impression of the height of these trees. The compact Zoo itself mainly has local animals who cannot be released into the wild, and a small collection of South American animals. We had an interesting chat with the director of operations and research (she was feeding the 2 brown bears).
Crescent City had set up a "tsunami trail" with kiosks highlighting the 1964 tsunami that was caused by a 9.2 earthquake in Alaska. The ocean level rose more than 20 feet and wiped out most of the downtown. The lighthouse dates back to the 1850s and is inaccessible at high tide. We visited it at low tide and then confirmed no access at high tide.
Grants Pass was a fun stop - similarly, they had a "bear trail" in which they feature a rotation of 20 bear sculptures on display, along with many murals. These trails are a fun excuse to explore a town.
Klamath Falls acted mostly as a base for visiting Crater Lake, Lava Beds and the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge. In the kayak outing on the lake, Richard discovered quite an allergy to cottonwood pollen. Access to Crater Lake was quite limited; only a small portion of the rim road had been opened. Lava Beds was interesting for its bleak landscape from old lava flows, as well as many lava tube caves. We equipped ourselves with helmets, headlights, knee pads etc, but mostly discovered that lava tube are only so interesting.
The Shasta area gave us our first looks at the Lake Shasta Dam, and the Lake Shasta Caverns. The Dam was built in 6 years in the early 1940s and is quite the engineering marvel, transforming the California Central Valley - similar to the effect of the High Aswan Dam in Egypt. While not that extensive a cave system, the limestone caverns were impressive with some pretty big rooms. We'd not been aware of such caves in California - we were more familiar with lava tube caves. Hikes in the area took us to the start of the Sacramento River (exiting Lake Siskiyou) and the McCloud River's set of 3 falls. Both those rivers feed Lake Shasta. The Caverns and Lake gave some respite for the high temperatures while we were there.
