We woke up to sea smoke so today we decided to zip into California to see the redwoods, hoping that would be long enough for it to burn off. We’re less than 10 miles from the border and 30 miles from Jedediah Redwood Forest. Plus I didn’t think my eyes could take more coastal beauty – they needed a break!
Wow! That’s all I could say as we hiked through the groves in the Simpson Reed and Peterson Trail. A “must do” according to the park ranger. It did not disappoint! I took a ton of photos but not one of them captures the beauty of these giants. They are so big! The tallest trees in the world. As tall as a 35-story building. Taller than the Statue of Liberty. We then drove to another trail – Stout Grove. Equally as stunning and a bit different. This one had a section of trees that had fallen down. It gave us another perspective on just how massive they are.
Time got away from us again. Not a bad thing to be so immersed in the beauty of nature that you lose track of time! We made the “long drive” back to Oregon. Apparently our timing was impeccable. The sea smoke was just beginning to lift at ~3:00. It gave us plenty of time to hike around Samuel Boardman State Park.
Our eyes were growing weary from all the beauty. We skipped a few pullouts because we didn’t think they were pretty enough to stop and see. Imagine that! The reality was we were getting tired. Plus the balcony back at our condo was waiting to be enjoyed. The view from there is incredible. So we ordered Thai food to go and went back to relax for the rest of the evening.
Until I had the brilliant idea (I had to drag Jon away from the balcony!) to go back out and watch sunset ~ 5 miles up the road. Turns out it was a pretty good idea. The colors lasted forever. Now it was time to go back and relax.
Tomorrow starts the second half of our trip. We leave the ocean behind. Way back when, when we planned this vacation last summer but had to cancel it because of the pandemic, we planned to go to Crater Lake, take the boat out to Wizard Island and hike around. Even though you can’t do the boat ride and wizard island this year (still because of the pandemic) we still planned to go. It’s kinda in the middle of nowhere but we were as close as you could get. And who doesn’t want to see the blue, blue color of Crater Lake?!
Two things changed our mind…
- The smoke report. We were listening to the weather a few nights ago and the wind is supposed to change tomorrow and bring in smoke from the California fires. WE may not even be able to see Crater Lake, at the very least it will be hazy.
- This pandemic! Masks are required indoors once again. That’s not a big deal for us but apparently because of the Delta variant the visitor centers at Crater Lake will be closed.
In short we didn’t want to risk the 4 hour drive if we weren’t going to be able to see much 🙁. Instead we are headed to the middle of the state where it’s going to be between 100-106 degrees for the next few days. 🔥
Good bye ocean. Until next time…
Halfway Round the Planet, Part 2 