July, 1999

This year's big trip was to California and the northern redwoods - lots of 
beaches, woods, and hiking.  I had a great and, as usual, eventful time.  
Here's what happened.

Wednesday, July 15 - day 1
I arrived at San Jose at about 10 am and headed immediately for Santa Cruz,
where I was to stay for two nights.  As I got closer to the coast, I 
noticed a nice bank of clouds covered most of the ocean.  Thus, I changed 
my plans of spending the afternoon at the beach and decided to drive 
Highway 1 north to locate the starting point for my big hike I had planned
for the next day.  I found it with no problem (though it was a little 
farther north than I thought it would be).  The starting point was Waddell 
Beach.  It's a nice, uncrowded, peaceful beach that I really enjoyed 
walking for about an hour.  I then drove Highway 1 south for a ways, past 
Santa Cruz and on south, stopping at various overlooks along the way.  I 
turned around at Point Sur and headed back north, stopping in Monterey for 
a luxurious meal at Boston Market.  Okay, I was starving as I hadn't had 
anything filling since breakfast (which was about 5:30 am Dallas time).  I 
headed back to Santa Cruz and checked into my hotel.  I walked down to the 
beach and walked along the beach, walked the boardwalk, and walked the 
wharf.

Thursday, July 16 - day 2 - The Hike I
My first big hike of the trip was part of the Sunset to the Sea trail that 
started at the beach and went up into Big Basin State Park - a redwood 
forest.  I started the morning by walking Waddell Beach for about 15 
minutes (walking the beach barefoot with the water lapping at my feet is 
one of my favorite things to do).  I then put on my shoes and started on 
the trail about 7:40 am.  The trail starts as an old dirt fire road and 
stays that way for a number of miles.  The trail and the fact that there 
was only a little elevation change made it an easy hike.  The last mile of 
the trail was a climb (not too strenuous) past two small waterfalls and a 
cascade.  I reached the end of the Sunset trail in about 3 hours and 
decided that I didn't want to take the same way back as the trail was too 
easy and I wasn't tired.  I could hike dirt mountain roads around the 
ridge for about 4 1/2 miles and then hit another trail that would connect 
back with the Sunset to the Beach trail.  So, off I went.  Big mistake.  
After 4 1/2 miles of going up and down along ridges in the sun, I was 
tired.  I reached the peak of Chalk Mountain (1609 feet elevation) and was 
greeted with the start of the Westridge trail.  The sign said that it was 
6 miles to the beach and I thought that it would only take about 2 1/2 
hours to finish as most of it would be going down hill.  Wrong.  I hadn't 
paid attention to the trail's name.  Westridge meant that it was a ridge 
trail which meant that I was going up and down the ridges connecting 
various mountains.  I never did correctly guess which one really was the 
"last climb I'd have to make".  In addition, it was designed as an 
equestrian trail, which meant that some of the climbs and descends were 
pretty steep.  And the descends could be just as bad as the climbs as I 
soon had spaghetti legs.  The trail wasn't all drudgery as there were a 
couple of pretty views of the ocean in the distance.  I finally finished 
those 4 miles of up-and-down and started the big descend - down, down, 
down.  Along the way down, I and a good sized deer did a good job of 
startling each other.  I finally finished the trail and had a short walk 
along a paved road back to the beach - the end was in sight.  However, as 
I started down the road, a bobcat appeared around the end of an 
information building (about 25 feet ahead).  I stopped and looked at it.  
It stopped and looked at me.  I looked at it; it looked at me.  I shooed 
my hands at it and said, "Go on."  It still looked at me with its little 
stub tail switching.  [I wasn't scared of it as I wasn't making any 
aggressive moves towards it and I was much bigger than it.]  I shrugged 
my shoulders and decided that it was time to take a break.  I took a 
number of steps back and sat on rock.  Eventually the bobcat moved on 
around the curve of the road.  Once I finished by break, I clapped my 
hands as I walked the rest of the road - just letting it know that I was 
coming.  I finished the hike shortly before 5 pm.  A 9 hour hike.  Uggh.  
For dinner, I went to a seafood restaurant on the wharf, but I wasn't too 
impressed with the food.

Friday, July 17 - day 3
The good news was that my conditioning had paid off and I wasn't sore the 
day after the hike.  Day 3 was driving up the coast with a couple of stops 
along the way.  The first stop was across the Golden Gate bridge at an 
overlook called Hawk Hill.  I took a short walk to the top of the hill and 
would have had a very nice view of the Golden Gate bridge if it wasn't for 
the fog.  Not being able to see much, I left shortly and continued my 
drive up Highway 1.  My next stop was about an hour and a half drive north 
at Bodega Bay.  There was a short trail around the point with some nice 
views of the ocean crashing against the cliffs below.  After the hike, I 
drove a little ways to Salt Point State Park and had a grand time walking 
a trail that went along the ocean cliffs.  There was even a nifty pile of 
rocks that just had to be climbed.  I spent about 2 hours there.  
Unfortunately as I was returning to my car, my ankle gave as I was going 
down a hill and I think that was when I twisted my knee.  It didn't 
bother me that day, but it sure did bother me the rest of the trip - it 
didn't stop me or really even slow me down, though.  I continued on and 
reached Fort Bragg (my stop for the night) with enough time to go on a 
short (less than a mile) hike to a small waterfall not too far away.  
First I had to find the trail.  I failed miserably in my attempt to find 
it.  I found the turn off for the loggers road in Jacksons State Forest 
after missing it the first time.  There was a very unhelpful road map for 
getting to the trail at the start of the road.  I reached a three prong 
fork in the road and had my choice of which one-lane dirt road to take.  
I chose the middle one.  After about 6 miles I was pretty sure it was the 
wrong one and turned around (the trail was supposed to be about 5 miles or 
less from the fork).  I then chose the right one.  After 6 miles on the 
road (at least it didn't climb like the other one), I turned around and 
figured it must had been the left fork.  However, I was out of time for 
the hike as the sun would be going down in less than an hour.  So I 
decided that I would try to find it either the next day or come back 
later in the trip.  I stopped at the road map to try to see if it would 
be helpful.  While I was standing there, a helpful fire protection 
services guy stopped and asked if I needed help.  I told him that I was 
trying to find the Chamberlain Creek Falls trail.  He gave me more 
helpful directions and also told me about another good trail hidden in 
the forest.  Intrigued, I decided to come back later in my trip and try 
the two trails.  I went back to Fort Bragg and checked into my hotel.  I 
decided on a quick dinner at McDonalds and as I was at the drive through, 
I realized that the sun was about to go down.  I quickly drove over to a 
beach and had a great meal while watching the sun set over the ocean.  
Atmosphere is everything.

Saturday, July 18 - day 4
I started the morning with a delicious crab omelette for breakfast and 
then finished Highway 1 and continued my trip on Highway 101.  I stopped 
in Richardson Grove State Park and did about an 1 1/2 hour hike up a 
mountain in the redwoods.  It wasn't that great of a trail and I was a 
little disappointed.  However, the walk back to the car was great as I 
got to walk through an old growth of giant redwoods.  I drove out to 
Shelter Cove, aka the Lost Coast.  As the road peaked the mountain and I 
started the descend to the ocean, the views were just heavenly with the 
ocean in the distance peaking through the green trees.  I had originally 
planned an inland hike to the ocean, but opted for heading straight to 
the beach and a trail that looked to skirt the beach.  The Lost Coast is 
one long black beach that is just lovely to look at - I highly recommend 
a trip out to Shelter Cove (it's about an hour drive from Highway 101).  
Before I started my hike, there was a mound of rocks that first had to 
be climbed.  After conquering the rocks, I headed for the trail.  The 
trail shortly disappeared and I realized that the 25 mile trail 
described was really a beach trail.  I walked the beach for about 2 
hours before continuing on.  I drove through the Avenue of the Giants 
(a road that goes about 25 miles through the redwoods).  I settled in 
for the night just north of Eureka.  I had another wonderful McDonald's 
dinner watching the sun set over the Trinidad beach.

Sunday, July 19 - day 5
I started the morning by going to Patrick's Point State Park - I was so 
early that I even beat the park rangers.  It is a coastal park with a 
beautiful pebble beach.  I peacefully walked the beach and gathered 
numerous pretty agate and jade stones for about 3 hours.  As I was 
walking back, I kept noticing these small black blobs in the ocean - 
there were a bunch of seals out there.  Yet another narrow dirt road took 
me from Highway 101 to the coast and Fern Canyon.  After driving by three 
elk feeding along the road, I reached the parking area for heaven on 
earth.  It was a simple one mile trail along a stream in a canyon about 
10 to 15 feet wide and ferns covering the canyon walls going up about 40 
feet.  Calling it gorgeous would be an understatement.  After the trail
exited the canyon, there was the option of looping back to the parking 
area of going on to various trails through the redwood forest.  Of 
course, I chose to continue walking through the redwoods.  And it was a 
beautiful trail system in the redwoods.  If you've never been in the 
redwoods before, it is a beautiful, peaceful place.  You are surrounded 
by these gigantic orange-brown trees with ferns all over the place.  On 
the way back, I walked through the canyon again.  I drove up to the 
coastal trail near Requa, but was disappointed as it was overcast.  The 
start of the trail is supposed to be a spot where on a clear day you can 
see the curve of the earth.  I didn't hike the trail as the views 
weren't as spectacular due to the overcast and my knee was bothering me 
some (the trail was a steep, switchback descent to an isolated beach) 
and I had a big hike scheduled for the next day.  I stopped and bought 
some delicious bing cherries (my favorite food) and pigged out on them 
the rest of the day.  I reached Crescent City (my destination for that 
and the next night - it's near the Oregon boarder) and decided that I 
had plenty of time to reach and hike the Boy Scout trail - one of the 
things on my "to do" list.  I reached the trailhead in Jedediah Smith by 
driving a one lane dirt road.  It was a pleasant redwood hike that ended 
at a small, pretty waterfall.  However, I had passed the Boy Scout Tree 
(the tallest tree in the park) along the way and missed it.  On the way 
back, I did find the tree (there was a short trail up to the base of the 
tree) - it was _huge_.  The hike took about 3 hours with only a little 
elevation change (but the descents on the way back were really bothering 
my knee).  For dinner, I found another poor seafood restaurant.

Monday, July 20 - day 6 - The Hike II
I had been looking forward to the Big Basin hike since I first heard 
about it two years ago, but the Devil's Punchbowl trail went to the top 
of my anticipation list when I read about it two months ago.  And my 
sore knee wasn't going to stop me from going on this challenging hike.  
The first bit of fun was the hour, 18 mile drive on one-lane dirt 
logging roads through the mountains.  Good thing there was no one else 
on the road.  The trail starts with an easy 3 mile hike to the base of 
Bear mountain.  Then comes the climb - up, up, and up with lots of 
switchbacks.  After climbing about 1,500 feet over 3 more miles (with 
most of the elevation change in the first 1 1/2 miles), I turned the 
corner and was greeted with a small lake near the top of the mountain.  
It was lovely.  I had thought that this was the destination and decided 
to walk around to the other side of the lake.  Good thing I did as I saw 
that the trail continued further into the granite bowl of the top of the 
mountain.  As I was approaching the destination, 4 older gentlemen passed 
me going back.  And then, there it was.  A good size mountain lake 
surround by 3 walls of granite.  There was even snow at the edge of the 
far side of the lake.  Gorgeous.  I stopped, enjoyed the view, took some 
pictures, ate a snack, and headed back after about 20 minutes.  The hike 
back down was almost as bad as the hike up as knee would hurt when I 
descend.  I reached the bottom of the mountain and rested.  I took off 
my shoes and socks and sat for a bit.  While I was sitting there, a 
butterfly was walking all over my foot.  It was weird as it stayed there 
for while.  I put on a fresh pair of socks and continued on.  I passed 
the gentlemen in about a mile and a half.  One of them asked how long I 
had stayed at the lake.  I responded that I had stayed about 15-20 
minutes and he replied that it was a lot of work for so little.  I 
shrugged and said, "But the hike is supposed to be part of the fun ... I 
think."  I finished the hike and was dead tired.  It was a 7 hour hike.

Tuesday, July 21 - day 7
For the next day, I had planned a fairly restful day and managed to 
pretty much stick to it.  I went to the Victorian town of Ferndale and 
walked the main street, stopping in various shops and art galleries.  
The town hosts an annual Kinetic Sculpture Race - local artists build 
creative man-powered vehicles to compete in a course that covers both 
land and water.  The town has a museum with some of the vehicles in it 
and they are quite a sight to see.  I also stopped in the Hobart 
Galleries and was invited to visit the museum upstairs.  While upstairs, 
I met and talked with Hubert Brown, the founder of the Kinetic race, while
he was working on an entry for next year's race.  It was very interesting 
and different.  I continued my drive back south and again drove the 
Avenue of the Giants, this time stopping at some of the tourist traps and 
picking up some gifts.  The day wasn't completely hike free as I finally 
found the Chamberlain Creek Falls trail and did the 1/2 hour hike.  I 
stayed the night at Fort Bragg and had a super, awesome dinner at 
D'Aunelios (I highly recommend it) of a chicken and pineapple with pesto 
sauce pizza.  Mmmmmmmm!

Wednesday, July 22 - day 8
I started the morning with a 30 minute walk along the beach in Fort Bragg.
I then went to Medocino, another Victorian town, and walked the town 
browsing in shops and art galleries.  I had an excellent lunch by walking 
down to an ocean cliff, sitting down, and eating my leftover pizza.  I 
re-visited Jackson State Forest to try to find the other trail that the 
fire protection service guy had told me about.  After 20 minutes of 
driving around in the mountains on one-lane logger roads, I gave up.  
After finally getting back on a paved road, I spent the next 3 1/2 hours 
driving to Oroville (north of Sacramento) in preparation for my hike the 
next day.

Thursday, July 23 - day 9
I was originally scheduled to return the 21, but in my planning for the 
trip I realized that it wasn't enough time to do all that I wanted to 
do - but I didn't know how much time I would need.  After 4 days into my 
trip, I figured that Friday would be a good day to return.  But there 
weren't any seats available for me on Friday.  Oh well, I'd just have to 
stay one more day.  With my extra day, I had decided to take the long 
drive out and hike to Feather Falls.  Feather Falls, in the foothills of 
the Sierra Mountains, is the 6th largest waterfall in the US.  In
addition to the drive, it was a bit of a hike out to the falls.  But what 
a sight!  The falls were beautiful and well worth the 11 mile hike and 
long drive (I also started the hike early enough that I had the trail all
to myself until the return leg).  I headed back to San Francisco and 
bought some cherries along the way.  I went back to Hawk Hill and got a 
much better picture of San Francisco.  I then drove a little further out 
on the pennisula and walked around Point Bonita - the head of the bay.  
There were some great views of the ocean, bay, Golden Gate bridge, 
lighthouse, and old World War I and II batteries.  I drove back over the 
Golden Gate bridge and parked on the South side.  I then did something 
I've never done before - I walked the entire Golden Gate bridge.  It was 
cool.

Friday, July 24 - day 10
For my last full day, I had to have some redwoods and beach.  But first 
was a full visit to the Winchester House.  I had gone there twice when 
we had lived in San Jose, so I only had the vaguest memories of the 
place.  If you don't know the story, Mrs. Winchester, the heiress to the 
Winchester rifle fortune, believed that to appease the spirits of those 
killed by the rifles she needed to have continuous (24 hour) 
construction on her house.  Thus, for 30 years additions and changes 
were made to the house based on Mrs. Winchester's sometimes bizarre 
designs that included doors that opened into walls, windows in the floor,
and beautiful stain glass windows that received no sunlight.  It is a 
fascinating place to visit.  I then headed over to Big Basin to say 
goodbye to the redwoods.  I hiked for about an hour in the beautiful 
park (a limited hike as my knee was bothering me).  I was then off to 
Santa Cruz to complete the loop of my trip.  I had a delicious seafood 
melt sandwich (crab, shrimp, cheese) at the beach and took a brief after 
dinner walk along the shore.  I drove over to Waddell beach and walked 
it for a while and watched the sun disappear behind the clouds.  I 
picked up some cherries on my drive back to the hotel.

Saturday, July 25 - day 11
It was my last day of vacation.  <sigh>  I got up early and had a nice, 
peaceful, barefoot stroll on the beach and gathered a number of sand 
dollars.  Then it was time to pack up and head to the airport for the 
long flight home.  It was a great trip.  I put 2,000 miles on my rental 
car.  With a few days left, I wrote on the trunk of my very dirty car, 
"Been there, done that, got the dirt to show it."


patricia