6-30-17 Favorite Haunts, Unusual Caves, and Really Tall Trees (Northern Calif)

Happy July 4^th to all our friends and family! 

California Coast, 17 Mile Drive, Monterey

Monterey Harbor

After fleeing Yosemite early due to the crowds and traffic, we decided to head to one of our favorite haunts, the Monterey Peninsula.  We were able to “camp” at the Elks Lodge, situated on a hilltop overlooking Monterey Bay.   The Lodge is beautiful, with an exercise room, spa and sauna and even a heated pool (which we admired, but did not use) in additional to the bar where we always enjoy meeting and sharing time with locals Elks.   

Harbor Seals, Monterey Harbor

We never seem to tire of the Monterey Peninsula, even though we have been there numerous times while we lived in California.  We skipped it last year when we drove down Route 1 on the coast from San Francisco to Simi Valley, because we were short on time.  This was an opportunity to re-visit it “one last time”.   

Hotel del Monte, US Naval Postgrad School

We enjoyed several new places such as the famous Trident Bar and Grill at the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, which is headquartered in the historic Hotel del Monte (we love all these grand, historic hotels from the late 1800s and early 1900s), and the Army’s Presidio.  We also found some abalone for dinner on Fisherman’s Wharf (abalone is cultivated in Monterey Bay, but hard to find anywhere else at any price).  Abalone is caught only by free diving (no SCUBA).  

18th Hole, Pebble Beach Golf Course

We also re-visited some of our favorites:  17 mile drive and the Lone Cypress Tree (we are glad to report it still stands although we had heard rumors that it had fallen), we stopped and reminisced about our one and only late 90s round of golf at the fabulous Pebble Beach golf course and Lodge, and had lunch in Carmel with its bountiful art studios and excellent restaurants.  Our wonderful 3-day diversion from Yosemite to the peninsula ended all too quickly. 

Lone Cypress Tree, 17 Mile Drive, Monterey

Condors flying Over Pinnacles National Park

We headed back east to Pinnacles National Park, our Nation’s newest national park (it had been a National Monument for many years prior to being upgraded to a National Park), dedicated in 2013.  The park is in the coastal range, but is unusual in that the highest peaks are volcanic remnants.  This breccia volcanic rock is much softer that other rock and the peaks are eroded into unusual pinnacle shapes, which gives the park its name.  Interestingly, it is a release area for rescued condor chicks, and there is a large population there.  We only saw a couple high up in the sky.   

Linda in Dark Part of Talus Cave, Pinnacles NP

However, for us, the most interesting part of the park was the Talus Caves.  The caves are formed when huge breccia boulders, many as big as houses, fall off the sheer cliffs and pile up in the steep canyon below.  The boulders are so big that they lodge high off the floor of the canyon and leave large (and small) gaps under them.  The pile of boulders is quite thick and forms the roof of the “cave” over the stream at the bottom of the canyon; we hiked, climbed, and duck-walked (even with our old knees) through the cave formed by the fallen boulders.  For longer sections, the cave is completely dark requiring flashlights, and has bat residents in those sections.  We were able to hike through Balconies Cave, but Bear Gulch Cave was closed to protect the bat nurseries.  

Bob Standing at Entrance to Talus Caves, Pinnacles NP

 

 

Tom, Linda, Sally, John and Bob

We parked out motorhome across the street from our friend, Tom Hart’s, condo and enjoyed a short one night stay with him away from our coach.  After a great dinner with Tom and friends, John and Sally Bourgoin, we headed north to Mendocino, another of our favorite coastal towns. 

 

Bob and Linda, Mendocino Headland 2017

Bob and Linda, Mendocino Headland, 1995

We had not been to Mendocino or the north central coast of California for a long time….not since the mid-90s, when we flew up with our friends Cindy and Del Foit.  Although the Monterey Peninsula has continued to expand and grow over the years, Mendocino didn’t look much different than it did 20 years ago (although we do - see pictures)! 

Caspar Beach Sunset

Our Mendocino RV park was situated between Mendocino and Ft Bragg, to the north.  It was up a small canyon, just far enough off the beach to be out of the densest fog, but close enough for a short walk to the beach for a beautiful full-fireball Pacific Ocean sunset with a glass of wine (or 2) and a morning beach walk with a cup of coffee and a heavy fleece to ward off the fog and mist.  

Bob M, Linda M, Linda B and Robert B

We had prearranged to call our RVing Florida friends, Robert and Linda Blanco, somewhere/sometime along the California coast; they were supposed to be there about the same time we were.  We had previously determined we would be in the Mendocino area about the same time, and when we called them from Mendocino, they had just arrived there and parked only two blocks from our Jeep Cherokee!  We joined them for lunch at the Mendocino Hotel which served an excellent cup of coffee.  Robert is a coffee gourmet so we learned a lot about great coffee, including his favorite from Ethiopia and how he manages to enjoy gourmet coffees in his RV.  We took notes and hopefully, we learned some neat tricks to improve our own coffee.  Robert and Linda traveled on north while we stayed a few days longer.  The hotel food was so good, we went back for happy hour dinner at the hotel bar.  It is great when a last-minute “plan” comes together. 

 

The Birds Schoolhouse, Bodega

In addition to enjoying the Mendocino headlands, the fog, and the crashing waves along the coast, we drove the section of Rt 1 south of Mendocino to Bodega Bay.  We stopped at the school house used in the Alfred Hitchcock film “The Birds” (it is actually in Bodega rather than Bodega Bay) and visited the only Russian settlement in the lower 48, established in Ft. Ross in 1812, and occupied by the Russians until 1842.  The fort/settlement (manned more by Eskimos and native Americans than 

Russian Orthodox Church, Ft. Ross SP

Russians) supported the Russian fishing, trapping (furs) and mining activities in Alaska by growing produce and meat for them and shipping it north.  The site was strategically selected to be north of the Spanish settlements (which stopped in the SF Bay area) and south of the British settlements (Vancouver and Vancouver Island).  The Russian Orthodox Church there is still used for certain celebrations.  



Manzanita Lake with Mt Lassen Volcano, Lassen NM

We left the foggy cooler coast (great to visit, but not our favorite climate to live in) to head inland and higher to the warmer Lassen Volcanic National Park in the northern California mountains.  The Sierra Nevada of central California are one giant granitic batholith; however, California geology north of Lake Tahoe is dominated by volcanic and other activity driven by islands/plates from the Pacific Ocean smashing into the California coast (plate tectonics is still in action!). 

 

Mt Shasta from East

Lassen is the southern-most volcano in the long line of volcanoes that stretches from Mt Baker in Washington (we were there last year) through the Cascades…. 14 volcanoes in all, some of which have been recently active (Mt St. Helens in 1980).  Nearby Mt. Shasta, part of the same volcanic chain, is much lar ft. elevation (only 400 ft shorter than Mt Whitney), and can be seen from 100 miles away.  

Devastated Area on Slope of Mt Lassen

Lassen Mountain, at 10,457 feet elevation, was still encased in snow at the top. Again, the heavy snowfall of this past winter restricted our activities. Mt Lassen last erupted recently in 1915, and the live event was captured in very interesting photographs….  We were able to visit the “Devastated Area” and touch the rocks that were formed in 1915 (102 years later, very little grows there), and the Cinder Cone northeast of the volcano.  However, the currently active area of hot springs and fumaroles was not yet accessible due to snowed-in roads.  It was interesting to see Bob look at rocks only 30 years older than he is….he is usually looking at rocks that are thousands to millions of years old!    

Bob at Skull Cave (Lava Tube) Entrance

Because a lot of points of interest at Lassen were closed, we had some extra time and decided to take a day trip to Lava Beds National Monument, about 2.5 hours north of Lassen, very near Oregon.   Over the last half-million years, volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created a rugged landscape dotted with diverse volcanic features.  More than 700 lava caves and Native American rock art sites are the major features of this national monument.  We could only spend a limited amount of time there and elected to visit 2 lava tube caves.  The lava tube caves found here were created by flows of smooth lava 10,500 to 65,000 years ago. As the lava flowed it began to cool and solidify on the top and sides. Once the eruption ceased, the tube emptied and drained, and a lava tube cave is left behind. As the rock cooled, the inner surface of the tube cracked and collapsed, producing openings to the surface – cave entrances.  In many areas, the tops of the tubes have fallen in for long distances resulting in ravines of jumbled lava to show their presence on the surface.  But in many areas, the tubes are intact and the caves extend for long distances; the tubes/caves can be several levels high.   

Ice Floor, Skull Cave, Lava Beds NP

Many of the “developed” caves contain trails through the cave and stairways or ladders into the cave. Most of the developed caves are located along Cave Loop, a 2-mile road near the visitor center. Developed caves are divided into three groups based on their varying levels of difficulty in the hardest section of the cave: least, moderate, and most challenging.  We chose to visit the caves with easy walks, and did not visit caves that required visitors to crawl through mud and very tight spaces.  We visited Skull Cave; it was multi-level (lava tubes over lava tubes) and the hike was almost vertical with lots of stairs and ladder to the bottom where the temperature was less than 30 degrees.  It stays that cold all summer, even when it is 100 degrees outside (it was 85 the day we visited).  There is ice on the floor in the bottom of the cave, all year long.    

California Coast Near Mendocino - Note Fog Bank in Distance

Redwood Trees, Redwood NP

Our last stop in California was on the Klamath River to visit the Redwoods National Park (and State Parks).  This is along the very northern coast of California, just south of Crescent City.  When we traveled across the central valley from Lassen, it was 103 degrees (California was in a heat wave), but by the time we arrived at the coast, the temperature was the usual low 70s, with fog in the morning and evening.  For those not familiar with the coastal climate of California, the Pacific Ocean current comes from the north and it is VERY cold.  In June, when the air warms up and collides with the cold water, it forms a fog.  It is called “The June Gloom” (which usually starts mid-May and lasts until mid-end of July), but usually burns off during the middle of the day. We were able to “enjoy” the fog and mist in the early morning and late afternoons, because most of the days turned out to be beautiful sunny, warm “realtor days”  while visiting Monterey, Mendocino, and Klamath.    

Our Jeep on Redwood NP Back Road

There are three types of Redwood trees: two are found in California – the Coastal Redwood and the Giant Sequoia.  The third type, the Dawn Redwoods, was originally found in China, but are now grown throughout the US.  We discussed the humongous Giant Sequoia in the Sequoia, Kings and Yosemite National Parks in our last blog… it is only found in the Southern Sierra Nevada between 4500 and 5500 feet of elevation.  

Linda inside burnt Redwood Tree, Redwood NP

By comparison, the Coastal Redwood is found only on the Northern California coast, not right on the beach, but close enough to enjoy the dense fogs and mists along the coast.  Although the Giant Sequoia is larger by volume and has much bigger trunks, the Coastal Redwood is slightly taller.   More importantly, the Redwoods are much more prevalent.  While we only saw Sequoia in small groves found sparsely through the mountains, the Redwood groves are dense and prolific…it is a wonderful forest to hike in or drive through.  

Bob Next to Fallen Redwood, Redwood NP

 

Redwoods in Usual Coastal Fog (NPS Photo)

We were able to hike to and through quite a few groves along the coast, as well as to enjoy the coast cliffs and stunning scenery.  We were fortunate that there was a hot spell in California, and it was sunny while we were there.  Usually, the coast is surrounded by heavy fog, which the redwoods need: the obtain 50% of their water needs from the fog/mist, through their needles.  

Pt Cabrillo Lighthouse, Mendocino

We are fans of Lighthouses and visit everyone we can along the way.  We had stopped at Point Pinos Lighthouse in Monterey, Point Arena and Point Cabrillo near Mendocino, and Trinidad Head and Battery Point near Crescent City.  The Battery Point Lighthouse is on an Island/Peninsula in Crescent City.  Linda had taken pictures of it when Bob was doing a Field Day for his Ham Radio, but wanted to wait until Bob could go with her to actually visit the Lighthouse.  When he was done later in the day, we went to the Light, but it was hightide, and the lighthouse was now on an island and not accessible.  Since we left the next day, we didn’t get a chance to go back.  

Battery Point Lighthouse, Crescent City, CA

We are now headed north to Oregon.  We have never spent any time there, so we are really looking forward to experiencing the state.We continue to feel very Blessed and Thank God for giving us the time and health to enjoy our retirement to the fullest. 

Feel free to pass the blog link on to anyone who might be interested.   

Best to all,

Linda and Bob