Redwoods: Back to where it all began

We first came out to the Redwoods in the summer of 2008 as part of a 2 week San Francisco –Portland-Seattle-Tahoe vacation.  When we got up to Crescent City, and more specifically Jedediah Smith State Park, I was blown away.  It is beautiful and pristine.  The weather is perfect for camping; warm days and cool nights without the bugs and humidity that are par for the course when camping in the summer on the east coast.  I told Greg I would love to come back here and camp.  That, my friends, was the very first seed for this trip.  Once we decided on the trip, there was no way we weren’t going back to camp at Jedediah Smith.  But getting a camp site wasn’t easy.  Reservations open up 6 months prior on the first day of the month.  I got online to book at 11 am (8:00 am pdt) on the first day I could and I was lucky to get a spot.  The first one I tried to book was gone by the time I tried to move it my shopping cart.  It was nerve racking to say the least.  The site we ended up with, while not close to the river, was beautiful and flat.  I couldn’t have been happier!

We arrived just before dark after the day at Crater Lake.  The drive down from Oregon on Hwy 199 was uneventful, with lots of small towns, forests and mountains.  The one thing we did notice was all the smoke. There were wildfires by Grants Pass and the smoke was pretty thick.  It was hazy even in Crater Lake but luckily not so much by the time we reached the Redwoods.  After checking in, we went to get firewood since it was already pretty chilly and then made some dinner.  We decided that after a long day we’d turn in early so we could be ready for a full day in the Redwoods.

We woke up the next day to the sun peaking through the enormous trees all around us.  Yes we had big beautiful redwoods throughout the campground.  We overheard the campers next door say it was the first sunny day they had all week, yeah for us!!  After our usual leisurely start to the day we headed down to the river and the footbridge to the national park and Redwood grove.

The day wasn’t as clear as when we were here in 2008 but it was nice and sunny!  We did a short walk through the grove and then the kids wanted to get on suits and blow up the inter-tubes and head to the river.  It was a perfect day to just relax and chill by the river.  The kids played and Greg and I read.  Eventually Greg and I decided to do a little float down the river.  We hiked up a bit and put in the tubes.  The water was chilly but not too bad and the tubes held, which wasn’t a given!  We both decided to plunge all the way in and swam around a bit while Kellen played on the rocks.  Bella had given up and was back in the RV reading and relaxing.

Around 5:00 we headed back and went into Crescent City for ice and food supplies.  We came back for drinks and burgers on the grill.  It was a really nice relaxing day, which we all needed!