The Mighty Redwoods

So I have established that I am not a planner. Which is why you will not see pictures of the giant Redwoods in the Tall Trees grove Karin and I hiked 9 miles under full packs to see. I forgot to charge my camera battery before heading to Redwood State Park last week, and it naturally died around mile 2 of the 9 mile hike that was the highlight of the trip. Having worked 68 hours in the week leading up to this trip, while squeezing in training workouts for my upcoming half-marathon, I found myself waking in a panic 2 1/2 hours before our flight was supposed to leave and throwing things we figured we would need into our packs. No charged camera battery. No pocket knife, since we would now not make the cut-off time to check our bags (my accidental attempts to bring knives through security in the past had been frowned upon). No toilet paper.

One of MANY pictures we took on the way TO the Redwoods.

We flew into San Francisco, where we rented a car and hit the 101 North. Mapquest (which I checked for driving distance to compare with other cities, but of course did not print and bring with me) said the drive would be about 5.5 hours. About 8 hours later, we rolled into Orick, CA. The original "plan" involved arriving at our trailhead around 4:30pm (allowing 6 hours drive time) and hiking the 8 miles in to where we would camp for the night, arriving with just enough time to set up camp and cook dinner before sundown. Since we arrived far too late to hit the trail we opted to reverse the order of the trip, camping at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground the first night, and hitting the trail the next day. At the end of a 6 mile windy rutted dirt road we found (of course) a full campground! So we parked, set up our little camp stove on the beach, and watched the sunset over a dinner of macaroni and cheese.

Then we headed back to Orick where, for the bargain price of $77, we scored a room at The Palm Motel. In the morning we enjoyed biscuits and gravy and omelets at the adjacent Palm Cafe, dining in the company of the owner, 81-year-old Martha. After I locked our key in the room, we also became aquainted with Diane, the housekeeper, who we hunted down, with the help of the maintenance man, to let us into our room.

Cooking macaroni and cheese on the beach.

I am so glad we wasted the battery to get shots like this:)

The Redwood Creek Trail is an 8-mile hike to the Tall Trees Grove, where there is a 1-mile loop hike through the grove (unbeknownst to us, of course). It involves 2 creek crossings, which are usually accomplished via temporary footbridges put in place at the beginning of the summer season. Late rains and high water had prevented the installation of the bridges, which in turn prevented us from having any clue where to actually cross the creek and pick up the trail on the other side. That is when a trail map would have come in handy. Now what do you think the odds are that I had a trail map?

Karin crossing the stream.

Another piece of useful information would have been the fact that the available camping (on the gravel bars) was actually several miles downstream from the grove--thus the best plan would be to set up camp around mile 5, then hike the remaining 4 miles to the grove and back with just a small daypack.

The truth is the lack of planning did not really affect the hike itself--it was great and the scenery was beautiful. The trees were huge and awe-inspiring. You will have to take my word on this, of course.

We decided to extend the trip an extra night to avoid a ridiculously early trail start and mad dash back to San Francisco to make the last flight back to Phoenix. So we decided to drive down Hwy 1 along the coast. One thing we should always plan for automatically is that cold, tired Kari equals Crabby Kari. Crabby Kari does not want to hike another mile and a half to an ocean side campsite after hours of driving and put up the tent only to have to break camp very early the next morning because we are still 4 hours north of San Francisco and our rental car is due back at 10:30am. Crabby Kari wants to stay in a motel that is not at all in her budget. The wise traveler lets Crabby Kari have her way. Admittedly it was not difficult to convince Karin to stay in an adorably charming ocean-front motel with a comfy bed. We got delicious take-out clam chowder and ate it in adirondack chairs overlooking the ocean.

So, after 2 nights in motels on our 3-night "camping" trip, we left bright and early the next morning and hit the road, rolling into the Alamo Rental Car Return area with 6 minutes to spare! You can't plan that kind of adventure!

The last picture we got before the battery died.