REDWOODS ROADTRIP - June, 2017

In June 2017 Mike and I and our good old dog Bel headed south through the Willamette Valley with our little a-frame trailer in tow, cut west to the coast at Eugene, and camped our 1st night at Lagoon Campground just south of Florence. There’s a nice wetlands boardwalk there but the dunes close by meant dune buggy folks in neighboring campsites and, unfortunately, at least in this case, that meant generators. Thanks to earplugs we got some sleep and an early start on the next leg south.

The southern Oregon coast is gorgeous; the road was under repair but the traffic stops just increased our time to gaze. We stopped to stretch our legs in Port Orford; my great Uncle Ernest and his wife lived there when I was little and my actual 1st memory is from a (to me) frightening reenactment of the settlement story when I was 2; reading this historical marker filled in some missing parts to the story.

Our goal for that day was the Elk Prairie Campground in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Just driving through (and waiting for road construction) in the northern edges of the park was awe inspiring and that awe stuck around for miles and days. We loved our campsite with its sturdy bear box and ‘no crumbs’ policy.

Hiking in and around the campground was a highlight. Re: 'no crumbs' - good idea to wash your breakfast dishes before you head out on a hike.

A mind blowing bonus was an early morning walk Bel and I took to see if there were elk in the prairie that runs alongside the campground. THERE WERE. They were curious about Bel and came up really close.

Later we drove out and some of them were having a little siesta under the trees by the road.

Dogs are allowed on roads but not on the trails in the National Redwood Parks. Rangers pointed out on a map a rarely used road up through nice old growth redwood stands and we had a nice hike with Bel.

At nearly 15 years old, Bel didn’t mind snoozing in her kennel while we made additional hikes in the surrounding ecosystem including Fern Gorge, half an hour west near the coast.

Next stop was Jedediah Smith State Park near the Oregon border. Friends and I stopped for a quick hike there en route to a college jazz festival in Berkeley and I’ve wanted to return ever since. We loved our camp site there even more and time spent on the campground trail system and along the Smith River was time well spent. We hiked to several nearby groves that were recommended to us and the Stout Grove was a highlight. I think photos of these trees - even with teeny people in the scene to give perspective - don’t well convey the magic of actually being there.

Mike and I are both native Oregonians. I hadn’t been to Crater Lake for 56 years and - even more shocking! - Mike never had. We had thought to camp our last night or 2 there but someone had forgotten to tell the local campground it was summer: only 1 loop was open and no running water; we decided to make the best of a day visit to the lake and head further north to camp. What a day!!! It was a calm, sunny day and the blue was almost blinding, more so because of the contrast with the snow.

We found our spot for the night at LaPine State Park on the Deschutes River. We spent time along the river and near ‘Big Tree’, Oregon’s largest ponderosa pine; even after a week of redwoods it was impressive. The campground was ‘full’ but by late afternoon the hosts were willing to give out the final spots reserved for rangers; we had a nice final evening and headed home in the morning.

This was an awesome road trip and one of the reasons we purchased our little trailer (aka ‘The Fort’) in the 1st place. Turns out it was a great idea. :-)

Check out this link for a complete set of photos on my flickr site by clicking HERE.