West Coast National Parks: Part 2 (May 2024)
After our trip to Channel Islands, we decided to take a rest day. We traveled to Bakersfield where we spent the day with Tammie’s niece and her family. That evening we drove towards Pinnacles National Park. This is the smallest of the nine California national parks. Pinnacles is known for its rugged terrain and volcanic formed rock formations. Pinnacles is also a great place to observe California condors.
Pinnacles is all about hiking. We went on 2 hikes. The hardest was a 2 mile round trip hike up to Condor Gulch Overview. In just 1 mile we gained 1000 feet of elevation. We were able to see California Condors flying over our heads at the overlook.
Later in the day we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge.
Redwood National and State Parks
Our 29th national park we visited together was Redwood National and State Parks. Just driving to the park was amazing. We drove on the Avenue of the Giants for about an hour. It was unbelievable how big the trees were as we drove by. We stopped at the Kuechel Visitor Center to get our bearings. As we drove around we went from the ocean, through neighborhoods, and into deep forests. We saw elk crossing a street we were driving on.
We hiked to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove then drove to the Elk Meadow to have lunch and look for elk. We didn’t see any but it was an amazing view. We also hiked to Fern Canyon and Stout Grove Trail. As amazing as the redwood trees are, the thing that was the most exciting to us was being able to climb and walk on the downed redwoods. They are truly massive.
Oregon
The next day on our trip we were headed to Oregon. However, our primary stop had weather related issues, so we called an audible on the way.
We knew our stop at the next national park would be short because of weather conditions. So, we decided to stop at the Rogue River Gorge Viewpoint. The upper Rogue River is a very dramatic site as it passes through narrow canyons cut through lava rock. The water flows steeply and quickly through the narrow passages. There is a paved path to the viewpoint which a 1/4 mile loop. It is a stunning site.
We finally arrived at the northern most point of our trip, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. We knew when we planned the trip, that weather conditions this far north and in the mountains could be problematic. And it was. Crater Lake had up to 7 feet of snow on the ground. As we drove up to the national park the roads were clear, but the snow was over the roof of our car as we drove by. At the entrance to Crater Lake, we were notified that the road was only open to the visitor center. We could only walk a few hundred feet on either side of the visitor center. Just about all we could do was take a few pictures. And it was really cold. We were very glad that we had packed jackets, hoodies, and gloves. Though we were disappointed we couldn’t do more, we did get some great snow pictures.
Since we spent so little time at Crater Lake, we decided to spend more time at our next stop, Lava Beds National Monument. When we arrived, we got a cave permit that allowed us to hike to and enter Mushpot, Valentine, and Skull caves. There are no guides to take you through the caves. Mushpot does have minimal lighting and some markers. The other two caves you are on your own and must bring your own flashlights. As we got deeper into Skull cave, we turned off our flashlights to experience the total darkness. It definitely gave us an uncomfortable feeling, and I was very glad my flashlight turned back on.
