3 July - Redwoods and Battery Point Lighthouse

Delayed Post
3 July
Posting this on the 4th.  Had a long day yesterday and returned to the campground and I ran out of gas.  Today (4th) we traveled to our new site, so writing this a day late.

On 3 July we traveled through the Redwood National Park to see the big trees.  Our campground host at Gold Beach told us about Route 197 which tee'd off Route 101 and headed east through the forest, and then a road that headed back west into Crescent City CA to the lighthouse.  We saw some very big trees but not the great big grand daddy's you see on TV.  If we had more time we could have driven south further and seen more redwoods.  I was amazed by the thickness of the ground cover under these trees, and the size of the fallen trees also.  Most of the redwood forests I saw were basically impassible.  Incredible!!  Here are some pictures:

Moss hanging from the trees

Even though these were not the biggest redwoods, they are still very tall

Not much clearance between the trees and the road.  Many of the trees had bad scuff marks on them.

Thick forest

Huge trees and these are the smaller ones.  Notice the vehicles parked along side the road.  

Not much space on the sides of the road.

After leaving the redwoods we traveled into Crescent City CA and returned some items at Home Depot and bought some other items.  Then we headed to Battery Point Lighthouse.  This was an interesting one in that if you want to visit it you need to check the tide tables!  When the tide is in, it is surrounded by water.  When the tide is out, you can walk to it!

From the shore you can see the area that is flooded during high tide

Doreen walking up the concrete pathway

Looking back from the island toward shore.  Many people visiting the lighthouse

Battery Point Lighthouse.

So the Battery Point Lighthouse was built in 1856 and is still operational today.  Because of that they prohibited photos inside, according to the volunteers that staff the facility.  It contains a residence which houses the volunteers who tend the lighthouse and also run the tours for a modest charge.  Doreen and I both paid for the tour.  They are very knowledgeable and they want to make sure when you are done with the tour that you know everything about this lighthouse that they do :-).  So here is how it works, LOL:

Visitors wait outside on benches until the final group comes out.  Zzzzzz..  A volunteer then comes out and fetches a group which enters the gift shop and they are briefed by a volunteer there while you wait for the next station, which is the dining area/parlor and the new kitchen area.  There you are briefed by another volunteer while you wait to go upstairs to see the bedroom area.  There you are briefed by another volunteer while you wait to go up into the actual lighthouse.  There you are briefed by another volunteer until you come all the way down and exit.  Do you see any potential problems here???  Any where along the line if there are a hundred questions, all well-intended of course, or any of the volunteers is verbose, all well intended of course, well you get the picture...!  So we waited outside about 30 minutes and once inside we were in there more than an hour and never saw the actual lighthouse, just the residential portion..  ARG!  Oh well, we photographed the outside and Doreen bought a new purse from the gift shop.  

Doreen's new purse

In the early days they were afraid of fire in the lighthouse, so they built a separate kitchen here.  The tank held rainwater which was their only water source.  Later, they moved the kitchen inside.

A collection of crab trap bouys

 Doreen did get her Lighthouse Passport book stamped for this lighthouse and another lighthouse that is nearby but not visible today due to the fog.

We made our way back to the RV, stopping at a grocery store first to restock before we departed.  Once back at the campground we had dinner and then went for a final beach walk, hoping to score some shark's teeth or at least catch the sunset.  The Pacific shark's dental hygiene must be pretty good as no teeth found, but the tide was coming in and the ocean was angry, making for a great beach walk.

Beautiful beach at Gold Beach OR.

We love the beaches.

Sun is low and we cast long shadows!

I would have loved to stay another 20 minutes to catch the sun on the water, but we needed to get back.

Doreen did pick up some more colorful and interesting stones.

 We held out until about 20 minutes before the sunset then headed back to the RV to pack up and say our goodbyes to our Air Force friends, Dick and Caroline.  Dick and his group had been fishing today for surf perch and caught theor limit.  We just missed the fish fry!

I gave them one of my retirement coins and thanked them for their service.  Dick was in Civil Engineering and was an HVAC technician.  Caroline was a WAF (60's acronym for Women in the Air Force) and became pregnant, so she had to get out which was the rule back in those days.  They seemed overwhelmed that I would recognize their service with a coin, a thanks and a handshake (and hug for Caroline).  Neither had ever received a coin before.

 So tomorrow, the Fourth of July we will head for the Silver Spur RV Park in Silverton OR.  Our stay in Gold Beach has been fantastic!