To California

9/6/10 – We are camped tonight in California’s Del Norte Coast Redwood State Park, having traveled the length of the southern Oregon coast today. Arrived in the redwood park near dark. Tomorrow the big trees around us should take more shape… Today we stopped at Port Orford to walk to a point of land. From a cliff top we watched a whale swim below while seals slept on a rock ledge. What a magnificent view! Looking north Cape Blanco, a barren point of land, stretched into the ocean – the farthest west reach of the State of Oregon. In many ways, the land and the ocean were similar to that we saw on the central Oregon coast, just more wild. Pillar/shards of basaltic rock jutting into the sea connected to land by flat expanses of wet gray sand at low tide. It looks as if the rock has pushed its way out of the sand, rather than the sand having come from the abrasion of the rock.

Many long distance bikers on the road which is variously called ‘the Oregon Coast bike Route’ and the ‘Pacific Coast Scenic Highway’. It follows the high cliffs, providing vistas of the beaches and water below, and then returns to sea level, to climb again. Few people were seen in this remote area. The ones we did see from the cliffs looked like tiny moving, bending sticks as they played by the water. They flocked in the manner of the Oregon Dunes sand plovers, individuals making random movements, the flock moving together.

Lunch at Crazy Norwegians Fish and Chips in Port Orford. Try this for size… a fish taco made of taco shell, fried cod fish, cheese, salsa, cilantro, coleslaw and chipotle sauce. What a mixture of cultures! Fine eating.

Noted on the roadway were the signs… ‘Pacific Coast Scenic Highway’ (Total agreement there); ‘Oregon Coast Bike Route’ (one has to be very strong, fit, and a bit crazy to ride these hills); ‘slides’, ‘rock’, ‘elk’, ‘sharp curve’. Beautiful place.

9-7-10 – Followed the Redwood Highway today through the Del Norte State Park and the Redwood National Park, then on down the coast to Arcata where we turned east toward Redding California. We are camping tonight in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest – part of the northern California coastal range. Afternoon rains held off while we were among the redwoods. That gave us time to stop and look and listen to the redwood forest around us. Later the wind and fog rolled in off the ocean, chilling the air and bringing out fleece to stay warm.

To paraphrase John Steinbeck, one can’t spend time in the redwoods, experience their stillness, be lost in their size, without being changed as a person. Access to the redwoods has changed since he wrote about them… high speed roads carry busses of travelers into and out of attractions like humming birds flitting to and from a feeder; individuals take posed photos, a friend by this tree, a family member by a trailhead… and then move on. A few hearty ones take off with passes in hand and back packs of gear, headed for the back country. Even with the changes in access and speed, the redwoods capture people. They bear awe and majesty which dwarfs us as human individuals. Standing among them, one feels the wisdom of these living trees which have populated the planet for over 2000 years.

At Arcata we finally turned east, saying goodbye to the Pacific Ocean and aiming our compass bearing toward Maine. We have been on the road for almost a month, playing in the Pacific Northwest, sharing time with family, getting to know a bit about Oregon, the state that our son calls home. We are ready now to begin the eastward journey.