California Redwoods

I recently completed a trip up to the Redwood State and National Parks. I stayed at Kamp Klamath in Klamath, CA. It's a really nicely wooded campground a mile and a had from the beach. Having made previous trips to the redwoods I decided to try and broaden my horizon on this trip and seek out a little more wildlife as well as taking in a drive up to the southern Oregon border to drive the Boardman Scenic Corridor.

The redwoods are an amazing place to visit if you haven't. One disclaimer is the construction on 101 is quite annoying. While it moves reasonably well, there are 3 traffic light controlled one lane sections, as well as daily manned construction sites that stop traffic as needed. But if you've never been, you should go.

This time of year the prize photo catch is to get rhododendrons in bloom amongst the redwoods with some nice fog and hopefully the beautiful sun rays through the fog. I didn't quite find the sunrays, but to quote Meatloaf, two outta three ain't bad.



I had seen this bull elk the day before out in the meadow. But I couldn't get an interesting photo. I went back the next day to search him out again but he was nowhere to be found. After shooting other elk I was packing up when a guy came over and asked me if I wanted to see a really big elk. So he leads me just past a large, open picnic area to where the "forest" begins. Sure enough, there he is as if waiting for me. The perfect environmental portrait.



I wandered down to the beach one afternoon. There were different birds "fishing" the area. This osprey later caught himself an eel.



The area is also home to many harbor seals. I had to wait for low tide the next day to walk out to a little island where a huge group were sunning themselves. I believe this a new young one and it's mother.



The lower Oregon coast is just beautiful. I wish I had more time to spend there. I spent most of the day driving and stopping at turnouts. This is one of the more famous ones called Natural Bridges.



It turns out there is an osprey who spends a lot of time perched in a tree near the beach. I spent parts of a couple of days watching him take off and return. In my time there he never came back with a fish but the landings were always quite interesting. This one was a false start takeoff.

 

Thank you.

 

One thing I'll mention as a word of caution for anyone staying at Redwood National and State Parks with an online reservation: it's really easy for them to charge extra when you arrive, and it has something to do with the combined national/state/online aspect of the park. When we went last year, they tried to charge us extra at the entry kiosk saying something was a state requirement when it wasn't, even though we were certain everything was paid for online. It took one of the park rangers with some management responsibilities to get involved to fix it, and the only way we were able to prove our case was through the extraordinary amount of paperwork (both park info and receipts) that I just happened to bring with us that I printed at home. Unfortunately the details are getting a little fuzzy a year later, so the specifics are hard to remember...but my wife and I were furious at the time as to what was happening. They ended up apologizing and blaming the computers. Despite their proclaimed ignorance, we definitely got the sense that this isn't the first time this has happened. My advice would be to print everything in advance and question the numbers if something seems wrong. I'm not sure how many people are having to pay extra like they attempted to do with us, and I'm sure many aren't even aware what's happening.

Other than that, we had a spectacular time as always.

 

I only paid about $37 a nite and that included electric and water. That’s pretty close to what you would pay for a dry site in a government park. And it was a very nice park. Given the seasonal weather when I went it could have easily rained most of the week I was there. It actually rained two days before and the day I left, but didn’t rain on me otherwise.

In that area I’d be concerned to be anywhere without power since many of the campgrounds are truly buried in deep trees as well as all the fog and rain they get.

 

John, those are spectacular images. I'm adding these parks to our list. Maybe this fall...Thanks for posting this.

 

Thank you. The redwoods are quite spectacular. Make sure you visit many of the different groves.

 

John,

is the campsite in a Redwood grove and if not, how far away are they? Hikable from the campsite?

thanks,

Randy

 

Hi Randy,

Here's the link... Kamp Klamath

This particular campground is not in an official park/grove. The actual parks where you will find official trails are spread out as far as 30+ miles. On previous visits I stayed in hotels in Crescent City which is at the northern most range of parks and groves. This location is more in the middle between north and south parks/groves, in Klamath, CA. I actually preferred it because it was more in the middle of where I might want to go on a given day. From there you can get to Prairie Creek State Park (where the elk tend to graze) in 15-20 minutes to the south or Jedediah Smith Park to the north in 30-35 minutes (subject to more traffic stops/issues). There are more parks further south all the way to Eureka which will obviously take even longer.

That said, this campground is surrounded by trees, the ocean, and the Klamath River. There are also some nice views and overlooks 10-15 minutes by car on a mixture of paved and dirt roads. The beach area where many birds and seals regularly hang out is just over a mile away and could be hiked/walked/biked.

There is another campground next to this one. I didn't go in it so the only thing I can tell you is they charge more. Maybe it's worth it, maybe it isn't. I can't say. But wherever you stay it's a great place to visit.

Lots of trees in the campground.



This overlook is part of a 6 mile loop from the camp.



And this is the view above the beach just a mile down the road from camp. Perched in the middle tree is the osprey in the above photo.

 

Thank John, looks beautiful, on my bucket list.

 

John, that is a phenomenal spot. Your photographic skills are also fantastic.

 

Thank you. It's a beautiful area.

 

Totally agree -- great photos. In a former life I used to work in a high-end lab -- these are every bit as good as the "pro's" used to bring to us. I really need to get my camera back out, and stop relying on iphoney point and click

 

Thanks Sweeney. While I would always prefer a real camera and lens to a phone, people should realize that phone cameras have continually been getting better and are capable of taking some amazing photos.

I have an iPhone photo that will be hanging in my local county fair this summer. They only accept about 20% of all images submitted for show. They generally receive around 5,000 entries and show about 1,000.

The old saying about what camera/lens should I use for a particular shot (correct answer being...whichever one you have with you) is still true today. Everybody has a camera with them all the time now. Spend a little time learning how best to use it and they might be surprised at their results.

 

Totally agree with that --- the same with most things. Its about the skill of the person behind the tool, be that a steering wheel, handlebar, saw & hammer, or a camera. A skilled operator will make the biggest difference in the outcome. I used to ride motorcycles, and after hundreds of thousands of miles, I could whip my full dresser BMW around twisty mountain passes leaving squids behind me. But they sure did look cool with their color coordinated leathers.....

The saying in the lab was "You can tell the lesser photographer, they have the longest lens" -- Some of the best photographs I've seen come from a Pentax K1000....

 

Terrific shooting, John! We tent camped in fall 2015 in a state park not far from where you camped on this trip and had a marvelous time. The landscape there is stunning. We also hit up Crater Lake on that trip and we were blown away at what a beautiful gem that was.

 

Thank you.

I spent a couple of hours at Crater Lake once while returning home form a different trip. It is a pretty amazing place.