We left Crater Lake in the morning and headed towards Eureka. Our plan was to join up with the 101 aka the Pacific Coast Highway as soon as we could. Then from there our first priority was getting to Redwoods National Park.
We arrived in time to have lunch at a picnic table outside the visitors’ center, surrounded by Redwoods. We didn’t get too many good views on the drive in because it was cloudy and misty, which was scenic in its own way.
After lunch, we started driving and stopping off whenever we saw a tree big enough to catch our attention. We wandered a bit through the trees. It was so shocking to see them up close.
We then headed to Prairie Creek Visitors Center and went on the Revelation Trail. When we talked to the park ranger who recommended the trail to us, we got the impression this was a 3-mile hike round trip. Either we took a wrong turn or we misunderstood the ranger, because we ended up on a 6-mile hike and it was a bit late to start on such a long hike. We basically only realized it was going to be that long when we were nearly halfway along. So we ended up doing the whole thing and then driving furiously towards town to get dinner.
Because it was a long hike, I did end up taking a lot of pictures!
We saw some really amazing mushrooms!
We also had the opportunity to crawl through a fallen tree, but none of us were brave enough to do it. I bet there are a lot of critters that live in there!
Eventually, we did make it back to the car and we were really happy to drive into Eureka, check into our hotel, and find some food! We went to the Lost Coast Brewery, because they had vegan burgers on the menu and we were all pretty keen for a beer after our walk! Unfortunately, we hadn’t showered before going to dinner, because eating was a higher priority, so it was good no one was sitting too close to us. The last time we showered was in Portland!
After dinner and hanging out for a while, we headed back to the hotel, took showers, used wifi, and enjoyed having a soft bed to sleep on!
The next morning, we had the free breakfast at the hotel and then walked around the area where our hotel was. We saw some really cool houses! Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to keep exploring Eureka, but we definitely enjoyed the amenities of civilization!
We left Eureka and made our way south toward San Francisco!
