The Redwoods and Klamath

Heading from southern Oregon to northern California was easily my favorite day of driving on the whole trip. Just beautiful everywhere. I did have to laugh that I saw my first burned out trees about three minutes after passing into California, but the forests are just absolutely gorgeous. Before hitting my campsite in Klamath I stopped off at a vista and then relaxed a bit at the campsite. Nothing too crazy but I figured I’d get rested up before doing a bit of a longer hike the next day in the Redwoods. After getting settled in and wandering around the campsite for a bit I turned in early so I could cook for myself a bit in the morning before heading out.

Hiking through the Redwoods was easily one of the standouts of the trip, but unfortunately I didn’t feel like I was able to get many good pictures… It’s kind of hard to capture just how incredible those trees are by taking the same picture over and over, but I absolutely loved taking James Irvine Trail through the redwoods to the beach.

Once I got to the beach I was more or less alone, so I got changed into swim trunks and tried out the ocean surf. I was not prepared whatsoever for how strong those waves were and found myself somewhat inelegantly dashed against the rocks, but it was a blast either way.

I had originally planned to do a loop, but since I ended up spending almost a couple hours just enjoying the sun on the beach I ended up just coming back out the way I came to save a bit of time. Still about a 10 hour hike all in all.

Once I got back to the campsite I had more or less planned on calling it an evening, but around 8 PM a big group of folks rolled up to the campsite next to me. A bit later a guy walked in on foot and yelled, “Hey! They put all the Indians in the back of the campgrounds! What’s that about?” After a bit of eavesdropping it sounded like most of the folks were from about 30 miles north of there, and were visiting to check in on their cousin’s fish site. I honestly didn’t even know that they still got salmon down there, so I went over and introduced myself.

They were super friendly, and shared some freshly grilled king salmon with me, and then eventually even invited me to go check their fish camp out. I eagerly (and probably somewhat stupidly) agreed and we were off in the dark headed for the river, where we rowed our way around for about 15 minutes across to the other side.

I was actually very surprised to see that the net setup they had was super familiar and similar to what we’ve got up north, although their gear was a bit deeper and looser than I’d have expected. We picked out a few kings and they even had me clean one (probably verifying I wasn’t completely full of shit in claiming to have fished for a decade) and I had a blast just talking with everyone. They caught a lamprey (somehow) and showed me how to clean and cook it.

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Probably the standout evening of the whole trip and a night I’ll remember for a very long time. I’m not sure what buying property in that area is like, but between the redwoods, the beach, the actual space from the rest of civilization and the salmon, I think I might try to buy some land out there someday.

San Fran and Yosemite

After a few hours of sleep I headed out from Klamath in the morning and made my way down to San Francisco. I started off on Highway 1 to get a bit more of a scenic drive, but after two or three hours of tight downhill turns I actually got a little carsick and opted out for the main highway down there. Visiting family in San Fran was a blast, and I was able to stock up on assorted teeth, which was something I’d been running low on in my travels.

I did a fair amount of meandering through San Francisco just to try and get a feel for the place as a potential relocation option, and considering that the local papers said they were enduring “aggressive drizzle” I’d say the place is pretty pleasant.

After getting a bit of a break from the road in San Fran I started off for Yosemite. I wasn’t able to get a permit for Half Dome, but I was able to get a decent day of hiking in regardless. Yosemite was beautiful but also struck me with a sort of a strange feeling hiking around the mountains. I got in a little later than I’d hoped but I had still resolved to go see Nevada Falls and Mirror Lake, so I hauled ass on the way up to the falls to try and make up for lost time.

Once I got up to the falls, I stopped and took a bit of a food break, where a guy actually came over and introduced himself saying that I was “an inspiration” in how fast I made my way up there. We talked for a bit and it turned out that he’d actually hiked the Pacific Coast Trail and so I felt like that complement carried even a bit more weight after that. I monkeyed around a bit on the rocks afterwards fishing for decent photos, but I was also anxious to get down to Mirror Lake so I didn’t stay overlong. In retrospect, I should have stayed longer, as I quickly discover upon reaching Mirror Lake that it is a seasonal lake, and this time of years it’s a bit more of a glacial sandpit than anything.

After a pretty wearying day of hiking, I made my way back to camp and sat down the last MRE in a case that a friend of mine had given to me. I was probably looking pretty miserable, because a very nice pair of ladies came over and asked if I’d like to join them in sharing some of their cooking. They claimed they had made too much, but I’m also fairly certain that I was looking pretty raggedy by that point. Either way, I was extremely grateful to be enjoying good food, good beer, and good conversation aside a campfire when I probably would have just been pissed off eating chili mac on my own in the cold and dark if left to my own devices. They were even kind enough the next morning to treat me to a very swanky breakfast of smoked Pacific salmon on bagels with cream cheese and capers. If there had been mimosas I’m pretty sure there would have been a $50 price tag to go with it at most restaurants. After having been spoiled a bit for two meals and resolving to not even look at another MRE in the near future if I didn’t absolutely have to, I headed out east for Mammoth.

Mammoth/Crowley Lake/Red Rock

I stopped off first at a place that the Google machine referred to as “Wild Willy’s Wet Hot Springs”, and despite the ridiculous name, I found it to be quite pleasant. I was also pleased to learn that the locals apparently have a different name for it, which somehow restored a tiny bit of my faith in humanity. The springs were great, but also a bit crowded for my taste (there were five whole other human beings in the area), so I made my way out to see the Crowley Stone Columns.

This is maybe the second destination I should have done a bit more research on before visiting, because my poor car couldn’t make it down the road the entire way. It’s not terrible, but there was a rough uphill section that my poor two-wheel drive couldn’t handle, so I ended up taking the last mile or so on foot. Once I got there though the columns were amazing. One of two destinations where there wasn’t even one other human being in sight, and absolutely worth the short walk to get there. I took my time soaking in the heat and the delicious quiet of the place before heading back uphill with hopes that my car had remained unmolested in my absence.

After a night at a pretty unremarkable campground in the desert, I went to see the Red Rock Canyon State Park south of there. I’ve certainly never been anywhere like this before, but there was a couple from Georgia that I could hear pretty much the whole time even when they were literally about a half a mile away, and I could feel my hermit-like misanthropy building as they played some shitty country/rap hybrid on a beat pill. They were nice enough in person, but I made sure to slash their tires on the way out for good measure (not really).

About a five minute drive away I got to the second neatest campground of the whole trip, and turned in for the evening a bit earlier once again, this time prepping for a break in Las Vegas, and then a drive to the Grand Canyon.