9/4/2017 - Around Brookings

Monday - Today we scheduled a day off, sort of.  We had a few errands, so we drove around Brookings, and across the bridge into Harbor -- car wash, groceries, post office, etc.  We drove past one really pretty purple bush, don't know what kind.

The smoke is bad again today.  Joe turned to drive out to Loeb State Park, a sister park to the one we are in, but closer to the fire.  In fact, I think they are using it as a fire staging area.  We only went down that road a little over a mile before we came to the road-closed barricades.

We drove through an azaela park on our way back, but none of them were in bloom, so we came back to the camper and rested, took a little nap, then decided to finally go down to walk the beach, even with the smoke.  Driving through the campground, we spotted a deer munching in the brush in an empty campsite.

At ground level at the camper, the smoke seemed a little better, but it really collects in the valleys and beaches.  Makes everything a really eerie color.  We picked up another bag of rocks and driftwood, got our feet wet in the cold surf.

There were some kids playing in a tidepool, which was just a little warmer than the surf, but kids don't seem to have a built-in thermostat when it comes to water.  One dad was covering up his son with sand, which was probably warmer.

These kids were building a raft, using seaweed as rope.  The little girl saw us picking up rocks, and brought me over a piece of seaglass she had just found.  Joe had just found a piece too, so we added 2 pieces to our collection.  There's supposed to be a seaglass beach ahead of us, so I'm hoping to add a lot to my collection when we get there.

Although the sun was still shining (it was about 5:00), it wasn't putting out much heat, and it was a really strange color through the smoke. It was in the 90s in town, but on the beach, it was about 70 degrees.

We saw a few tents of driftwood that had been built -- lots of driftwood on these Oregon beaches -- but this "den" looked like a good idea, I'm guessing someone might have spent the night in it.  I would love to haul all this driftwood home with me, but it just doesn't fit, so I have to settle for just a few pieces.

 I finally got my toes in the Pacific -- but I didn't leave them long. Actually, I wasn't even sure I was going to, but a wave sneaked up on me and got me wet, so then I walked in the surf just a little.

We drove back into town for dinner, then made it an early night.  We are doing a jetboat ride on the Rogue River tomorrow, back up the road 25 miles at Gold Beach.  See, I knew that was going to be in my future.  So, it's an early-to-bed, early-to-rise night.  We have to be there at 8:30 for our 6 3/4 hour (104 miles) "Wilderness Whitewater" ride.  I hope I survive.

9/3/2017 - Prairie Creek Redwoods State Forest

Sunday - We had seen two flea markets (we thought) yesterday in Crescent City but didn't take the time to check them out, so our plan today was to drive back there (trying to escape the smoke) and see if they had a phone holder for Joe's new phone, and a new fanny pack for me (I don't think mine is going to make it home, even though I sewed the strap once at Joy's).  One of the flea markets was tents on the Fair Grounds right on the highway, but when we drove back to it, the tents were gone.  Apparently, it was a farmer's market, on Saturdays only.  So we drove back up the highway to the junkie flea market, but they didn't have anything we needed, so we headed on down the road.  The smoke seemed to be worse today.  In fact, Joe checked the news later and we in Brookings had gone from "unhealthy" air to "very unhealthy".  Sure hope it improves tomorrow.

Our drive to Crescent City takes us through Smith River, California, just across the state line, and we learned that it is the "lily bulb capital of the world."  We did see one field that looked like lily flowers blooming, but we did not see lots of these fields.  They must be off the highway a bit.  We may try to stop here and learn more about that tomorrow.

We stopped at one pull-off and saw a pretty beach, but the smoke made it less than inviting.

Our first adventure of the day was in Klamath, California, the Tour Thru Tree, a redwood that, for $5, you can actually drive through.  The car in front of us scraped its side, so it is pretty tight.  But ole truckdriver Joe made it through unscathed!

We had lunch across the road, then continued on down the highway to the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Klamath, a small Indian community, has golden bears on each end of the bridge there.

 Although Hwy 101 is in the midst of the redwoods, these scenic drives off the highway are awesome.  We took the ten-mile Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway Drive.

In addition to the tall, healthy trees, even some of the stumps are pretty amazing.  This one was called "Goose Pen," and it explained that farmers used them sometimes to corral livestock. I can imagine kids would have a great time playing in these old trees!

We took a hike and of course I took too many pictures.  Twins.

 These trees often grow in "groves," and sometimes 5-6 trees grow together at the bottom, resulting in a massive tree!

These trees have heavy bark, but sometimes we see a hint of the red in the redwood, especially when the sun hits them.

Our hike to the Corkscrew Tree took us past Prairie Creek.  The sign said sometimes there is wildlife seen here (cougars, bears, etc.), but we didn't come across anything.

There was no sign at the Corkscrew Tree (the sign was out on the road) but we think we found it, and another lady agreed.

 Me hiking back along the road.

Back in the car, we drove along until we saw "the Big Tree" sign.  It's hard to figure out how they designate just one of these giants as the "big tree," but we hiked over to it, then did a little Circle hike here too.

Next we came upon another little side road (dirt), so we made another drive.

These forests have lots of undergrowth, but ferns are the most prevalent.

 Nice grove with sun filtering through (and smoke).  I like these pictures with the sun, I may try enlarging them and see what they look like, maybe have them printed on metal.

Here is the Remembrance Grove. 

The road took us past an elk meadow, near the Prairie Creek campground where it says in the book that elk roam freely through, but we didn't find any elk here.  Little early in the day for elk to be grazing, I guess.

We started back north, I had a little map that said there was another elk meadow in Crescent City, but we missed the turn-off on the south end of town.  However, on the north end, we found the connecting road, and made our way back to it. We were headed west, toward the ocean, but there was farm ground back in here, lots of cattle, including a herd of the Ankole-Watusi cows like the ones we used to see near John's house in Florida.  There were even a couple of babies.  These cattle were once known as the "cattle of kings," and they have awesome horns.

As we looked across the road, we FINALLY found our elk!  Joe found a farmers lane to drive back (I'm sure it was for authorized personnel only,") so we got to watch them a little while.  They were totally unconcerned about us.  Interestingly, they all seemed to be bulls.

As we continued back on the main road, we passed a dairy with individual houses for the calves.  I had not seen anything like this before.

Our car was filthy, between the dust and the smoke.  We drove under an irrigation spray going west, and Joe timed it to miss the water.  But after we turned around and came back on the same road, he decided to take advantage of it.  It probably made it worse instead of better, though.

Back on the 101, I finally got pictures of the Belgium belted cows we had seen before, although it was dusk and a little hard to see.  For some reason, I am fascinated by these cows.

We stopped in town and had a bite for supper, then finally got back to the RV, about 8:40.  We missed tonight's ranger talk, which was on the subject of tide pools.  It was still smoky at the campground, and there doesn't seem to be any relief yet -- we need a shift in the wind.

We put some miles on the car today, but we had a good time.  We are getting to really absorb the redwoods, not just drive past, so that has been good.  I hope to make it down to the beach on Monday, hopefully with a little less smoke!