After we visited Crater Lake, we new our next trip had to be the Redwoods. Truth be told, ever since we purchased our national parks pass earlier this summer, we're very excited to visit as many national parks as possible. We already have our next national parks trips planned for next year.
This trip however, we found to be so diverse. If you've never been to the Redwood forest before, the actual redwood trees and ferns and ground floor ecosystem is very similar if not exact. Yet, the climates vary so vastly. The northern most section of the Redwoods is dark & gloomy and wet & chilly. Whereas the more south you head (towards Humboldt), you find the climate sunnier and warmer. It's so fascinating. And there really is a lot more creepy, crawly nature on the ground floor; you notice more so when hiking through the Redwood forest than say Yosemite. As much as you want to look up into the canopies wondering how the water gets all the way to the tops of the trees, you do find yourself looking down a lot so you don't accidentally step on something you're going to have to wipe off the bottom of your shoes later. Or maybe that's just how I feel about banana slugs which Steve only slightly makes fun of me for.
This trip also proved to be another learning experience for us. While we knew buying a 30-year old westfalia would have it's occassional fixes, we were kind of hoping that this particular one would hold up at least through the end of the year. Don't misunderstand, we've been very fortunate. But it does make for a more difficult trip when your shifter breaks underneath. Luckily, Steve could bandage it and could still shift into gear, but it was like trying to move the car physically down and over to the right. Not ideal. Despite the challenges, we still had a great time and since we took the dog with us on this trip, I'm also sure the visitors parked next to us to hike a short trail will never forget us or our trip either since Cooper decided to jump into their car when it was time to go instead of ours. Oy vay.
We also got lucky and discovered a affordable camp site at the very tip of Samoa, CA overlooking the bay to one side and the ocean to the other. For $20 plus $2 per dog, it was quiet (always a positive) and equipped with real toilets, showers, and fire pits. Definitely some place I would recommend and use again.
So, where do we head next? I don't know, but we do have a few more fixes (like the starter and the clutch and the faucet) to fix before we can consider ourselves road worthy. In the meantime, we'll be dreaming and planning for our next trip to...?