October 14th - The Avenue of the Giants

We took a day to do a little sightseeing.  I have a lot of interesting and pretty pictures, so I'm going to break this into two posts.

South of us is the Humbolt State Park.  Hwy 101 runs down through it.  There is a side road scenic drive that was actually hwy 101 at one time. We have such better road construction skills now that they made the hwy somewhat straighter.  The older section is called "The Avenue of the Giants"

As we got into the drive, we stopped at the first pull off we found.  A plaque speaks of this section being dedicated to a local person.  There are many little grove areas dedicated such.  Sometimes, there are informational signs explaining local shrubberies.  

We soon came to our first geocache of the day. GC190X6  Albino Redwood Tree .Just south of the town of Pepperwood there is a turn-off.  In front of the wall of trees, was a nearly white redwood.  Back in the foliage was a path that led to a little opening.  After a bit of searching, we found the tricky guy.

Although it's all just winding roads and very big trees, It's still breathtaking.  

Just a bit down the road, there was a turn-off that headed back to 101.  We stopped there and trekked into the woods to find  GC1RFA1  Redwood Drop   Just a couple of quick finds. 

The Eel river runs along the avenue and we stopped at one point to document it.

Later, we came across a clearing where there was a little souvenir shop.  At that location was "The Immortal Redwood".  The tree is over 900 years old and has survived fire, loggers, and flood.  There were acouple of others sights such as a hollowed out trunk you can walk through and a very cool chair. 

I'll bring more in our next post.

There are hugh leaf clover patches everywhere

Geocache here

Eel river

September 25th - Walking and cycling

A great day outdoors.  We finally got the bikes out and drove back to Fortuna.  When we were there by the river yesterday, We noticed there were a couple of geocaches on the trail.  

We unloaded the bikes and took them across the street to get the tires fully pumped up, then hit the trail.  There is a little picnic spot next to the trail and we found our geocache there.

GC6X5PT  Something's Fishy on the Eel

An easy cache. Right there on the Eel River.  Logged it and rode down the trail for a bit.  It was a nice day but I think the view would have been nicer if the river was really running.  A second cache was supposed to be further down, but I wasn't able to find it. I've noticed a lot of what looks like wild raspberry bushes on  our travels.

We finished our little jaunt and loaded the bikes.  Then we drove into the old town area.  There is a railroad museum next to a park. Rohner Park
The truck was parked and we decided to walk the trees a little bit.  If you wanted to, you could spend the entire day walking here.  We attempted to find another geocache here.  We never found it though I'm sure I found the right spot.  These things happen.  Not a great geocaching day (1 for 3) but it was a wonderful day.

Afterwards, we had fish and chips at Eel River Brewing.

Picnic area

Found!!

Riverwalk.  On bikes.

Wild raspberries

In case you can't find the trail?

Fish and Chips. Great.

September 24th - Heading South

I wouldn't do it for cod, but I'd do it Fortuna.

There is a limited number of local breweries here.  The only one we hadn't visited was Eel River brewing south in Fortuna, Ca. We drove down there and found the only really good brewer in the area.  Very tasty stuff.  Out back, they have a great patio for dining.  Part of it is a small covered garden area. Nice.

After having lunch, we visited the riverwalk, a biking and walking path that runs next to the river.  The river wasn't that impressive, but the width of the riverbed itself tells you what it must be like during the spring thaw. 

As we made our way home, we stopped in Loleta where we had heard of a local cheese maker.  They had a huge selection of cheeses they make and boast of a grilled cheese sandwich bar where you can get fresh sandwiches.

It wasn't a long outing, but it was fun.