Crescent City

Battery Point Lighthouse was our primary destination. Built in 1856 it has a unique feature which we were interested in seeing.

Built on a point off the harbor in Crescent City, the stone masonry lighthouse sits 45 feet off the ocean surface on a huge rock. When the tides are in, the rock is literally an island 30 or 40 feet from the coastline. But when the tides are out, you can walk across to the rock. Luckily for us the tides were low in the late morning this week so we were able to get across and tour this unique structure.

One interesting feature of the partnership between the US Coast Guard and the Del Norte Historical Society is that Society operates the lighthouse for the Guard. Because access to the lighthouse is prevented by tides for more than half the day, volunteers actually live in the lighthouse, generally for a period of a month. The volunteers monitor the light’s operation, perform maintenance and restoration, and conduct tours. It sounds like an interesting experience!

About 14 miles north is the St. George Reef Light. In 1865, the paddle steamer Brother Jonathan, struck a rock off Point St. George and sunk. Of the 244 socially influential passengers on board only 19 survived, making it the deadliest shipwreck to that time. In response, the Coast Guard commissioned the building of the St. George Reef Light.

In order to be visible and useful, the Light had to be built out on one of the rocks. To make it work a 50 foot tall caisson had to be poured on which to place the light. Much like Battery Point, the light was on the top of the keeper’s house. Nearly all lighthouses are stand alone with a keeper’s house nearby. As it turned out, it was the most expensive light ever, construction costs coming in at over $750,000, twice the original estimate. Sadly, the Light is not open to visit as you can only get there by helicopter, and they have yet to be able to pull together the resources to do that.

California has many hands full of state parks protecting groves of redwoods. Since Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park was less than 10 miles away we decided to get one more fix of these majestic trees before leaving the area.

Somehow we managed to save the best for last. We ventured into the Stout Grove, named for the family of lumberman Frank Stout who made the original donation of forest land in 1929 for the establishing of this park. I didn’t think that anything in the area could have outshined the Lady Bird Johnson Grove, or the groves we hiked through in Prairie Creek, but I was wrong. Stout Grove actually takes your breath away. The density of mammoth trees makes you feel completely insignificant, like the pimple on the ass of the elephant!

Somehow we managed to get skunked after about a week of hiking in the redwoods. We were told we would certainly spot some banana slugs, but we spotted none. All we were able to scare up was this Wandering Salamander. But he was pretty cool nonetheless.

Talk to you soon!

Buttheads

Some butthead backed their rig into Colectiva when we were out and about and didn’t even have the decency to let the RV Park folk know, or leave a note. I suppose it is possible that they didn’t realize it, but I doubt that. I have generally found that not kind of behavior to be an RVer trait, so I totally blame it all on California.

Niko would have totally snickered under his breath when he read this sign. We miss the little guy a great deal. We still find ourselves putting out his rug where his food and water dish rested each morning, and still tend to leave a light on when we may be out until after dark. Sniffle, sniffle.

You know I never really thought of this when I was actually in the accounting industry, but this may be a very progressive kind of business combination!

Before we left the redwoods region I had to check out one last kitschy touristy attraction. Back in the Depression days when people built homes in caves or built small log cabins in the woods just to survive, one enterprising individual built Winnebago sized home in a hollowed out redwood log. Being fire retardant and bug resistant, it probably wasn’t a bad idea. As you can see it is big enough for a living room, bedroom and kitchen. It did seem to be missing one important feature however.

OK – maybe two last kitschy touristy attractions. What self-respecting American could pass up an opportunity for a selfie with Bigfoot?

Talk to you soon!

Eureka

Eureka California is the Humboldt County Seat. Nestled in the midst of the giant redwoods it is a very cute and very Victorian town. While not the entire town like in Eureka Springs Arkansas, much of the town is on the National Register of historic places due to the preserved Victorian architecture. This home of lumber baron William Carson built in 1884 is said to be the most photographed home in the country. Carson is quoted at the time as having said “If I build a modest home, they will call me a miser. If I build a mansion, they will call me a show off. I guess I will just build a house to my liking.”

Carson was so wealthy that he kept showing off a bit, building as nearly an impressive a mansion across the street as a wedding gift for his son.

We learned an interesting little known fact about Eureka, at least little known to me. In the late 1800’s there was severe competition for limited jobs in the area, and in general, immigrants would work for less. In response the city council of Eureka passed the Chinese Expulsion Act of 1882. The act stated that all Chinese would be expelled from the city and not allowed to return. It appointed a committee to take actions as needed should any Chinese attempt to return to Eureka. Thirdly it publicly notified property owners that they could not rent or lease to Chinese. While seldom enforced after the frenzy subsided, the Act was not actually repealed until 1959.

Just south of Eureka is the Avenue of the Giants. This original route of highway 1 runs through the densest stretch of mammoth redwoods we have ever seen. The autosensing headlights on the Equinox kicked in as these towering giants literally blocked out nearly all the sunlight.

It was pretty easy to spot the remains of past retail glory. When all traffic passed through these hallowed stretches a vibrant service economy developed. Now as nearly all the traffic passes nearby on the rerouted highway 101, sadly very few of these family businesses have been able to survive.

Of course when I spotted one of the few existing businesses still open I couldn’t help but lend my economic support. The Woman wasn’t interested, but I insisted.

While the practice has long been outlawed, the owners of the few remaining drive through or walk through redwood trees work tirelessly to keep these oddities alive. I get it – I understand this is commercial voyeurism at its utmost. But I can’t help but be drawn to it.

It is much like using the iconic Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to advertise anything that is tree or forest related. Who can’t get excited about that?

Or, how about using a great big wooden carved fish? They work on me every single time!

About 10 miles north of Eureka is the town of Trinidad and Trinidad Head. Trinidad Head is a rock jutting out into the Pacific, a creation of Plate Tectonics. On the Pacific side sits the Trinidad Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse is still fully operational and sits on Coast Guard property, unlike most of the other lighthouses which have either been turned over to the state of California as a park, or to a non-profit that takes over the maintenance and preservation of the structure. However we were able to get close enough to it to get a sneak peak.

A nice 4 mile hiking trail begins at a parking lot near the city pier and winds up and through the Head. We enjoyed the trail and the non-stop views it provided. After done we discovered the café situated on the pier and did lunch with a view as well. Sadly I was fired up about having some of the local crab they are known for. But due to some acidity issues in the Pacific the local fleets have been prohibited from harvesting crab at this time. Not only am I sad, but it is putting a severe financial hardship on the local fishermen.

While on the trail we spotted another small island in the bay. The Woman shouted “There is a blowhole on the back side of that island!” Sure enough she was right. We found a bench and watched for the massive plumes with each big wave. Our only regret was that we couldn’t figure out how to get a view of the other side of the island to see the blowhole better.

In Eureka we visited the Blue Ox Millworks Historic Park. The owner of this unique park was an avid collector of antique equipment, primarily manufacturing oriented. He has assembled here an eclectic collection of fabric looms, woodworking equipment, ceramic and glass making equipment, pretty much all of which still fully functional. For example, all the saws and lathes and routers in this area were manufactured in the mid to late 1800’s, all are human powered, and all are  and is still used daily in this unique business.
 

The Blue Ox is the only millwork operation in the US that can produce handmade pieces. Their claim to fame is in helping restore many fine old Victorian homes and buildings to how they would have looked at the turn of the century. Not only do they manufacture unique stuff but they train high school kids in the arts of woodworking, weaving or any of the trades that seemed to have all but disappeared. We saw many interesting projects in process as we wandered our way around the park.

We love when we stumble on things that are connected. It turns out that one of the major projects that Blue Ox worked on last year was a full sized replica of Abraham Lincoln’s hearse that was used in his many funeral processions to mark the 150^th anniversary of his assassination. After the celebrations it landed where it spends most of its time – the Lincoln Library in Springfield. I searched my digital images from that trip, and it turns out we actually saw the Blue Ox masterpiece when we were in Springfield!

We also strolled through the impressive Victorian structures preserved in the downtown along the wharf and in the adjacent early residential areas. We actually sought out a few of the buildings where significant restoration millwork had been manufactured by the folk as the Blue Ox Millworks Historic Park.

Although we had been to Redwood National Park before, there are several different California State Parks that have impressive groves as well. We spent a couple days hiking through these towering trees within Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

The drive through the center of the Park is much like the Avenue of the Giants. The sun is nearly obliterated except for a few bright streams. The road winds back and forth between the trees with not enough room in many places for two vehicles to pass each other – one of you just has to wait until the other gets through.

We learned a bunch of things we didn’t know about the redwoods. These majestic giants can easily grow to be 2 or even 3 times the height of the Statue of Liberty. We saw trees that were authenticated to be over 1,500 years old. They live so long that it is entirely possible that one or more of these trees were here when Jesus walked the earth.

We learned that despite being the largest living thing on the earth, the redwoods start out life modestly. Of all the conifer species, redwoods actually have the smallest pine cone seedling.

And finally we learned that dropping cones is not the only way these trees replicate. Many of the trees develop massive burls near their base. As they age, the burls will often sprout a new tree, either while attached or even if they become detached from the original tree. The result of this is often a clump of trunks that appear to come from a common base. They are not multiple trees just growing close together. They are actually all clones of the primary tree.

On the edge of the Park is the Lady Bird Johnson Grove. In August 1969, President Richard Nixon set aside an impressive grove of redwoods in honor of the service that first lady Johnson tirelessly and continuously gave to the American public. This may have been our favorite spot in the park.

While we didn’t end up seeing any bears or mountain lions we did manage to find a herd of maybe a hundred or so elk. We had been planning to set up our chairs in a clearing around 4 in the afternoon and just wait for them to come out. But around 3 we spotted this large herd and got as close as we comfortably could. They were nice enough to mosey across our trail, so we just sat there a while and watched.

Which left us with some chairs, a table, our $62 (oops, already ran my credit card before I knew what it cost, so just sucked it up) bottle of Pinot Noir and a corkscrew, but no place to partake. That is until we got to the coastal overlook along Klamath Beach. What a great way to end our visit!

Talk to you soon!

Point Arena

Our main reason for visiting was the California Coastal National Monument. Being a recent Presidential proclamation and managed by the BLM I knew that there would be little infrastructure and we might only be hiking. Given the heavy rain during our entire drive on roads through redwood stands reminiscent of the Tail of the Dragon I began to think we might have a hard time occupying ourselves for the time set aside. We found to our pleasure I was wrong.

Point Arena lighthouse was a typical brick and mortar tower built in 1869. At 115 feet it stands the tallest of any lighthouse on the west coast of North America.

In the 1906 earthquake, the lighthouse keeper reported that the tower itself actually moved 16 feet as the earth’s plates shifted. While it didn’t fall, it was so structurally damaged that It had to be rebuilt. Construction estimates were so far beyond the Coast Guard’s planned budget that they sought a quote from an east coast smoke stack builder. As that estimate was well within the budget it was accepted, and from then on the Coast Guard built subsequent lighthouse towers using smoke stack construction methods.

I believe that this is the first lighthouse we have actually been able to go up into the top level where the lens would have been. The 360 degree views from this height are astounding. We were mesmerized. We learned that 1992 Mel Gibson movie Forever Young was filmed at the Point Arena lighthouse and saw the gazebo that I remember from the film.

Because of damage to the original lens during the earthquake a state of the art double eyeball Fresnel lens was imported from France. The double eyeball gave Point Arena its distinctive double dot flash every 15 seconds so mariners knew which lighthouse they were passing, even 24 miles out to sea.

I learned something new that was kind of a “duh” moment for me. Our friend’s favorite bourbon ha

s always been Makers Mark. I just thought it a catchy name. I learned that folks proud of what they built would put the “maker’s mark” on them so that everyone would know who made it. Although the 1869 tower had to be rebuilt, the original staircase was intact and reused. The original “maker’s mark” still proudly announces who built it.

We hiked all over the coastline within the National Monument. The towering cliffs are impressive and the pounding surfs are relentless. We took every chance we had to get near the water. Our weather turned sunny, but the water soaked ground left us dodging near swamps as we tried to hike our way around.

On one of our many hikes we visited Bowling Ball Beach. This stretch of beach is one of the best visible examples of the collision of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate commonly called the San Andreas Fault. Long stretches of what almost look like highway pavement with lanes demarked are the leading edge of the Pacific Plate openly exposed here at high tide.

What appear to be the bowling balls were formed of yellow sandstone and subjected to super pressure deep in the ocean. As the Pacific Plate pushed up and over the North American Plate and the softer mudstone eroded over time, these harder sandstone boulders were left exposed.

These boulders are completely submerged at higher tides, but we were magically hiking here at almost the lowest tide of the day – our unbelievable luck holds out. While it is not too easy to get here it is well worth the effort.

Our obsession with the water brought us to the Point Arena Chowder House for dinner. Right at the foot of the Point Arena pier we had a ringside seat for some award winning chorizo clam chowder and a spectacular sundown. While we thought it too cloudy to be rewarded for our attempt, we were wrong. At the last minute the sun dipped below the higher clouds and gave us that warm feeling we love and look forward to.

We learned something we totally did not know. We knew that the Spanish were all over California, and that both the French and English had in the Northwest in Oregon and the Canadian provinces. What we didn’t know is that Russia established an outpost only 100 miles north of San Francisco in 1812. Fort Ross was the southernmost Russian settlement in North America.

Fort Ross, derived from the Russian word for the country, Rossiia, was originally established as a fur hunting and trading post. An original band of 25 Russian’s and 80 Alaskan natives sailed down from the Russian settlements in Sitka and began hunting sea otters for pelts An active trading settlement with the local Pomo nation became a thriving community for the next 30 years. Most of the structures in the fort were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake however the original 1836 home of commander Rotchev survived and still stands.

We were fascinated to learn that perhaps the earliest documented marine management may have taken place at Fort Ross. As the settlement hunted sea otter, it became evident that the hunting was rapidly depleting the population of otter. At the same time it was becoming clear that the hostile climate in Alaska prevented establishing enough agricultural activities there to feed the substantial Russian settlement, and the cost of supplying the settlements from Russia was prohibitive as well. So, Fort Ross stopped hunting otter to allow the population to rebound, and began farming to supply the Alaskan settlements.

We learned that the settlement was not as successful as hoped. The soil in the area was not productive to farming however the settlement did raise stock and supplied meat and dairy to the Alaskan settlements. After 30 years the Russian government decided to abandon Fort Ross and ordered the commander to sell what he could. Interestingly he sold everything to John Sutter, the guy who launched the gold rush several years later.

We found an unlikely gem in Point Arena. B Bryan Preserve touts itself as Africa on the Mendocino Coast, and we totally agree.

Dr. Frank and Judy Mello had always been wildlife enthusiasts. In 1998 they founded the Preserve on family land in Mississippi for study and conservation of endangered antelope species, Sable Antelope, Roan Antelope and the Greater Kudu.

In 2004 an opportunity for Judy opened in Frank’s old stomping grounds in Northern California and they purchased this 100 acre ranch. Since then they expanded their hooved stock to include other endangered species. Their Preserve now is home to Plains, Grevy’s and Hartman’s Mountain Zebra. They also have 5 absolutely beautiful Rothschild Giraffe’s. Rothschild’s are so endangered that this tiny preserve has nearly 1% of the entire population of the species on this planet!

We felt like we were back in Botswana. The Preserve’s naturalist was actually our personal guide. She bundled us up into a classic Range Rover that looked like it may actually have come from the Kalahari and we headed out to mingle with all the animals.

This place is really magical. With the exception of the Plains Zebra, each of these magnificent creatures is severely endangered. The Mello’s have arranged to participate in selective breeding programs to help to continue these species. They don’t work with captive zoos but rather work with other preserves that maintain non-captive living environments. It was really special to see these wild creatures roaming the land.

Talk to you soon!