Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Today we had a fairly long journey from Klamath, California to Cloverdale, California (about 273 miles). The day started out foggy and cloudy at 54 degrees, but would soon become sunny and a warm 88 degrees.
We left Klamath and passed by the sign to the "Tour Thru Tree." At the northern end of the Redwood Country near Klamath, the Tour-Thru Tree what you'd expect from a giant 800-year old living thing with a road passing through it.
(Shown above is a map showing the areas of the Redwood National Park.)
We ran into some road construction just before the Newton B. Drury Parkway.
We took Exit 765 toward the Newton B. Drury Parkway, and continued to follow the signs toward the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
The above storyboard told us about the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. First conceived in 1909, the Redwood Highway extends from San Francisco's Golden Gate to Grants Pass, Oregon. The original route passed through nearly two million acres of the world's tallest forests, ancestral Indian lands, and dozens of small logging and ranching communities. Over the past 100 years, the Redwood Highway has carried logging trucks and moving vans, scientists and sightseers - and you - past these same big trees.
In 1918, Save the Redwoods League was established to protect ancient redwoods along the route. With the support of local communities, school children, women's clubs, private individuals, and the timber companies themselves, tracts purchased by the League became the foundation for California's redwood state parks.
The road went right by some very large redwood trees curving back and forth as we went.
Along California’s rocky north coast, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park offers sandy beaches and open meadows grazed by herds of Roosevelt elk. Ferns appear to flow like a green waterfall down steep canyon walls, and old-growth redwoods stand in primeval majesty. Summer brings morning fog, which usually burns off by midday. Winter rains bring needed water to the redwoods and ferns.
Native California Indians Yurok people have lived in and around today’s Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park for generations. The temperate climate and abundant wildlife of the north coast promoted a culturally rich way of life that continues today. Yurok people built villages of redwood planks along major waterways. Traveling by dugout canoe, they fished for salmon. They also hunted elk, deer, and other small game and gathered plants.
In 1850, when gold was found near today’s Fern Canyon, the Yurok people were overwhelmed by an influx of settlers. Conflict over the land took many forms. The native people were hunted down; any who survived the attacks were forced onto reservations. Newly introduced diseases further decimated their numbers.
Today, the Yurok have made a remarkable recovery. As the most populous tribe in California, nearly 5,500 Yurok live in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Tribal members are building a future by revitalizing their ancestral language and traditions based on customs of the past.
The first marine explorers along the Humboldt-Del Norte coast were Spaniard Bartolome Ferrelo in 1543, Englishman Sir Francis Drake in 1579, and Spaniard Sebastian Vizcaíno in 1602. The first shore landing, near Trinidad Head, was made by Bruno Hezeta and Juan Bodega in 1775. In May 1850, miners crossing today’s Gold Bluffs Beach saw bits of gold in the sand. Removing the gold proved too laborious, so the prospectors moved on.
However, settlers needed raw materials to build their homes and towns. By the 1890s, several short-line railroads and steam donkeys had helped create a boom in commercial logging. Lumber quickly became the west’s top industry—Eureka alone had nine sawmills. By the end of the 19th century, farms, ranches, and dairies had been developed along the north coast. Today, several of these historical dairies remain a vital part of the north coast’s economy.
Between 1880 and the early 1900s, thousands of acres of old-growth redwoods had disappeared; in many areas, the trees had been cut to the bare ground. Alarmed, conservationists established the Save the Redwoods League in 1918 to protect the groves, obtaining donations from lumber companies and concerned citizens. The League and the State of California were able to buy thousands of acres adjoining Prairie Creek. By 1923, some of the grandest old-growth tree stands on the planet had been acquired by the State.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a national work program, began during the Great Depression of the 1930s. CCC members built themselves a camp at Elk Prairie, where they lived while building the present visitor center, trail system, campground, and picnic facilities.
In October 1968, the National Park Service (NPS) created Redwood National Park in Del Norte and Humboldt counties. On September 5, 1980, the United Nations designated Redwood National and State Parks as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.
In 1994, NPS and California State Parks agreed to co-manage four parks: Del Norte Coast, Prairie Creek and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks, and Redwood National Park. Both entities agreed that managing the parks together would ensure commitment to greater protection and preservation of more than 105,000 acres of redwood forest.
Coast redwoods have existed along the north coast for about 20 million years. Everpresent coastal fog meets about one-third of their annual water needs. Experts fear that Earth’s changing climate endangers the redwoods’ survival as temperatures increase and coastal fog diminishes. The redwoods and the “soil mats” of leaf litter that collect in the redwood canopy support a variety of other plants and animals. Coast Douglas-fir also grows among the Sitka spruce, tanoaks, oaks, rhododendrons, and azaleas.
Once teetering on the brink of extinction, the Roosevelt elk now thrive in their habitat. During the elks’ mating season—six weeks from August to October—the air resounds with the calls of bulls challenging each other for mating rights. Bull elk and cows with calves can be extremely dangerous. Approaching elk is not only hazardous, it is also against state law.
We first stopped at the Big Tree Wayside in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Located in Prairie Creek State Park and just off the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, it is an easy walk to stunning old-growth redwood trees.
The above storyboard told us that we were at the parking area for The Big Tree, along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway -- a ten-mile ride winding through one of the largest remaining old-growth coast redwood forests in the world. It encouraged us to take a trip through time. Coast redwoods are not only the tallest trees on earth, but among the oldest. We were encouraged as we explored, to consider the changes these 2,000-year-old giants have witnessed in their lifetimes. We are all a part of the continuing story!
(The map above shows where we are on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway -- at The Big Tree.)
The above storyboard told us about living legends. A walk among the redwoods may feel like stepping into the primeval past. For good reason as fossil evidence suggests that ancestral redwoods thrived across the nothern hemisphere during the time of dinosaurs -- in the Jurasstic period over 145 million years ago. As Earth's climate gradually changed and many other plants and animals went extinct, redwoods survived and evolved into species adapted to distinct geographic regions. Today, coast redwoods grow naturally only along the Pacific Coast from Big Sur in California to extreme southernmost Oregon. Only here are the conditions right for growing the world's tallest -- and some of its oldest -- living things.
The redwood trees are truly magnificent here. As described by John Steinbeck in recounting his travels in his book, "Travels with Charley: In Search of America:
“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”
The walk to the Big Tree is less than 200 yards from the parking area. We followed the trail to the left that had some informational signage on our way to the Big Tree. The funny thing about this short trail was that we were surrounded by many absolutely massive trees all the way to see the one tree called "Big Tree". I had to stop a few times along the way to take photos of the behemoths.
The above storyboard told us about The Big Tree and The Big Tree Trail we were embarking upon. The Big Tree is part of the 160-acre Russ Memorial Grove. The grove is name after Joseph Russ, whose family donated the land to Save the Redwoods League in 1923. It was the first memorial grove in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
(Shown above is Mel on The Big Tree trail.)
Not only can you see some truly spectacular trees, but this spot is unique in that it is also home to numerous ferns along the path. The mild weather combined with the flourishing plant life makes this area ideal for the abundant wildlife that called this state park home . . . from birds and bats to elk and black bears -- nature is thriving here.
As we continued along The Big Tree trail, the storyboard below told us about the forest for the trees. Our journey along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway followed the historic Redwood Highway. When the highway reached this area in the early 1920s, a new era of automobile-based tourism was booming. Then, just as today, iconic Big Tree was an important stop for travelers.
Awed by the sheer size and beauty of ancient or "old-growth” coast redwoods like Big Tree, many tourists were unaware of the industrial logging activities occurring outside the forested highway corridor. This façade of protection obscured a disturbing reality — by the end of the 20th century, 95% of the trees within the original two-million acre range would be cut down.
What's in a Name? What is a "big tree?" At over 20 feet in diameter and nearly 300 feet tall, Big Tree is certainly a conspicuous specimen, as its name implies. But we saw larger and taller trees during our visit. Indeed, Big Tree is just one charismatic part of a forest of big trees. Well-meaning people continue to name individual trees, whether thought to be the tallest, widest, oldest, or because of other unique characteristics. As named trees gain fame, people seek them out in greater numbers. In their common desire to connect with these enchanting giants, they unwittingly damage their shallow roots by getting too close.
We walked under a canopy of trees that seemed to have gracefully covered the walking trail to The Big Tree.
And we have now arrived at the massive Big Tree! We get our first look at it below.
A viewing platform and interpretive signage is located by the "Big Tree". It is estimated that this tree is more than 1,500 years old, however many other equally impressive trees can be found on nearby trails. This massive Big Tree stands over 290 feet tall with a circumference of 75 feet. The park service has built a wonderful viewing platform, so that we could get up-close to this giant redwood safely without disturbing its extended root system.
(Shown above is Mel hugging The Big Tree.)
(Shown above is Mel in front of The Big Tree.)
Big Tree is enormously big as the sign showing the statistics of The Big Tree attest. The older trees in the area have branches that are big enough to support other plants, so there is an entire ecosystem high above in the trees.
The above signpost directs tourists to other big trees in the area.
The above storyboard told us about the beauty of age. Big Tree has never been dated by scientists, so how old is it? Redwoods, like humans, grow more complex and interesting as they age. Big Tree's height and girth, and its maze of broken and regrown appendages, seem to suggest it may be one of the oldest trees in the forest.
The above storyboard told us about how the redwood came to be -- based on a Yurok legend. Before people arrived on earth, there was a race of divine spirit beings (Woge) who lived here, and who by their actions instituted the rules and behavior by which people and all other beings must live. When humans arrived, some Woge transformed themselves into certain animals, plants, and features on the landscape. The Creators, Pulekukwerek and Wohpekumeu, talked together and did not know how people would cross the river. They had no wood. Then suddenly one of the Woge grew up quickly there. He said, "That is what I came for. I can be used for homes. I can be used for boats. They will make boats of me and cross the river. I am called Keehl (Redwood)." Pulekukwerek said, "It is good that you grew so quickly. Now people will live properly."
(Looking up at The Big Tree.)
After we had seen all that we wanted of The Big Tree, we began our trek back to where our truck and camper were waiting for us.
(Shown above is Mel crossing under the canopy area on the trail back.)
Our next stop was at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, located just off the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway - in the heart of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The center was located inside a little wooden cabin. They had exhibits about the Civilian Conservation Corps and redwood ecology, as well as park information.
We walked inside the visitor center and I got my passport stamp for this location.
The above storyboard told us about the logging era that lasted into the 1990s, and how the redwood restoration process is currently happening.
While we were at the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, we saw a herd of Roosevelt elk. Roosevelt Elk frequent the large meadow directly in front of the Prairie Creek Visitor Center. Roosevelt Elk are the largest elk species found in North America.
There are seven herds in the Redwoods National and State Parks, with the largest making their home in the Bald Hills area. They may look majestic, but they can be a hazard during calving (spring) and breeding (fall) seasons. Rangers recommend keeping at least a 75-foot distance from them, and there are signs posted warning visitors not to approach or get too close to the elk!
(Shown above is a male bull Roosevelt elk that has rutted in the grass, pulling straw into his antlers.)
We drove along US Hwy 101 toward Eureka, and soon we were at Orick, California, which is a census-designated place situated on the banks of the Redwood Creek in Humboldt County, California. It is located 43 miles north of Eureka, at an elevation of 26 feet and a population of 357. O'rekw means "mouth of the river" in Yurok. Orick evolved from the original word. The Yurok people had 74 known villages in the area, O'rekw was one of five where jumping dances were held. At times spelled Or'eQw, it is important to note that there is no "Q" in the living Yurok people's alphabet.
Non-native settlers arrived with the Gold Rush, beginning in 1850 after the Josiah Gregg expedition discovered Humboldt Bay. Orick was settled not only for being on the way to mining claims in the Trinity, but for five beach sand mining claims fronting several miles of beach in the Gold Bluff District. The gold sands did not produce well, and the local gold rush was over by the 1870s. The first post office at Orick opened in 1887.
The earliest wagons traveled along the beaches, but in 1894 the county - that time covering both the modern Humboldt and Del Norte counties - finished a wagon road between Eureka and Crescent City. Lumbering removed the trees in and around Orick and dairy farmers utilized the flood plain. Until a bridge was built in 1903, Redwood Creek was always crossed by Swan's Ferry.
(Shown above is the original Orick Inn.)
Robert Swan was a local rancher and businessman who owned the ferry and the local store, which was bought out by native Eurekan Elmer L. Devlin, who built the original Orick Inn. Devlin's first building burned down in 1918 and was rebuilt by 1922. It was known for home cooked food, as well as hosting fishermen and notables including opera singer Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, actors Fred MacMurray and Ronald Colman and President Herbert Hoover.
In 1924, the Redwood Highway reached Orick and by the 1930s connected all the way from San Francisco to Oregon. Tourists arrived to see the giant redwoods. After World War II, Orick became a lumber and timber mill town in response to the post-war demand for timber. The business boomed for about fifteen years until closed by the consolidation of mills in larger towns and foundation of the Redwood National Park.
We drove by the Humboldt Lagoons State Park.
Humboldt Lagoons State Park is a California State Park on the Redwood Coast in Humboldt County, California. It is located along US Hwy 101 between Trinidad and Orick. The park protects three lagoons with estuaries and wetlands. Big Lagoon is the largest and southernmost lagoon. Stone Lagoon is in the middle, and Freshwater Lagoon is the northernmost and smallest.
The lagoons are shallow bays between rocky headlands where coastal wave action has formed a sandy bar separating each lagoon from the ocean. The 2,256-acre park was established in 1931. The lagoons are resting areas for migratory waterfowl using the Pacific Flyway between Lake Earl on the Smith River estuarine wetlands 40 miles to the north and Humboldt Bay on the Mad River estuarine wetlands 30 miles to the south. Studies around Humboldt Bay indicate tectonic activity along the Cascadia subduction zone has caused local sea level changes at intervals of several centuries. The alluvial plain forming each shallow lagoon may support freshwater wetlands or Sitka Spruce forests following uplift events and salt marsh or inundated shellfish beds following subsidence events.
Dry Lagoon, at the southern end of Stone Lagoon, is separated from Stone Lagoon by what may become an island if the sea level rises. Dry Lagoon is presently a wetland representing natural conditions of similar land used for a sawmill near Big Lagoon, or converted to agricultural purposes around the estuaries of Redwood Creek to the north and Little River to the south.
Trinidad is now 8 miles away and Erreka is 28 miles away.
In this particular area of the highway, the fog has settled in. We are now at Trinidad, a seaside city in Humboldt County, located on the Pacific Ocean 8 miles north of the Arcata-Eureka Airport and 15 miles north of the college town of Arcata. Trinidad is noted for its coastline with ten public beaches and offshore rocks, part of the California Coastal National Monument, of which Trinidad is a Gateway City. Fishing operations related to Trinidad Harbor are vital to both local tourism and commercial fishery interests in the region. Situated at an elevation of 174 feet above its own North Coast harbor, Trinidad is one of California's smallest incorporated cities by population with 367 residents.
(Shown above is the Trinidad School built in early 1870s and used until 1914.)
Before 1700 AD, Yurok people established the village of Tsurai on bluffs overlooking Trinidad Bay. The first European sighting of Trinidad Harbor was by the Manila galleon captain Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeño, who did not make landfall. The next visit was by Bruno de Heceta and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra of the Spanish Navy. Their two ships anchored in Trinidad Bay on June 9, 1775. On 11 June, which was Trinity Sunday, a formal act of possession was conducted. At the place where a wooden cross was erected stands a carved stone cross bearing the inscription, "Carolus III Dei G. Hyspaniorum Rex" ("in the name of King Carlos of Spain"). The area was named "La Santisima Trinidad."
Settlers arrived on the James R. Whitting in 1850 and founded the town, renamed Warnersville in honor of R.V. Warner, one of the settlers. The first post office opened in Trinidad in 1851. Trinidad was the original county seat of the eponymous Trinity County from 1850 to 1851, and of Klamath County, one of California's original counties, from 1851 to 1854. At that time Trinidad became part of the newly created Humboldt County after its creation in 1853, with its county seat in Eureka. Klamath County was finally dissolved in 1874.
Now Eureka is just 7 miles away.
We drove through Eureka, California, which is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on US Hwy 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, 270 miles north of San Francisco and 100 miles south of the Oregon border. The population of the city is 27,191, while the population of Greater Eureka is 45,034.
Eureka is the largest coastal city between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, and the westernmost city of more than 25,000 residents in the 48 contiguous states. The proximity to the sea causes the city to have an extremely maritime climate with very small annual temperature differences and seasons mainly being defined by the rainy winters and dry summers, whereas nearby inland areas are much hotter in summer. It is the regional center for government, health care, trade, and the arts on the North Coast north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Greater Eureka, one of California's major commercial fishing ports, is the location of the largest deep-water port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, a stretch of about 500 miles.
(Shown above is an Illustrated map of Eureka, 1902.)
(Shown above is an aerial view of Eureka on Humboldt Bay.)
Eureka's Pacific coastal location on Humboldt Bay, adjacent to abundant redwood forests, provided the reason for settlement of this 19th-century seaport town. Before the arrival of Euro-American settlers, including farmers, miners, fishermen, and loggers, the area was home to Native Americans.
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The Wiyot people (shown above) lived in Jaroujiji "where you sit and rest", now known as Eureka, for thousands of years before European arrival. Their traditional coastal homeland ranged from the lower Mad River through Humboldt Bay and south along the lower basin of the Eel River. The Wiyot are particularly known for their basketry and fishery management. An extensive collection of intricate basketry of the area's indigenous groups exists in the Clarke Historical Museum in Old Town Eureka.
(Shown above is the California gold rush in the Humboldt Bay area.)
After the primary California Gold Rush in the Sierras, Humboldt Bay was settled with the intent of providing a convenient alternative to the long overland route from Sacramento to supply miners on the Trinity, Klamath and Salmon Rivers where gold had been discovered. Though the ideal location on Humboldt Bay adjacent to naturally deeper shipping channels ultimately guaranteed Eureka's development as the primary city on the bay, Arcata's proximity to developing supply lines to inland gold mines ensured supremacy over Eureka through 1856. "Eureka" received its name from a Greek word meaning "I have found it!" This exuberant statement of successful (or hopeful) gold rush miners is also the official motto of the State of California. Eureka is the only U.S. location to use the same seal as the state for its seal.
The first Europeans venturing into Humboldt Bay encountered the indigenous Wiyot. After 1850, Americans ultimately overwhelmed the Wiyot, whose maximum population before the Europeans' arrival numbered in the hundreds in the area of what would become the county's primary city. But in almost every case, settlers ultimately cut off access to ancestral sources of food in addition to the outright theft of land, despite the efforts of some U.S. government and military officials to assist the native peoples or at least maintain peace. Fort Humboldt was established by the U.S. Army on January 30, 1853, as a buffer between Native Americans, gold-seekers and settlers, commanded by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan of the U.S. 4th Infantry Regiment.
The 1860 Wiyot Massacre (shown above) took place on Indian Island in the spring of 1860, committed by a group of locals thought to be composed primarily of Eureka businessmen. The male Wiyot tribal members had left the island during their annual New Year ritual and the vigilantes killed as many as 250 children, women, and elderly tribal members. Major Gabriel J. Rains, Commanding Officer of Fort Humboldt at the time, reported to his commanding officer that a local group of vigilantes had resolved to "kill every peaceable Indian – man, woman, and child."
We crossed a bridge in Eureka, California.
We are still following US Hwy 101.
Shown above is the beautiful Redwood Capital Bank in Eureka.
We drove through downtown Eureka and down by the waterfront.
We drove by College of the Redwoods and Humboldt Botanical Gardens.
We then drove by the Victorian village of Ferndale and the Historic Fernbridge. With its fantastically preserved Victorians, vibrant small-town charm, and history as a filming location for major movies, Ferndale, California with a population of 1,481 is a magical town that blends the past and present amidst the backdrop of the magnificent Lost Coast.
(Shown above is Main Street in Ferndale.)
Nestled in a verdant pastoral valley near the Northern California Redwoods, Ferndale was founded in 1852 and soon became home to a prosperous dairy industry that led to construction of the splendidly ornate buildings known today as "Butterfat Palaces.” The city contains dozens of well-preserved Victorian storefronts and homes. Ferndale is the northern gateway to California's Lost Coast and the city, which is sited on the edge of a wide plain near the mouth of the Eel River, is also located near extensive preserves of coast redwood forests.
Before American settlement, Ferndale was a glade of giant ferns reaching more than six feet, surrounded by alder, willow, Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, coast redwood, swampy land, and windswept prairies. The area was populated by the southern Wiyot people, and centered along the Eel River, where they caught lamprey eels, salmon and sturgeon in iris leaf fish nets and collected shellfish along the river and at its mouth, while cultivating only a California species of tobacco.
The town was established in 1852 from settlement by Willard Allard, Seth Louis Shaw, and his brother, noted American portrait painter Stephen William Shaw. The settlement was incorporated in 1893.
In August 1852, Allard and the Shaw brothers borrowed a canoe from the Wiyots in the Table Bluff area and paddled it across the Eel and up Francis Creek to arrive with their supplies in the approximate vicinity of what is now Main and Shaw streets. In September 1852, they cleared a five-acre area of ferns and began building a cabin near the base of the Wildcat Road even though Allard was sick with ague. By January 1853, twelve men were living in the Shaws' cabin including Seth Kinman, who provided the group with meat, and Joseph Russ, whose later holdings included the Fern Cottage Historic District. About this time, Stephen Shaw painted the portrait of Wiyot elder Kiwelattah and kept a detailed journal of two years of trying to grow plants in cold coastal fog.
Seth Shaw settled in the area now marked by Main and Lewis streets where he began construction of the Gothic Revival style Shaw House on his property in 1854. The Shaw House served as the area's first polling place in 1854, post office in 1860 and courthouse in 1863. The voting registers for Humboldt County and Ferndale are on file for viewing in the Andrew Genzoli Collection at Humboldt State University, starting in 1888. Seth Shaw was justice of the peace and postmaster, and his home served for many gatherings although it was not finished until 1866. After having been away from the area for two years, Stephen Shaw sold his holdings in 1856 to Welsh-born Francis Francis who later established the city's water system with 67 through pipes laid initially in 1875.
We continued driving along US Hwy 101.
We passed the turnoff for the Avenue of the Giants. The Avenue of the Giants is a scenic highway in northern California, running through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It is named after the coastal redwoods that tower over the route. The Avenue is notable for the coast redwoods that overshadow the road and surround the area. It is from these towering trees that the Avenue of the Giants takes its name. The road winds alongside the scenic Eel River, and connects several small towns such as Phillipsville, Miranda, Myers Flat, Burlington, Weott, Englewood, Redcrest and Pepperwood.
Again, we ran into some road construction.
Garberville is now 6 miles away.
We are now in Garberville, California. Garberville is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located on the South Fork of the Eel River 52 miles south-southeast of Eureka, at an elevation of 535 feet, and with a population of 913. Garberville is the primary town in the area known as the Mateel Region, consisting of parts of the Mattole and Eel River watersheds in southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino counties. Prior to recorded history, the area was populated by southern Sinkyone people. In 1853, a Spanish explorer, Antone Garcia, settled in the area near Town Gulch, which runs through modern-day Garberville. The first post office in Garberville opened in 1874. Jacob C. Garber, the town postmaster, later named the town after himself.
We drove by the One Log House on US Hwy 101 by Garberville.
(Shown above is the One Log House that is in Garberville, California.)
The Famous One Log House (shown abovein a historical photograph) is one of Northern California's attractions.
The above storyboard told us about the one log house. Crafted in 1946 from a 2,100 year old redwood, this section of the tree weighed 42 tons and took 8 months of labor to hollow out a room 7 feet high and 32 feet long. Even though a house is just a tourist attraction, it is perfectly habitable and contains a kitchen, bedroom, living room, and dining room. With wheels attached, it toured the United States in its early years, then settled in redwood country, arriving here in 1999.
(Shown above is what the inside of the One Log House looked like.)
We then drove through Richardson Grove State Park. It is an old-growth redwood forest that thrives in the area’s alluvial soils and mild climate. Many trees in the grove are more than 1,000 years old with several more than 300 feet tall. The first known inhabitants of this region, the Sinkyone people, hunted, fished, gathered food, and lived sustainably among Richardson Grove’s ancient redwoods, which they considered sacred. These Athabascan-speaking people trained their dogs to drive game toward waiting hunters. Both men and women were basket makers. Today’s Sinkyone descendants maintain cultural and spiritual ties to the Grove.
The first recorded settler in the area, Kentuckian Ruben Reed, bought land on the South Fork of Eel River in the late 1860s. His brother and their widowed father homesteaded 160 acres, now part of the park. In the early 1900s, Henry Devoy bought Reed’s land. Devoy leased the redwood grove in 1920 to Edwin Freeman, who built a store, a dining room, and cabins at the site of today’s visitor center.
In 1922, Save the Redwoods League, concerned about the potential destruction of the trees by highway construction and logging, persuaded the state to acquire 120 acres of the redwood grove. Between 1922 and 1932, Freeman operated the new park as a concession and lobbied to name the park for Governor Friend W. Richardson. The Richardson Grove Lodge, which is now the visitor center, was built between 1928 and 1930.
The above storyboard told us about the Richardson Grove Historic Lodge. In the 1910s and 1920s, improved roads and services drew tourists from every walk of life, and the redwoods became a popular destination. Redwood State Highway 101 was completed in 1922, linking San Francisco and Eureka. Gateway to the Redwoods, "the Grove" became one of the most celebrated leisure and recreation destinations in California, a must-see stop for generations of vacationers. Today, Richardson Grove continues to host thousands of visitors -- some of whom will enjoy their first views ever, of these towering giants!
An then some more road construction.
We are now 12 miles from Leggett, California.
We are now in the Leggett area. Leggett (formerly Leggett Valley) is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California. It is located on the South Fork of the Eel River, 21 miles by road northwest of Laytonville, at an elevation of 984 feet. It is home to some of the largest trees in the world. The nearby Smithe Redwoods State Natural Reserve and Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area are noted for their forests of coastal redwoods. The population of Leggett was is 77. The community is served by California's State Route 1, whose northern terminus with US Hwy Route 101 is just outside the center of town.
Laytonville is now 21 miles away.
Laytonville is now 11 miles away.
We are now in the Laytonville area. Laytonville is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California. It is located 23 miles north-northwest of Willits, at an elevation of 1,670 feet, and a population of 1,152.
Calpella is now 12 miles away.
We stopped to get gas at the Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley, California.
(Shown above and below is the Coyote Valley Casino in Redwood Valley.)
Redwood Valley (formerly Basil) is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, located 9 miles north of Ukiah. It is the county seat, has an elevation of 722 feet, and comprises the northern portion of the Ukiah Valley. It is about 15 miles southeast of Willits. Potter Valley is to the east and Calpella to the south. The population of the CDP is 1,843. The place was called "Basil" by the railroad when it reached there; when the post office opened in 1920, the place was called "Redwood Valley".
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(Charles Boles, aka "Black Bart" was an American stagecoach robber.)
Redwood Valley was one of the areas where Black Bart operated. Charles Boles adopted the nickname "Black Bart" and proceeded to rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches at least 28 times across northern California between 1875 and 1883, including a number of times along the historic Siskiyou Trail between California and Oregon. He only left two poems – at the fourth and fifth robbery sites – but this came to be considered his signature and ensured his fame. Black Bart was quite successful as a highwayman, often taking in thousands of dollars a year.
Over the years, part of what built Bart’s legend were the quirks of the character. He wore a flour sack with two eyeholes cut in to it over his head, and wore sacks on his feet to disguise his shoes and footprints. Boles was afraid of horses and committed all of his robberies on foot. With this, his poems and his unusually polite demeanor, he gained notoriety. He reportedly never once fired a weapon during his years as an outlaw. Boles was invariably polite and used no foul language, despite its appearance in his poems. He dressed in a long linen duster coat and a bowler hat, using a flour sack with holes cut for his eyes as a mask. He brandished a shotgun, but never used it. These features became his trademarks.
Although Boles received much notoriety for his poetic verses, he left only two that have been authenticated. The first was at the scene of the August 3, 1877, holdup (his fourth robbery) of a stage traveling from Point Arena to Duncans Mills, California:
I've labored long and hard for bread,
For honor, and for riches,
But on my corns too long you've tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches.
— Black Bart, 1877
The second verse was left at the site of his July 25, 1878, holdup (his fifth robbery) of a stage traveling from Quincy to Oroville, California:
Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will, I'll try it on,
My condition can't be worse;
And if there's money in that box
'Tis money in my purse.
— Black Bart
From his fear of horses to his poetry writing, Charles Boles, as Black Bart, was a different breed of Old West outlaw. He didn’t have a gang like Jesse James and didn’t shoot his victims like Billy the Kid. He didn’t rob willy-nilly; he targeted only Wells Fargo stagecoaches. He was proof that Old West outlaws were not cookie-cutter stereotypes, but unique and complex individuals.
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We are now at the Capella, California area. Calpella is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Mendocino County, California. It is located on the Russian River, 6 miles north of Ukiah. It is situated within the Ukiah Valley, at the intersection of US Hwy 101 and State Route 20, with a population of 799. The small town is the site of the Mendocino Redwood Company mill and offices, which controls ten percent of the private land in the county. Col. C.H. Veeder and James Pettus, Veeder's son-in-law, founded the town in 1858. It is named after Kalpela, the chief of the nearby Pomo village of Chomchadila. His name means "carrying mussels down".
We continued on US Hwy 101 toward Ukiah, California.
Ukiah is now 5 miles away.
We are now at Ukiah, California. Ukiah meaning "deep valley" is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California, with a population of 16,607. The Yokayo band of Pomo people who inhabited the Russian River valley from the pre-Columbian era are today an unrecognized tribe in the United States. Ukiah is located within Rancho Yokaya, one of several Spanish colonial land grants in what their colonists called Alta California. The Yokaya grant, which covered the majority of the Ukiah valley, was named for the Pomo word meaning "deep valley." The Pomo are the indigenous people who occupied the area at the time of Spanish colonization.
Later European-American settlers adopted "Ukiah" as an anglicized version of this name for the city. Cayetano Juárez was granted Ukiah by Alta California. He was known to have a neutral relationship with the local Pomo people. He sold a southern portion of the grant (toward present-day Hopland) to the Burke brothers. The first Anglo settler in the Ukiah area was John Parker, a vaquero who worked for pioneer cattleman James Black. Black had driven his stock up the Russian River valley and took over a block of grazing land at that locale. A crude blockhouse was constructed for Parker so he could have shelter to protect the herd from the hostile indigenous local people, who resented the squatters on their land. The blockhouse was located just south of present-day Ukiah on the banks of what was known as Wilson Creek.
Initially visitors could reach town only by stagecoach, or private horses. A short rail line from San Francisco terminated in Petaluma, nearly 80 miles to the south. In 1870 the remainder of the trip to Ukiah took another two days by horse. In subsequent years the rail line was extended further northward to Cloverdale. Although the stagecoach portion was reduced to 30 miles, the community was still relatively isolated and slow to develop. Ukiah was incorporated in 1876. It was not until 1889 that the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad completed its line from Cloverdale to Ukiah, linking the Mendocino County seat to the national rail network.
Hopland is now 10 miles away.
The Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, or Sho-Ka-Wah are Central Pomo people who have lived in Hopland since "the beginning of time". The Sho-Ka-Wah lived their lives hunting, gathering, making, practicing spirituality and generally living their lives. Their main village, population 1500, was called "Shanel". After the settlers came, they were forced to move, and then to move again. Today, most of the Sho-Ka-Wah people live in the Hopland reservation 5 miles east of Hopland.
We are seeing lot and lots of grape vineyards all along the highway now. Hopland is just a dot on the map for many people, but it’s one of those forgotten growing areas with a long history for growing hops, then pears and now wine grapes.
We are now crossing over the US Hwy 101 bridge over the Russian River near Hopland, California.
We then ran into a little bit of road construction.
We are now in Cloverdale, California. Cloverdale is a city in Sonoma County, California, and it is both the westernmost and the northernmost city in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached Cloverdale in 1872. The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is headquartered there. Cloverdale has a population of 8,618.
Cloverdale began as an early stagecoach stop, known as Markleville, on the Rancho Rincon de Musalacon Mexican grant. In 1856, R.B. Markle and W.J. Miller bought 759 acres, which included the present site of the town, from Johnson Horrell. In 1859, James Abram Kleiser bought Markle's interest, and the town was laid out. The town was incorporated when the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad arrived in 1872. By 1878, the railroad service provided three trains a day between Cloverdale and Ferries of San Francisco Bay.
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(Shown above is Cloverdale's first post office, ca 1871–1880.)
In 1881, Jules Leroux and Armand Dehay established a colony south of Cloverdale named "Icaria Speranza", based on the French Utopian movement, the Icarians. The settlement ended in 1886 and today, there is a marker south of town where the schoolhouse was located.
We have now arrived at the Russian River Thousand Trails. Situated right on the banks of the Russian River and surrounded by Northern California wine country's natural beauty, the Russian River Thousand Trails was quiet and peaceful. We camped here for 10 nights on site #14.
After arriving at 2:30 p.m. and getting all set up on our campsite, we then went into town to Ray's Supermarket to get groceries.
For dinner tonight, I made potato skins as an appetizer, and then we had salmon and salads.
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
It was nice to see the sun come out today. Yesterday it had been a little cloudy and foggy. The temperature started out at 56 degrees and reached 91 degrees.
After a breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we walked for a half an hour down to the Russian River and beach from our campsite.
Shown above and below is the Russian River, which is a southward-flowing river that drains 1,485 square miles of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet, it is the second-largest river (after the Sacramento River) flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with a mainstem 115 miles long.
The Southern Pomo know the river as Ashokawna, "east water place" or "water to the east", and as Bidapte, "big river." Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and his expedition may have traveled as far north as the Russian River in November 1542 before storms forced them to turn back south towards Monterey. The earliest Slavic name for the river, Slavyanka, appears on a Russian-American Company chart dated 1817. In 1827 the Spanish called it the San Ygnacio, and in 1843 the Spanish land grant referred to it as Rio Grande.
The river takes its current name from Russian Ivan Kuskov of the Russian-American Company, who explored the river in the early 19th-century and established the Fort Ross colony 10 miles northwest of its mouth. The Russians called it the Slavyanka River, meaning "Slav River". (Slavyanka in Russian means "Slavic woman".) They established three ranches near Fort Ross, one of which, the Kostromitinov Ranch, stretched along the Russian River near the mouth of Willow Creek. The redwoods that lined its banks drew loggers to the river in the late 19th century.
Shown above and below is the Garmin GPS map from our walk down to the Russian River.
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After our walk, I worked more on my blog. For dinner, we had chicken drummies and homemade macaroni and cheese.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
We hung around the campground today. It was sunny and 61 degrees to start and then reached 92 degrees in the afternoon. I worked on my blog most of the day. For dinner, we had pizza.
Friday, October 6, 2023
Another beautiful sunny day that stared out a 52 degrees and reached 93 degrees. We just hung around the campground. For dinner,we had salads with tuna, and leftover macaroni and cheese.
Saturday, October 7, 2023
First, we want to wish a "Blessed and Happy Wedding Day" to our daughter Jennifer and her husband Drew Nagel!
Today was a sunny day with a temperature of 52 degrees in the morning, which reached 93 degrees in the afternoon. We just hung around the campground enjoying the weather.
For dinner, we had steak and twice-baked potatoes.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
It's a beautiful sunny day that started out at 54 degrees, which would reach a high of 93 degrees. We left our campground at 12:45 p.m. to run a few errands in Cloverdale, California.
Our first stop was at the Ace Hardware store, where Mel got a few nuts and bolts and then also had a propane tank filled. Next, we stopped to eat at the Taco Bell (we each had a cravings box). And then our final stop was at Dave's Supermarket for groceries.
The beautiful Russian River and the peacefulness of this campground helps to sooth us to sleep!
Shirley & Mel
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