Trip Date: September 17, 2017
I was at the Smith River once before, having come up to camp while I was going the Humboldt State back in the early 1980’s. It is an incredibly beautiful place with massive old-growth Redwoods and the Smith River. They filmed the speeder bike scenes on Endor, home of the Ewoks in 1983’s Return of the Jedi there. It really does have a mystical ancient feeling there because everything is so massive; the Redwoods and ferns and undergrowth are all massive and make you feel so tiny and insignificant in this land of giants. I have wanted to return all these years, and we finally got it on the calendar.
We planned the trip as our first trip up the Oregon Coast. I don’t recall ever seeing the Oregon Coast, although we may have crossed over into Brookings or something just to cross the border at some point. Kristen and I wanted to do the entire coast in sections over successive years, and this would be our first leg. We crossed over highway 20 onto 101 and blazed up to a sweet little cabin out on the edge of a bluff in Trinidad. It was a great spot and we could have just stayed there, but we had to keep movin on.
We got a pretty early start after having some nice morning coastal fog on the deck. We got gas at Chevron and some road grub at Murphy’s market in town, before jumping back onto 101. We had to forego Redwood National Park too, and there is so much to see there, that made that a tough call, but I really wanted to show Kristen Fern Canyon and hopefully see some elk down along the beach in the sand dunes. It is such a trippy setting to see them is and without forest to blend in to, they are easy to see and watch. We headed further North on 101 to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and headed out Gold’s Bluff Beach Rd to the very end and the entrance to Fern Canyon.
It is an easy walk in and out of Home Creek as you enter the narrow gorge with vertical walls on both sides covered in lush green ferns. The angle of the early light was perfect, and the few folks that were with us at the entrance, thinned out dramatically to just a few as far back as we went. Although we didn’t see any elk, it was a glorious start to our trip, and we weren’t even in Oregon yet. Next stop, Requa.
I had come across the Requa Inn on Googly, and even though we decided not to stay there, I still wanted to check it out. It was kinda only partly open; I couldn’t really tell what was happening, although I knew the restaurant was not serving, as it has come to have quite a reputation, or had anyway. I finally found a super nice lady that told us a little bit about the place, but most importantly, she told us how to get down to the mouth of the Klamath and gave us her name in case anyone pestered us.
I could tell we were going to a place not many “outsiders” get to go. The road was very narrow one-way, with no signs and no places to park that weren’t in front of someone’s home. Obviously, not too long ago, this was all Indian land, perhaps even reservation land after that, and it definitely felt like they were keeping this North side of the mouth to themselves. It did not feel all warm and cozy, but in all my years in Humboldt Count, and trips to the Klamath River, I had never seen the mouth, not even come close. I was excited to get down there, and from all indications, we would have it to ourselves once we found our way down.
We found the house/spot where the lady said to park and the trail down to the spit. Lots of barking dogs, but no humans, none seen anyway, for we definitely felt like there were eyes on us. Down on the beach, that all faded away and the natural beauty and sense of the place carried us away. It was cloudy and gray, everything in black and white. It was wet and salty, and breezy, and cool, just like the NorthCoast should be. The seagulls were thick, and the river and waves of the incoming tide really made the water thrash and rise and swell as the competing forces crashed into each other.
The further out to the actual mouth we got, we began to notice another type or thrashing about. We were seeing black dots in the water that soon became seals, dozens of them, heads up and looking, then diving, some leaping out of the water. And then, after some quiet focus, we could see the salmon, the water thick with them. Every actions these seals making an effort to land another one. It was one of the coolest events I have ever seen, and it was just Kristen and I literally in nature, completely surrounded by an annual event that has defined all of the human beings that have lived here, and many of the birds and animals. Salmon have dictated and defined culture up here, and the run was happening mere feet away from us. It was awesome.
We watched and listened for a long time, trying to soak it in through every pore of our bodies. This was once in a lifetime stuff. Eventually, it was time to go and we floated along the pebbly beach to the trail, just smiling from ear to ear and filled with such a sense of happiness and fulfillment, and appreciation for having witnessed just an extraordinary event. I was relieved to see the truck, and even more so to be heading out, as some folks had emerged from their dwellings and were giving us a good looking over.
It was time to get up to the campsite and get settled in at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. We hit the Safeway in Crescent City and then headed to camp. We found a cool site, although the entire loop by the Smith River was closed and had tons of trucks and heavy duty paving equipment in it. We set up camp and then took a walk about to get our bearings, but things didn’t at all seem familiar. Even though it had been some 40 years, I assumed being back here would be exactly like my faded likely inaccurate memories and probably even less realistic as my memories are often collages of many different places all merged into one fictitious place, so good luck with that.
We went down to the river and after a good walk, settled in to camp and trying to keep dry on the misty sprinkling weather. We got a visit from the camp host asking us to take the bungee cord from around the massive Redwood tree because it would cause damage to the tree. After almost laughing in her face, I suggested the possibility of damage was incomprehensible and she should go back to her crack pipe. The rain fly stayed. We slept great in our warm dry bed with the soothing sound of a little drizzling rain off and on, just enough to keep the dust and insect down and the sweet scents of the Redwood forest heightened.
After warming up with a fire and coffee and a couple biscuits, we headed out to see the park, but we just weren’t finding it. I was all clogged up with finding the spot that matched my mind eye recollection, which probably didn’t exist, rather than just seeing what was right in front of me. We drove out Walker Road through some beautiful forest out to a great sand bar on the Smith River. The sun was gloriously warm and the sky was crystal clear and clean. We absorbed as much warmth as we could as we had a sweet little lunch and a few beverages and allowed the afternoon to pass in very slow motion.
The night in camp was awesome. It was real quiet with few people around. We BBQ’d dinner and had a great fi
re and were early to bed. The next day we continued our search for my quintessential Jedediah Smith memory. We started with another stroll along the river, then we headed out Howland Hill Road up to the Stout Grove Trail. This must be the spot. We basically had the trail to ourselves and it really helped get into a good head space to help appreciate and attempt to absorb as much as possible. The trees, logs, leaves, ferns are so massive, it is difficult to not get overwhelmed by it all and fail to see the whole picture and you as one of the pieces, rather than just feeling like a tiny crumb of insignificance.
It took a while and a lot of looking up and a slowing of pace and a lessoning of an effort to find the past and match a memory to finally feel comfortable in the forest, like you did belong and could coexist, rather than a temptation to exploit it or to fear the massivity of everything. We were feeling good about things as we headed on out Howland Hill Road, stopping along the way for a visit or a picture, eventually coming out in Eastern Crescent City and looping back to camp on Elk Valley Road. We had another great night at camp with good food, beverages, and fire, and an overwhelming sense we had found the places we were searching for, in the past and in the present.
We were up and out early, having to get all the way home in one day, however, we couldn’t pass up the lions and tigers and bears at the Wild Animal Park. Heading back on Highway 199, just outside of Cave Junction, is the Great Cats World Park, and it is 100% worth seeing. They have Lions, Jaguars, Lynx, Leopards, Caracals, Pumas, Ocelots, Servals, and more. It was so cool to see them up close, and doing all their kitty-like things. It was a great stop, especially since we are not zoo people or captive animal people at all, but somehow, this one felt more respectable.
After our brief side trip, we blazed home without incident. It was our first Oregon Coast trip, even though we didn’t set foot on the Oregon Coast. I guess we figured we needed to finish off the California Coast before we felt ready to take in all that Oregon has to offer. Next year, Oregon Coast for sure.
Oregon Coast I Photo Gallery
