Our fifth week on the road started out with an enormous day. Leaving Langtry Vineyards, we reached the Pacific Coast and headed north towards the Redwoods Natl. Forest. We saw a sign for a drive thru tree and decided to check it out.
Unfortunately our truck (even if we didn’t have the camper attached) was too big to fit through the cut out in the tree that smaller vehicles could drive though. But we still had fun investigating the giant redwood and gift shop attached. While there, another traveler suggested we take the Avenue of the Giants on our way north, rather than stay on the primary highway.
The Avenue of the Giants paralled the main highway so it wasn’t a major detour. The road was much narrower than the highway and there were many places without much shoulder space with redwood forests abutting the roads. We felt so small in that area. Even pictures of our 13’ truck camper looked like a child’s toy truck next to some of the trees.
We had our first sighting of the Legend of Bigfoot while in the Avenue of the Giants - one of the display boards mentioned that a couple claimed to have spotted the elusive beast a short distance in from the road while hiking one day. Bigfoot sightings have continued since then on up into Alaska.
We stopped at Eel River Brewery for the night, another Harvest Host destination. Eel River had a flight of 12 beers for a tasting - and although we split the tasting, we knew we shouldn’t be driving anywhere afterwards. Eel River Brewery was in Fortuna CA.
The journey north contuned along the Coastal Highway and entered the Redwood National Forest. We had many beaches to stop and view the Pacific Ocean and even let Rugby run along some beaches. We stopped in Port Orford OR for the night.
Port Orford is listed as the furthest west city of the lower 48 - we stayed 2 nights at the RV park and explored the town and beach on our day off. The campground was nice and the owners were very friendly and hands on.
During our days off we look at maps and redesign our journey towards Alaska to include other locales we might try to visit since one never knows if they’ll be this way again. While in Port Orford OR, we decided to head inland and visit Crater Lake instead of going up the Oregon coast. In my researching the route, I found a State Park fairly close to Crater Lake and we headed to the Joseph Steward State Park in Prospect OR.
Our next day we headed up to Crater Lake. Some of my quick research of the area had advised that only 1 section of the park road was open to traffic because of the snow still on the roads. I found it interesting that on May 18, they still had so much snow on the roads that you couldn’t drive the entire route. We still decided to head up to the Lake and were greeted with spectacular sights on the mountains, lake, and the snow. There were snow showers going on across the lake during our visit and I then understood why the roads were still closed. Even on our drive, there were places that the snowbanks along the edge of the road were higher than the truck.
We spent the night at Seven Feathers Casino & RV Park. The park generally charges $40-$45 a night, but one review I had read said to mention a billboard along the highway and you’d get the night for $19. I asked about the rate and was told the billboard promotional was about to end but that I could get the site for that rate. We decided to go to the casino for their buffet dinner and then we also played some blackjack. We had a fun evening and came out just slightly ahead after deducting our night’s expenses (dinner and rv site).
Not wanting to press our luck we headed out the next morning and drove to Silverton OR where we stayed at the Silver Spur RV Park. As we’ve done in the past, due to my dislike of driving on Interstates, we were taking primary routes throughout the states to move about and this was a park that fit my routing plans.
Leaving Silverton OR we headed Washington State and Mount St. Helens. Driving through the valley on our way up the mountains to see Mount St. Helens was interesting. 35 years later there were still many areas with no vegetation because of the devestation of the blast and volume of ash and mud that flowed after. One location we passed was a home that had been under construction and was to be completed right around the time of the eruption. The volcanic eruption caused a major mudslide through the river valley and that in turn caused major destruction to anything in it’s path. The home that was being built was an A-Frame and the first floor was filled with several feet of mud which quickly turned into an almost cement form. The house is still standing and furnishings like the stove and fridge which were installed but never used stand frozen in the devestation of the afterflow.
When we finally reached the park, the view of Mount St. Helens, although 7 miles away, was spectacular. In fact, the entire drive to and from the mountain was beautiful with the trees and valleys. We spent the night at the Silver Cove RV Park in Silver Lake WA.
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