HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY! WE HOPE YOU HAD A FANTASTIC DAY! SEE YOU SOON. (We’ll let you know the exact dates as soon as we know when we’ll get there. It’s hard to say right now since we’re making our way very slowly south, but a guess would be last few days in Dec. or first few days in Jan., somewhere in that range. We can’t wait to see everyone!)
Day 84 – We were up at 7:45 a.m., raining lightly (rained all night), 39 degrees. It seems like a good day to change campgrounds, having adequately covered most of this area, but we sure would like to go to that restaurant again! Last night there was another camper here & someone in one of the cabins, but no one close to us. This is such a beautiful Park; people are missing out on this one. We’ve decided to go to the coast & north, above Fort Bragg, to MacKerricher State Park. There will be more people, certainly, but there’s so much to do in that area.
46 miles
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that our waiter at The Bewildered Pig was telling us how much he loved it here in the Anderson Valley. He was from Washington state, above Olympia, and was looking forward to going home over Christmas to see his family & friends. He said this area offered all he loved about Washington plus less rain & more sun, without becoming too hot or too dry. But, he said that recently when they had the raging fires in the Ukiah area & particularly in Santa Rosa, it was just awful; and everyone felt so grateful because it brought home how easily it could happen here. He said he woke up in the morning, not knowing about the fires & the sky was black with smoke, the sun was a dark red ball in the sky, partially hidden by the smoke. It was eerie. Santa Rosa is about 60 miles from here, Ukiah just beyond the hills.
Hendy Woods State Park, 18599 Philo-Greenwood Road, Philo, CA 95466, (707) 937-5804 or (707) 895-3141, http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=438. Check-in time was 1 p.m.; check-out time was noon. This is one of the better State Parks we’ve encountered. Many available hikes through old-growth redwood forests & the Navarro River runs by it. Maybe because it’s out of the coastal crowded areas, it was basically empty for our entire stay. People did visit the Day Use Area though, to walk to the River or take one of the trails through the woods. Very well-maintained, very clean, campsites nicely spaced from one another. No hook-ups but there is a dump station & water is available at spigots throughout the Park. Only 15 or so sites were open off-season. We walked through one of the closed sections. It was similar to this section. Literature says they can handle 35 foot RV’s; this was true, and even the tent sites were nice & roomy. We fit nicely at our site, #27, and there were redwood trees all around us, plus lots of room & privacy to relax outside if we chose to do so. The State Park is just outside Philo and surrounded by wineries & fruit trees, in the beautiful Anderson Valley. Twenty miles from the Pacific Ocean on Highway 128. $40 per night minus $2 per night senior discount. Parks are getting more expensive the further south we go. We absolutely would stay here again.
We departed after dumping tanks at 11:25 a.m. It was sunny, 45 degrees, very nice out after the rain. The drive from the campground, through the redwood trees, to the Ocean, was beautiful with the sunlight filtering through the trees. When Route 128 met Highway 1 at the Ocean, we headed north along the coast, past Mendocino & Fort Bragg.
CA-128, Philo, CA
We arrived at MacKerricher State Park, about 5 miles above Fort Bragg, at 12:40 p.m. At first the campground seemed very crowded and we said, “Uh-oh”, but the campsite we’d scouted out previously was still vacant & we grabbed it. Site #107.
It turned out the reason why the campground was so full was that the road to the Day Use Area, and the parking lot there at the Pacific Ocean, were temporarily closed due to extremely high tide. We could hear the sound of the Ocean roaring as we set up camp. People were re-directed to Park in the campground, rather than at the Day Use Area, so this made the campground very busy. Our campsite was chosen because it was big enough for the two vehicles & there weren’t campsites close to it. We were happy to get it. We unpacked, set up, had lunch, & relaxed. It was 55 degrees & sunny when we arrived. And although it got windy later in the afternoon, the girls were in heaven with the sunlight on the dashboard. End of Week 12, Trip #3.
Java
Gracie and Luna
Pixie
We look forward to seeing you!