We drove over to Sonoma and Highway 12 and then 116 to Jenner and Highway 1 as the most scenic route. We stopped just north of Ft. Bragg and camped at a KOA in Westport. The weather was cold so we stayed off the beach and had the campground almost to ourselves. I'm not a big fan of private campgrounds but this one was nice. The tent sites are next to a stream with otters (although we didn't see any). In the morning, we walked on the beach. Commando LOVES chasing the waves and did that till he could barely stand. He was joined by a cute white staffy in wave chasing until both of them were exhausted.
Commando gives chasing waves with a hot staffy 4 paws up!
We kept going up Highway 1 until it ends and joins 101 at Leggett. We had been hoping to eat at Leggett but there isn't anything there. We ended up eating in Garberville at a restaurant completely decorated with cows. I highly recommend the pancakes. They were delicious! I'll go on a bit about these pancakes because I ate them regularly on this trip and these were really outstanding. They were buttery tasting and the edges were reminiscent of caramel. I wish I could remember the name.
We kept driving up 101 through the redwood forests. If there was a scenic route option, we took it. We strolled at Founders Grove with some tourists who seemed to be on a bus tour. We also stopped at a quilt store Arcata. We saw the elk along the way.
Commando gives seeing elk but not chasing elk 0 paws!
We finally stopped in Crescent City. It was very cold and raining. The weather report was for more cold and more rain. We ended up staying at the America's Best motel. It was clean, renovated, and reasonably priced with friendly staff. We bought books on the desk clerk's recommendation at a nearby second hand store.
The Chart House fish restaurant was not good at all. It was disappointing to be in a fishing city and not be able to get a good fish meal.
We really felt we hadn't gotten in enough exercise so we headed to the Jedediah Smith State Park to put in a quick hike. Although it turned out well, our inadvertent adventure does remind me to review a map before hiking.
We turned off on a random road that seemed to offer a likely walking opportunity. We soon saw a sign for the Leffert Loop at .7 miles and the Ellsworth Loop at .2 miles. As it was late (7 pm or so) and raining, these distances sounded just about right. It's normally not that hard to get lost on a loop trail either.
We started out and crossed a bridge and a walkway over a marshy area. The redwoods were lovely. We came to a trail junction sign which was a bit confusing. Fortunately, Donna took a picture of it.
We hiked uphill for a bit, then along a flattish section, then downhill for a bit and then to a trail junction that looked just like the original trail junction. Donna asked which way and I pointed to the direction leading out of the loop. She thought that it didn't look right. I said let's look at the picture and we did. Imagine our surprise when we saw that the text on the sign was the same, but the arrows pointed in the opposite direction. Hmmm.
We headed along the flat section. It was getting darker. Donna had a cell phone but no signal and her batteries were running out. It was cold and wet. We were warm as long as we kept moving but would become very chilled if we had to stop. We decided to keep time on Donna's cell phone and walk for 15 minutes. At about 10 minutes we came to a stream. Should we continue or turn back? Fortunately we continued because within 20 steps we were back at the original sign and were back warm in the car withing minutes.
Phew! Commando gives the hike 4 paws up! He thought the forest smelled delicious and there was plenty of water to wade in.
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