Arcata

Sunday - Drive to Arcata

We had a driving day again. We were headed south to California along coastal 101.

After packing up and loading the car, and making the bumpy ride out of the Bandon beach house for the last time, we headed south.

Our first stop ended up being at Port Orford, where the views of the water enticed us to stop and stretch our legs. The boys didn’t want to leave the car, or walk too far, so we stayed pretty close to the car. Some pictures later we got back on the road.

We stopped in a small cafe called Indian Creek cafe for some Brunchy food near Gold Beach, before setting off again.

I had spotted a beach on google maps called “Secret Beach” and wanted to check it out. The entrance off the 101 was unmarked, but identifiable by the set of cars parked there. When we all set off to go down to the beach, we went down what we thought was the trail, but it was super steep and the loose sandy texture meant that none of us had a good grip and we kept sliding down. Purni and Aarav decided not to proceed down this way, and opted to stay in the car with Rango. Tejas and I soldiered on and bivouacked our way down this path, which was severely overgrown and extra steep in some sections, until we made it to the beach.

The view of the beach was spectacular, and had some streams and waterfalls which made it quite Picturesque and worth the hike down.

After spending 20 or so minutes on the beach, we decided to head back to the car, and found the real path back to the parking lot. A path much easier to take and with less hassle. We had just failed to spot it because a large SUV had parked in front of the trail and blocked it from our view. I managed to convince Purni to take the 10 minute hike to the beach and appreciate the view.

Post beach, we started driving again and drove quite a ways through the amazing redwoods in Jedediah Smith Redwoods state park, making a mental note to come back to visit them again.

Wanting to give Rango a break, we stopped in Wilsons creek beach, which had fine black sands, to stretch our legs. We explored the beach, rock pooled for hermit crabs, climbed on the rocks, and built sand castles.

We were tired from a long day of Driving, so Purni took the final stretch and drove us all the way to our AirBNB in downtown Arcata, with some notable Elk viewing along the way.

Monday - Redwood national and state parks; trees of mystery

Lacking time the previous day, we had opted to not make more stops, even though interesting things had caught our eye on the previous day. We decided to drive back and re-see some of these things.

Our first destination was the Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood state and National park. Since this was a national park, dogs were only allowed in the Parking lot, so we took turns visiting the redwood grove and enjoying a short walk among the trees.

Next we drove a short ways north to Redwood state park to see some more trees; the Big Tree and The Corkscrew tree, which were both close to the road.

Having more time at hand, we made the call to drive further north to go visit Trees of Mystery, which was on Purni’s list when we were driving down from Oregon, but we had opted to not stop the previous day since we were short on time.

Though a bit touristy, Trees of Mystery had some nice views, gave us a short hike among the trees, and gave us a chance to go on some tree-top walkways as well as go on a short gondola ride to a viewpoint. Rango was allowed along in all these places, so that was nice. After some ice cream from the giftshop, and some shopping, we drove back to Arcata.

Tuesday - Chill out in Arcata, Community Forest and Brewery

Two days of driving all over the place tuckered us out. We stayed in on Tuesday and had a quiet day. We drove to the Arcata Community forest in the afternoon for a short walk and stopped by the Redwood Curtain brewing company for some local brews and some food from the nearby South G Kitchen.