Oregon Caves and California - Day 6

Mostly traveling today—with one stop on our way to Redwoods Forest National Park in California: Oregon Caves National Monument. We stopped at a market and bought batteries for the flashlight. We arrived at Oregon Caves in the early afternoon and registered for the cave tour and learned that flashlights were not permitted. All the way from Ohio for nothing.

The cave was quite decorated, and inside we saw something we’d never seen before in all the caves we have traveled through: a tree root. The root was from a tree 55 feet above, and it stretched about 20 feet further along the cave floor.

Oregon Caves were discovered in 1874, by a young man hunting for bear, Elijah Davidson. Davidson found a bear, and his dog chased it into a whole on the side of a mountain. The love of a man for his dog led Davidson to follow though he could see nothing. He quickly gave up his pursuit and followed a gurgling, ice-cold stream out to safety. His dog was soon to follow, and Davidson set up camp at the cave’s exit, laying his provisions there to lure the bear. The following morning the bear made its way to daylight too, led by the scent of Davidson’s food. And BAM! Davidson shot himself a bear!

After 90 minutes the tour let out on the side of the mountain, and Mark and I continued up the trail—less than a mile—through the old growth forest—and then down again, back to the car. We grabbed our food and hiked a bit lower than the parking lot and picnicked in the forest.

On south to California. Our reservations were in Crescent City at the top tip of Redwoods National Forest. We entered California on a curvy, old logging road and so were pleasantly surprised to come across a Redwoods National Park Visitor Center, and we got there just 20 minutes or so before closing. The two rangers manning the VC seemed surprised and delighted to see us too. I’m not sure they had any visitors all the day up to that point. They told us that the VC would close for the season in a couple days; only the south VC would stay open. (Redwoods National Park runs along the California coast for about 100 miles.) One ranger helped me plan our visit for the next day. Then Mark and I watched the 12-minute introductory video and drove back to a hidden drive that the ranger turned us on to. Crescent City sat at the end of the seven-mile drive. We stopped for a short hike on our way; I took a picture of 6' 4" Mark at the bottom of an upended redwood.

After checking in to our motel, Mark and I drove down 101 to some lookouts over the ocean and then back to Anchor Way, which dead-ended at the water, and ate at a busy seafood restaurant, where we watched sea lions lazing in the cool evening air, some posing for pictures, quite used to the attention.

After dinner we drove to another bay and walked out to get a picture of the full moon, but it was chilly. Mark didn’t have a jacket, and he’s who took the picture so it’s all shaky. Turning the other way, we ran the length of the dock back to the warmth of our rental car. And from the car Mark got a really nice picture of a lighthouse backed by the lowest of sunsets.