SUNDAY – TUESDAY, AUGUST 30-SEPT 1:

SUNDAY – TUESDAY, AUGUST 30-SEPT 1:

      Rained again Sat. night and Sunday morning. Welcomed, in that it will help with the awful forest fires which have been raging in northern Calif and eastern Oregon and Washington most of the summer. With the drought, the forests are a tinderbox, and it's been the worst fire season in recent memory. However, it has rarely affected us, for which we're thankful.

      Lynn arrived late Sunday afternoon, and we enjoyed a lovely grilled salmon dinner outside. A little chilly, but fine with jackets. In fact, the two of us stayed outside sipping wine and talking for quite a while after dinner.

      As predicted, Monday dawned bright and sunny. What a glorious day for a walk in the woods! After a leisurely breakfast, we drove again into the Jedediah Smith Park, but this time took a back road. VERY back road – narrow, twisty, rough, and not paved. But oh, the scenery! Hemmed in by huge majestic redwoods on either side. We stopped a few miles up the road at the Boy Scout Trail, and the 3 of us embarked on it. Once again surrounded by awe-inspiring old growth redwood forest. I don't think one could ever tire of seeing this!

 

 

 

                                                               

     Bill decided to turn back after about a mile; Lynn & I kept going for probably at least another mile, if not more – and this part was more challenging – twisty, up and down. We calculated that we weren't far from the trail's end (2.6 mies), at a waterfall. But I'd read that the waterfall was nothing special at all – really, just a splash of the stream over an embankment. And we were getting a little fatigued, so turned back. A nice workout on this trail categorized as “moderate,” in glorious weather.

 

      Rested and cat-napped back at the RV before grilling shrimp on the grill. Another yummy dinner that we all enjoyed. 

 

 

 

 

      A second beautiful day on Tuesday. We drove down to the Battery Point Lighthouse. No tours today because of the tides – apparently very high tides most of the day. But it was fascinating to watch the tide come in - from both sides, and totally fill the space in between where we had walked just the other day.

 

 

 

                                            

 

As the tide rose, naturally the waves became more vigorous, and after a while, waves from both sides were crashing into each other. Surely wouldn't want to have a reason to need to get to the lighthouse now!

 

 

 

     Then quickly rode over to the harbor and enjoyed the sea lions and their antics for a few minutes.

 

                                                               

 

     And then drove on out Pebble Beach Drive, which skirts the ocean for a few miles. A gorgeous drive on this beautiful day. 

 

                                                                          

 

 A few miles north of town is St. George Point. This is named for the St. George Lighthouse, which is 6 miles offshore. We could faintly see it, off in the distance.

 

                                                        

 

 

It was the last lighthouse to be built, completed in 1892, as a direct result several years earlier of the shipwreck in that area of the Brother Jonathan, a ship which had just left the Battery Point area with 200 passengers. It hit an uncharted rock, and all but 11 people perished. So this additional lighthouse was built at the astronomical cost of $700,000 back then (equivalent to $19 million today), taking 10 years to build the 15-story structure. It was the most dangerous assignment for a lighthouse keeper, due to its isolation and vulnerablity to the unpredictable and treacherous sea all around it. For example, supplies were carried in by boat, and the entire boat would be hooked to a large boom and then lifted to a boat deck at the base of the caisson (concrete and granite base of the tower). During this transfer process, 4 men and 1 dog lost their lives over the years. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1975, and its 8-foot high first order Fresnel lens was removed and donated to the historical society in Crescent City.

      We picnicked on a bluff overlooking the absolutely gorgeous water this afternoon. All 3 of us were mesmerized by the rhythmn of the waves crashing below us, the spray against the rocks, the white foam.

 

                                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was especially hard for Bill and me to leave this spot, as it is the last time we'll see the ocean on this trip. From San Diego all the way up the California coast, we've been exposed to the coastline and water. From the warm sandy beaches in Oceanside to the spectacular cliffside ocean along Big Sur to the powder-blue scalloped-edged coastline of the Oregon border. And we always thought we weren't that spell-bound by the ocean! Wrong!

     So tomorrow Lynn will head back to Portland, and we'll head south and east to Lassen National Park. - 1^st stop on our way back home. Will stay there 3 nights, then a little more south and east to the Sierras for a short time.