Day 8, 9, 10: Sunday 6/21 – Tuesday 6/23: The Redwoods, CA

Day 8, 9, 10:  Sunday 6/21 – Tuesday 6/23: The Redwoods, CA

Day 10:  Tuesday  6/23

We went back to Gold Bluff Beach and Fern Canyon to backtrack our steps on the beach to search for Andrea’s phone.   SARAH FOUND IT ON THE SAND ON THE BEACH!!!  Yeah.  After that, we leisurely hiked Fern Canyon again (Sarah and Ryan’s favorite hike—possibly every).  It was great to look for the little stuff and we found cool things:  a 3 inch lamprey (eel-like creature), 2 frogs, many trout including one feeding on flies and hiding, and two tiny trout fighting each other.

Kids in Fern Canyon, Redwoods, CA

Andrea on tree log, Fern Canyon, Redwoods, CA

Mossy trees and narrow fun trails, Fern Canyon, CA 

Mossy tree, Redwoods, CA

Fern Canyon, CA 

Our campsite--look how thick the trees are--and tall

We’re now at starbucks in Crescent City about to head back to our campground under the redwoods.  But we have no wifi there.  Another fun day on our trip—especially seeing Andrea calm with her phone back.

DAY 9:  Monday, 6/22

On Monday morning we drove to Enderts Beach and walked a short way down to the beach.  Along the way we found some wild blackberries, which we enjoyed eating. It was low tide, so we walked out to the tide pools and searched for all kinds of interesting animals.  Sarah even found a nudibranch, which is a really pretty sea slug that Sam and Andrea love to find when they go scuba diving, so we were impressed with her find!  Meanwhile, Ryan was busy climbing/scrambling all the rocks in the area, which he called “rock climbers’ heaven.” 

Eating wild blackberries, Enderts Beach, Redwoods

Enderts Beach  near Crescent City, CA

We then headed down to Prairie Creek State Park and immediately started looking for Elk.  At the visitor center, they told us there was a herd down by Gold Bluffs Beach, so we ended up driving the CRV down a windy dirt road through groves of redwoods over some small stream crossings to get to the parking lot for the beach.  We walked on the beach to a spot close to where a big elk herd was grazing, and we counted about 15 elk, including a few babies.  It was an amazing experience!  As we watched from a safe distance, the elk started heading our direction and we decided to give them space and headed the other direction, back to the parking lot.  We then walked to the Fern Canyon trail, which was also amazing. This is a must-do hike (only 0.6 miles r/t as well).  It is a 50 foot high narrow canyon covered with different shades of dark green and light green ferns.  There were fallen logs to climb on, and a stream flowing down the middle that we criss-crossed many times.  It was like a natural playground, and the kids absolutely loved it!  It was probably the only hike we’ve ever done where Sam and Andrea wanted to turn and head back before the kids were ready to.  The kids just wanted to keep going and going.  If feels like you’re in a tropical rainforest.  The icing on the cake was a huge bull elk right at the end of the trail eating grass about 50 feet away!  He had huge 6-point antlers, and he just kept eating, looking up at us from time to time, without any concerns.   It was an amazing day, with just one problem – somewhere along the way Andrea lost her cell phone.  Tomorrow we will go back to look for it.  So not only do we have limited access to wireless internet, but now we have only 1 cell phone.  Bummer.

Elk Herd at Gold Bluffs Beach, Redwoods, CA

1000+ lb Bull Elk near Fern Canyon, Redwoods, CA

Day 8:  Sunday, 6/21

We drove from Hat Creek to our next destination – the Redwoods.  On the way, we stopped at Burney-MacArthur Falls, and we were so glad we did!  We walked along a 1.5 mile loop down to an incredible waterfall!  We felt like we were in the tropics with the beautiful blue pool of water at the base of the many falls.  Sam and Sarah spent a lot of time trying to capture the beauty through pictures from all different angles.  This is definitely worth stopping for. 

Burney MacArthur Falls 30 minutes north of Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

"Penguin Boy" freezing in 45 degree water :)

When we got to our campsite in Jedediah Smith campground in the Redwoods, the kids got out of the motorhome and immediately started climbing on the fallen huge tree trunks bordering our campsite.  They found a large banana slug within 10 minutes of exploring.  We love the huge redwood trees that are right in our campsite!

Jedediah Smith State Park, camping under/between 3 HUGE redwood trees :)