Car Camping and Day Hiking on the Coast and amidst Redwoods; 8-12 July 2021

When the Farewell Bend Camping and Hiking trip had to be canceled due to smoke in the area, the participants – Cory Ross, Greg Conaway, Jo Ann Haun, Elisabeth Zinser, Rosalie Rybka, and Linda and Richard Thomas – set out to find alternatives on the Oregon and northern California coast where the air quality remained good. What follows is an example of the resilience and determination of BIG members enthusiastically bound for outdoor adventures.

Cory and Greg headed into central Oregon coastal areas with their camping van. Spending their first night at Cape Perpetua Campground, they had dinner in Yachats before heading to the peak of Cape Perpetua and the Whispering Spruce Trail to watch a stunning sunset over the ocean.  Next day, they tide-pooled below the Adobe Hotel in Yachats and then enjoyed a few hikes: Captain Cook and Thor’s Well, Devil’s Churn, Trail of the Restless Way, and the Giant Spruce Trail.  The campsite is along a single road with tent sites set back nicely along the creek and RV sites closer to the road. There are pit toilets and running water in the sinks.

Next, they went to Tahkenitch Landing for 2 nights. Winds came up during the day, but quiet at night and morning. They paddled in their inflated kayaks and they hiked the Tahkenitch Creek Trail and the Tahkenitch Dunes trail as an out and back to the beach as far south as the sign prohibiting motorized vehicles to protect the snowy plover nesting sites.  The campsite is on two levels, lakeside and shoreline (which is steep). The lake is only accessible from the boat launch to the north, close to the road. Highway noise was present at camp, but not on the lake fingers away from the road.  Then Greg and Cory were off to the Jessie M Honeyman Memorial SP (with electrical hook up, showers, etc.).  They hiked right from the campsite over to west shore of Lake Woahink. And they had a peaceful put-in spot to kayak at Lake Cleawox (keep right on entering the day use area and park at the northern parking lot).

They made a sweet discovery testing a narrow channel just left of the Girl Scout dock and discovered the 3-mile long, hidden water-lily edged finger of the lake with kingfishers among others. This was the most beautiful paddle they’d ever enjoyed!

Here are some highlights of their time on the Oregon coast:

Meanwhile, in the Redwoods at Jedediah Smith State Park, Richard, Linda and Rosalie set up their camp and welcomed an informative visit from a friend of Rosalie’s who has a long career in the Park Service.  Mickey Kacherwski took them on an interpretive hike by sharing his knowledge of the ecology, the trees and other plants.  When Jo Ann and Elisabeth arrived in the afternoon, they enjoyed a shorter hike on trails in the extensive campground to learn more from Mickey, joined by Richard and Rosalie.

The campsite was very spacious and right along the Smith River. It was a special treat to meander down to the riverbank to sit and visit and enjoy the wildlife along the river. Linda, Rosalie and Elisabeth crossed the river on a footbridge from the campground into the Stout Grove late in the day to revel in the majestic Redwoods on that heavily traveled 1.6-mile loop trail. Such a joy to see families with young children experiencing this magnificent natural world.

The next day, the BIG group of five ventured onto the Boy Scout Tree Trail to complete this rigorous 5.6-mile RT adventure. While the elevation gain is just a net 200 feet, hikers navigate constant roots on the surface of the trail connecting all these magnificent trees making up the forest community. Climbing up and down (between 250’ and 450’ twice), sometimes aided by human-engineered stairs. The undergrowth is lush, dominated by varieties of fern (deer and sword), tanoak and evergreen huckleberry. The trail passes through silent stands of ancient trees seemingly undisturbed for many centuries. The forest features the two largest conifer species in the world, the Coastal Redwood and the Douglas-fir (as much a Hemlock as a Fir). On top of all this, there’s an area along a side canyon with bigleaf and vine maple. About 2.4 miles in, a steep but short side trail leads to the enormous, double-trunked Boy Scout Tree (named by Sheriff Jack Breen who founded the local Boy Scout troupe many decades ago). Back on the main trail, the group found coast red elderberry and salmonberry growing along the Jordan Creek, and some bigleaf maple, vine maple, and cascara. The turn-around spot is down the hillside at shaded Fern Falls cascading over a rock outcropping. On the return trek, the BIG group of five found veteran BIG member Mary Kwart coming along the trail. She and they were stunned and delighted, and captured a group photo with her thanks to a group of young hikers nearby.

Each evening, the group enjoyed sharing time in camp—talking, reading, sitting beside the river, and sharing items of food brought for dinner time. Sometimes entertained by neighboring campers, such as a small friendly boy eager to share his family’s tradition of painting designs with wax-crayons on a fire-heated rock each evening. Sometimes aggravated by noisy youth having a party. All in all, it was an ideal car camping site. Bathrooms and showers quite modern and very clean and private, albeit up a long staircase necessitating late night flashlights. On August 12, the group delayed returning to the smoke in the Rogue Valley. Rosalie found a place to stay into the weekend in Gold Beach. Jo Ann led the remaining four to visit the wharf in Crescent City, where they clambered up the rocks at the end of the wharf, navigating a ‘forest’ of poison oak to take in the views out to sea and over the city’s crescent beach and town.

Here’s a gallery of their trip:

September 28, 2021 | Categories: 2021, Coast, No. California, Redwood NP, So. Oregon | Leave a comment