Planning a trip to visit the Redwoods of northern California and the Pacific coast of Oregon is a bit difficult because there’s so much to see.
There are hundreds of possible activities divided among dozens of park units at the federal, state, and local level. On my July trip, I ended up mostly just winging it and did manage to find several great spots, though I probably missed some others. But I ended up bringing home a souvenir I didn’t want.
PREVIOUSLY: Unintentionally Vacationing on Volcanoes
Redwoods National Park is jointly managed with several California state parks, creating a somewhat confusing patchwork of parkland amid local communities and logging areas along a 50-mile stretch of Highway 101. All of the drive-in campsites and most of the things to see and do are actually in the state parks.
Throughout my travels this summer I’ve been lugging along jeans and a long-sleeve shirt but hadn’t needed them. Until now. The temperature hovered around 60 the entire two days and nights I was in the Redwoods area, with fog much of the time. It’s still a cool experience!
My campsite was just south of the Redwoods, at Sue-meg State Park. A beach and great views of the Pacific were just a short hike away, along with a spectacular sunset. The site featured a bear locker (two actually, because the first one was broken, hopefully not by a bear). It was not a bear but a mouse that jumped out of my food box when I opened it to get breakfast my first morning there. The cute little thing had nibbled into my bread and pretzels!
Driving north after cleaning up the mouse mess, I headed to Lady Bird Johnson Grove for an eerie walk through the fog-shrouded redwood forest with huge rhododendrons in bloom. It’s a popular area but I beat the crowds, so there were plenty of opportunities to stop and contemplate the scenery along the easy 1.5-mile stroll.
Just north of LBJ Grove, Elk Meadow lived up to its name with a dozen grazing elk and a few dozen gazing tourists.
Heading farther north on the coast, I took the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway through Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and continued north to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, bound for Stout Grove.
The drive to get there is not well-marked and I did some U-turns. It turns out you have to drive out of the park, make a couple of turns, and then drive back into the park on a one-lane road with two-way traffic. Only later did I find out that there’s a pedestrian bridge crossing the river from the park campground to the grove, but judging by the traffic and crowded parking lot, the option is not well-known.
After restocking my supplies from the mouse incident, I headed back to my campsite and enjoyed some time walking the beach before another spectacular sunset. I successfully prevented another mouse invasion that night by duck taping my entire food bin shut and plugging a small hole in the bear locker.
My travel plans offered another opportunity to drive through the Redwoods as I headed towards my next destination, so I did a quick hike at Prairie Creek Redwoods and then drove the Coastal Drive Loop, which takes you past a World War II radar station that was disguised as a farm.
Reaching Oregon, I knew I would be overwhelmed with options. The road map is crowded with so many state parks along the coast that they can barely fit in all of the names. There are also areas managed by several different federal agencies. In some areas, there is seemingly another turnoff for an overlook or trailhead every quarter mile, so it can be hard to know where to stop.
With all of that confusion, I can’t really name the places I stopped on the first day, but my drive ended at a series of small state parks near Coos Bay. My campsite was at Sunset Bay State Park, which borders on Shore Acres and Cape Arago state parks. Shore Acres was the site of two mansions, neither of which lasted more than a few decades, but the spectacular English-style garden at the site has been restored to all of its glory.
A guy insisted he was seeing a whale at Shore Acres but I couldn’t spot it, and at Cape Arago I could hear a sea lion but not see it. (Whales are reportedly easier to see during winter migrations.)
The next day, I continued my journey north with a specific destination in mind, Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, run by Siuslaw National Forest. The view from the overlook is stunning and the “Devil’s Churn” is mesmerizing. Both areas offer short walks with longer hikes possible.
My next campsite was at Beverly Beach State Park, which is not far from Yaquina Head, an “outstanding natural area” run by the Bureau of Land Management. My “America the Beautiful” pass covered the entry fee to see Yaquina Head Lighthouse and take a few short hikes, including a great one uphill above the lighthouse.
Beverly Beach was the last camping night of this journey, but before heading east, I continued farther north on the Oregon coast. It turns out the northern third of Highway 101 along the Oregon coast does not offer as many places to visit as the southern parts of the highway, and most of the highway is inland from the ocean. With all of the curves, towns, and traffic, it took about three hours to drive 100 miles.
It’s a good thing I didn’t make any stops on the last part of the trip because it turns out I would have been spreading COVID-19. I tested positive two days later on the last leg of my drive home. I’m triple-vaccinated, so my symptoms never got worse than a moderate cold and only lasted a couple of days.
After avoiding COVID for two and a half years, it was surprising to pick it up on a driving trip where I camped for nine nights in a row (this journey was combined with the volcanic adventures I wrote about last week) and wore masks in visitors centers. It was probably my desire to be clean (taking a shower) or to eat (the one time I visited a restaurant) that got me into trouble.
If only I’d stayed at my campsite and just worried about the mouse!