Day 61 – We were up at 7:30 a.m.; 58 degrees, cloudy. The forecast had changed again, rain later in the day rather than all day; we can do some more sight-seeing. The power went out in the RV; the sign at the campground host site said they were closed, so we called the phone number for Humboldt County Parks & Recreation. It said they were closed due to the Veteran’s Day Holiday. Oh, it’s Veteran’s Day? We never know what day it is. Oh well. We left a note at the fee station, not knowing if anyone would see it, & left for a drive inland.
We’d read about some BLM campsites inland off Route 299. We thought we would check them out & also go into the mountains to Willow Creek, a town that claims to have sightings of their very own Bigfoot. Early on, their was a yellow flashing-light sign that the road was now open but there may be delays. Hmmm, we didn’t know it had been closed.
This was a beautiful drive through some heavily forested, remote areas, into the mountains. Eventually we reached the delay. It was at the place where a forest fire had recently gone thru, destroying almost everything in its wake. Mile after mile of blackened hills & burnt trees. Road work was still being done to clean it up. Later we reached the turnout for the Lacks Creek Management Area, a drive on a winding dirt road into a rugged area where BLM camping was allowed. Since we both needed to find a restroom before going off into the wild, we drove on, deciding to do this drive on our way back. We drove through Willow Creek and did not see Bigfoot – too bad, we had the camera ready. Found a restroom, did our business, and since we’d already driven this far & the scenery was beautiful, we decided to drive on, making this drive into a long loop drive back to Highway 101. Little did we know that this drive was much longer than we’d realized. Pictures taken at different places along the entire journey are below:
280 miles!!
Route 299, the road we were on, winds through the mountains for almost 100 miles until it reaches CA Interstate 5 near Redding, the major north/south freeway through the State. We turned on to Route 3 going south, then west, until it reached Route 36. We took the 36 back to Highway 101 below Fortuna & Eureka. Along the way, we climbed higher. There were many rivers & streams. We passed by several small towns with Old West themes. Turned out we were in Gold Country. We saw “fools gold” in them thar hills, LOL. No really, instead of the rich reddish soil & the redwoods, we encountered a drier environment with sandy soil and gold streaks running through the rocks in the hills. Once we’d thought it would be great to camp in these remote areas but after driving them in the Honda, we knew there was no way we could get the RV up here. Through much of the drive, we saw signs indicating that chains were required at certain times. Though paved, the roads were narrow & winding. After turning onto Route 36, we encountered an area where they were working on the roads. There had been many landslides. Driving was treacherous, and at one point I was sure we’d be pushed off the road when a truck coming in the opposite direction barely allowed us enough room to get by. Heart in my throat, adrenaline pumping, I was glad when we got out of this section of road repair!
As we began travelling west & downhill out of the mountains, the road was in better shape & we could relax some. It was raining a little, on and off, and it was beginning to get dark. We stopped at Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park (the 8th Park on our list of 49 Redwood State Parks to visit).
Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park, Carlotta, CA
We drove through & checked out sites, and stopped to talk to the ranger. There were only two sites occupied; they’re open all year. There were only 30 campsites; maybe ten were big enough for us. A beautiful Park, nestled deep in the redwoods on the Van Duzen River, they had hiking trails thru several redwood groves, a Day Use Area, and a very nice Visitor’s Center with a ranger on duty. Maximum stay is 14 days. no hook-ups, no dump station (we’re finding this no dump station thing pretty common in CA – it’s very inconvenient). $32 per night with senior discount (and no hook-ups) but it was a wonderful, intimate campground with all those redwood trees.
A few miles further we saw the sign for the Van Duzen County Park, “Swimmer’s Delight” on the Van Duzen River, & the sign said camping was allowed. We turned in, following a long road through the trees. It was almost dark & it was hard to see the campsites we were supposed to be checking out. But we could tell that there were at least 5 campsites that might be long enough for us but they appeared quite narrow. They did have water & electric hook-ups on those sites. No sewer; no dump station. Camping fees were the same as the State Park, and those 5 sites, at least, had some hook-ups. Not as beautiful with all the redwoods, we thought at the time because it was dark, but worth looking at it again when we could see better.
Fifteen miles later we got to Highway 101. We arrived back at our campground, Big Lagoon, when it was dark, more than eight hours later. We’d forgotten all about turning around and checking out Lacks Creek for BLM campsites, but we were very happy with the two campgrounds that we did find on Route 36, & now we know where we’ll stay next. We were delighted to find that the electricity was back on at the campground. The girls were happily ensconced on their heated pads.