Oct 5, 2022 - Oct 7, 2022 Last updated: 10/8/22 3:00pm PT
Our traveling has been on pause since the pandemic started, but we decided it was time to get back out there and take a new trip. This trip to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods in the northwestern-most corner of California wasn’t very far from home, only about a 5 hour drive. This was the third time we have visited these redwoods. We spent two nights in Crescent City, CA at The Lighthouse Inn. It was cheap, clean, and the furniture needed some serious updating.
There was new trail added recently leading to the Grove of Titans. This is a grove with a few trees over 2000 years old and a few of the largest coastal redwoods in the world. I guess people have been hiking here for a while, but when the location got posted on the internet, many more people started to come, causing the roots and ground cover to get destroyed. The National Park Service, California State Parks, and other private groups have now constructed a real trail to the site, along with elevated walkways to help preserve the trees and to make it safer to visit.
On our way to California, we drove on highway 101 along the coast and stopped in Port Orford, OR at The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish & Chips.
Here’s us somewhere on the Oregon coast in front of the Pacific Ocean.
Here are pictures from Stout Grove, one of our favorite places.
Here we are taking pictures of each other across an open area of ferns.
There is a one lane gravel road you can drive, from the Stout Grove to the Grove of Titans trailhead, but we decided to walk. The walk between the trailheads of the two groves was only 1.5 miles which took about 30 minutes (each way). The weather was great, in the low 60’s, and it’s always nice to walk in the woods. All told, we spent about 3-4 hours visiting the two groves.
The first picture is taken with a wide angle lens to capture the whole tree. I think this is one of the 2000 year old trees. The trunk is massive.
These next three pictures are taken at the same set of trees.
The next morning, on our way home, we stopped at an easy access trail off highway 199, the Simpson Reed Grove Trail, for one last “fix” of tall trees.
Best meal in Crescent City was at Schmidt’s House of Jambalaya. Denise had a muffaletta and I had jambalaya. On the way home we stopped in Grants Pass, OR for lunch at Fat Tony’s NY Style Paninis, which was also good.