Hello from glorious, though slightly/extremely rainy, Northern California. As I just finished telling my brothers, I believe that today was one of my favorite days from the trip so far. We awoke this morning with a choice that has been denied to us for 11 days. Did we want to shower? Just five simple words, but behind them lies a lot of meaning. “What was this meaning?” you ask. It means that currently we’re living the life of luxury. We’re at a private campground that has unheard of amenities like free showers and washing machines. But that’s not all folks. There is a rec-room with video games and pool tables, there is a playground and electrical hookups. Hold on to your britches… there is even a tether-ball court on which the greatest tether-ball showdown the west coast has ever seen was played yesterday. This campground is a breath of fresh air after a lineup of National Park campgrounds. I would recommend that anyone looking to follow in our footsteps with an epic trip of their own, throw in a few stays at private campgrounds or KOA’s and treat yourselves to some much appreciated creature comforts.
A snazzy campground wasn’t the only thing that made this day amazing though. This also had much to do with the location of the day, Redwood National Park. Redwood is located on a strip of pacific coast in Northern California pretty close to the Oregon border. I think I appreciate Redwood as much as I do because it reminds me of where I live on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Both areas are temperate rainforests and the feeling of the two forests is much the same. To relate it to Lord of The Rings, Redwood feels like Fangorn. Its dark and dense without feeling gloomy and its full of moss and ferns and towering trees. To me it comes out in a feeling of extreme age, which is appropriate when you realize that some of the trees we walked through today were alive when Jesus Christ ministered on Earth. It has become something of a running joke with us that every location we visit reminds David of Jurassic Park. Today though, walking through the redwoods, I felt it too.
Where Redwood differs completely from home is that the rolling forested mountains border directly the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean. You don’t have anything like the nice Piedmont and Coastal Plain that North Carolina is so known for. During a break in the weather we went in search of some pretty ocean views and came across one of the coolest stretches of beach I have ever been to. Now let’s all pause and reflect on the fact that I have been to some cool beaches. I
have visited beaches from Boston to Florida in this country. I’ve been to beaches on two different Bahamian Islands. I’ve even relaxed at beaches on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Costa Rica, so it is no small thing for me to say that the beach we visited today was one of the best I have ever seen. It was a black sand beach located right where the Klamath River emptied into the ocean. It was strewn with driftwood and beautiful multicolored stones and large obelisks of rock that intrepid explorers like ourselves could climb. It was like a giant natural playground and we took our time trying out all the different ways we could have fun. We climbed the boulders, we expanded our rock collections, we found chunks of driftwood to have sword battles with, we ran from an ocean that was determined to soak our clothes, and we rounded it all out by tossing giant logs on our backs and carrying them around for no other reason than that we could.
It was a great day, one of the best I’ve had. I don’t really have the words, or the patience to search for them, to really do Redwood justice. All I know is that the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day, a beautiful park, and the ability to be out experiencing it all, and for that I thank him.
-Josh
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