May Vacay {Day 4: Trees of Mystery, Fern Canyon, Gold Bluffs Beach}

 Day 4: Tuesday, 4 May 2021: Crescent City to Eureka

Another perfect day, with not too many miles to go, but plenty to see in between Crescent City and Eureka. We knew we needed to hit the road early in order to make it through the road work area a few miles south of Crescent City. A huge rockslide covered the entire Highway 101 and crews allow cars to pass one lane at a time only at certain times of the day. Midday they shut down for a few hours at a time to try to clear the giant mess. We didn't want to be stuck in that, so we hit the road as soon as we were up. We were working our way through Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, though we did the more commercial touristy stops on this first stretch: the Klamath Tour-Through Tree and Trees of Mystery.

To drive through the Tour-Through Tree we exited the freeway, pulled up to the pay booth, stuffed in our $5, drove up a little hill, and drove through a friggin' tree!! Ha! It was a tight squeeze, but we made it with maybe an inch to spare on either side. (Thank heavens Gregg was driving and not me!) Since no one else was around, I hopped out and had Gregg back in as if he was driving out (gotta get the photo!) and then we all jumped out to walk through and get a group shot before someone else came up up the hill. They didn't even attempt the drive through, though.

Cal was taking a pic of Sam and Mom
in the tree tunnel.

Here comes that next sube.

We had some time to kill before Trees of Mystery opened, so we found another beach and enjoyed the misty moisty morning waves.

Trees of Mystery is like the Disney Land of the Redwoods. I was worried that it was going to be rather cheesy (and it was), but I was impressed that it was so well maintained and streamlined. I'm sure that helps when crowds are big. But luckily, we basically had the place to ourselves. (Pro tip: go midweek in the off season during covid! ha!). Even just seeing the humongous statues of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox were worth the stop. But we really loved the Redwood Canopy Trail (on suspended rope and board bridges 50-100 feet in the air between redwoods) and the SkyTrail (a gondola ride through the forest to the top of a ridge). Worth the price of admission for sure!

I think this was called Elephant Tree.

Nature's Underpass.

A really really big nurse log.

Ready to brave the canopy trail. (The kids didn't bat
an eye, but both Gregg and I had some "whoa we're
really high and this bridge is shaking and that is freaky"
moments.)

Looking down on the Cathedral Tree
(they even have weddings here!) which
was playing choir music (a la Disney Land).

Now at the bottom of Cathedral Tree.

That's where we were!

Love this quote!

A really helpful visual about cones.

This is Brotherhood Tree (another spot
for weddings in the park).

Ready to ride the SkyTrail!

This is called Inferno Tree because one
night during a storm that knocked the power
out for three days, lightning struck this tree and
it was glowing bright red in the night, its hollow
center acting as a chimney. But because it was so
wet from all the rain, nothing else caught on fire!

This was cute - lots of carvings of stories of Paul Bunyon
and other Tall Tales, with recordings of story tellers
telling the tales while you look at the carvings.

Sourdough Sam. :)

That's a big squirrel!

And out we're funneled, right through the
gift shop (they're no dummies!).

That's the parking lot - totally crowd free! (The most
people we saw were in the gift shop and I don't think
they even went through the park!)

After Trees of Mystery we continued on down Highway 101 till we took the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway into Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We found a wide spot off the road where we could make and eat sandwiches for lunch. Then we continued on, gawking again at the hugeness all around us. We pulled off to hike at a grove that may or may not have been the Moorman-Pond Trail. We never got to a pond, but it was a pretty hike anyway. And super quiet. So nice.

This was our turnaround spot - a huge crashed
tree.

We had to make a stop at Big Tree (clever naming here!), which was a quick walk from the parking area. 

Some gnarly mossy branches we walked under to
get back to the car.

We stopped at the visitor center/gift shop to ask about the dirt roads we were hoping to visit next, called Davison Road and then Gold Bluffs Beach Road. The ranger/worker and everything I had read online made it sound gnarly, but she said an outback could make it fine. Gregg is a champion dirt road driver and it was more than fine! No big deal at all. Our intended destination was Fern Canyon, but of course we made a stop at the beach before and after our hike.

Is this real?!

Also, we saw "beware of dangerous elk" signs on
this beach which still just baffles me.
Elk living on a beach?! But apparently they do.
We only saw them in the meadow near the visitor's
center, though.

There was a LOT of sand to trudge through to get
to the water from the Fern Canyon parking lot.

Fern Canyon was one of those hikes that kept popping up in all my searches as an absolute must-do in Prairie Creek. I put it on my list, but I had my hesitations that we'd be able to do it. Everyone said we'd be walking through water, so I made sure to bring extra footwear (sandals, sandal-like things, rain boots, old shoes) for everyone so we could give it a try. I'm so glad we did try and I'm so glad it was as awesome as I had read about! We loved hiking through the greenest, ferniest slot canyon ever! This place is famous for a Jurassic Park movie being filmed there. And I totally felt like we could see some T. rexes popping out around a corner anytime.

This is it! The entrance to Fern Canyon.

Here we go! We walked through and across
this water into the canyon then hiked up a hill to loop
back out on dry ground.

Such an adventure!

Poor Sam had to hold his pants up
the entire walk to keep them dry. But
amazingly, his socks even stayed dry inside
his galoshes, too!

I loved this moss-covered arrow sign pointing us
out of the canyon.

After our hike, we drove to another beach access/picnic area parking lot and busted out the camp stove again for some quesadillas for dinner. Talk about awesome. Hot food with the sound of the ocean and gorgeous scenery all around. Too good. We ventured back out to the beach after dinner and just chilled by the ocean yet again for a good long while.

Dinnertime at Gold Bluffs Beach.

No shells on this beach, but lots and lots
of smooth rocks.

They were digging a hole to China.

bonus video!

"it looks like it hurts, but it was totally intentional!"

After I made a flat heart out of rocks,
I tried my hand at stacking.

I read somewhere that they named this Gold Bluffs
Beach because someone found gold here, but I think
the golden bluffs yonder are a good reason for such
a name, too, don't ya think?

Finally we decided we should probably carry on to our hotel, realizing it was further away than we thought (but actually wasn't quite as long of a drive as that once we switched "avoid highways" back off on the maps app). Enroute we passed through Redwood National Park, but we didn't even stop. Oh well, we'll have something to check out next time! We made it to our Comfort Inn in Eureka right in time for bed. Seriously such a fabulous day!