Trees of Mystery & More… (Klamath, CA)

It was 2 PM on Sunday before we got away from the park today.  We changed sites 3 more times before we solved our power problem that I described in yesterday’s post.

The camp host was very accommodating and moved me to another site, but it was just another 30 amp pedestal and I had the same problem as before.  The Surge-Guard display toggled between “No Ground” and “Check Wiring” and wouldn’t stay connected to shore power.  So the camp host found me another site but I had to wait for the current occupant to leave.  It was also a 30 amp site and once I was able to pull in and plug in, I still had the same problem.  At least this time, I didn’t put the jacks down or the slides out before I plugged in.

The camp host kept checking on me throughout the morning, as did several other overly-enthusiastic camp occupants… Nice folks here.  I had just resigned myself to “boondocking it” for the rest of today and tonight (I even warned my neighbor about running my generator) when finally – a 50 amp site opened up unexpectedly, and the camp host moved me in.  Everything worked fine on the 50 amp in site #1 🙂  I was really starting to worry that my problem was with the Coach and not the park power.  Although, I’ve never had problems on 30 amp power before, that is – other than tripping the breaker because we forgot to turn off the coffee pot while we still had an AC running or the microwave.

It turns out that most of the tenants here at the Chinook RV Resort are long-term residents that stay for the entire summer fishing season or longer, and most have travel trailers or 5th wheels that are fine on 30 amp power.  All the other big rigs (Motorhomes) here are parked at the limited number of 50 amp spaces.  Of course, I won’t know for sure until I get to the next campground and I plug into 30 amp again, but I’m going to assume for now that my Surge-Guard was simply doing it’s job, and the park’s 30 amp wiring here needs an upgrade.  All the pedestals and boxes here are pretty old and deteriorated.  The first one I plugged into almost fell over, the wooden pole was so rotten.

With the power problem solved for now, Stilla put some more clothes in the washer/dryer combo while I got tips from the camp host and others on local sites to see.  We left at 2 PM with a list of things to go see and do today, so follow along and enjoy the pics.

Our first tip was the Klamath River Overlook on Requa Road which is a loop that climbs the mountain, (hill), that overlooks the mouth of the Klamath River at 600 feet.  It was only 1/2 mile from our campground.  Here are the views.

IMG_3945

IMG_3941

IMG_3943

IMG_3944

We still didn’t see any whales 🙁

Our next tip, which is a place we had passed on the way into town the day before – and knew of already, was the Trees of Mystery and Sky Trail (Gondola) Ride.  This was one cool place that has a lot of history.  It was founded in the early ’30s right off Hwy 101 and is only 3.5 miles North of our campground.  Many of the trees here have been seen in Ripleys Believe  It or Not.  I’m sure this is one of the most visited and photographed sites in Northern California.

Here’s a link to their website if you would like more information. http://www.treesofmystery.net  Enjoy the pics… although, as usual – the pictures don’t do the place justice.

IMG_3946

IMG_3949

The entrance fee was $15 per person.  Now this was definitely high on my personal value-meter.  Well worth it!

IMG_3950

IMG_3951

IMG_3954

IMG_3955

IMG_3958

IMG_3961

IMG_3963

IMG_3969

IMG_3967

IMG_3971

IMG_3972

IMG_3984

We passed some folks on one of the trails that were fascinated with something on the ground and were taking pictures… it turns out this is a rarely seen banana slug that was crossing the trail.  So, I followed suit and took a picture also.  So enjoy.

IMG_3992

IMG_3982

IMG_2048

IMG_2045

IMG_2062

IMG_3979

IMG_3985

IMG_3991

Once again, I don’t know how Stilla does it, but she found some more Germans.  There was a film crew from Germany climbing one of the trees.  They were doing a documentary on the Redwoods.  We watched them for a while, at one point they even put a camera drone up in the air to film the climbers.

IMG_3993

IMG_2053

We continued on with our tour after the climbers were out of sight.

IMG_4030

IMG_4029

IMG_4039

IMG_4038

IMG_4034

IMG_4049

IMG_4043

IMG_4047

IMG_4050

IMG_4051

IMG_4052

A highlight of this Place of Wonder is the Sky Trail (Gondola).  It was included in the entrance fee.  We had a six-passenger gondola all to ourselves.  It takes 8 – 10 minutes to make the 1570 ft trip up the mountain.

Here is the entrance at the bottom.

IMG_3995

IMG_3996

 

Going up…

IMG_4004

 

and up…

IMG_4008

Our obligatory selfie:

IMG_2056

IMG_4009

IMG_2057

Here we are at the top.

IMG_4011

IMG_4012

IMG_4013

IMG_4016

IMG_4018

Here you can see the Pacific Ocean in the background.

IMG_4019

After our fantastic trip above the trees, we drove back to the Coach to get little Coach so we could go through a tree.  Unfortunately, we had left him in the Coach because we assumed the Trees of Mystery park wouldn’t be dog-friendly – the opposite was true, they allow dogs on leashes  everywhere in the park, even the gondolas!  But it was too late for little Coach to make his mark on any of the greater than 2,000 year old trees.  So anyway, we picked him up and continued 1.5 miles the other direction (South) from our RV site to the next tip we got from folks at the campground – The Tour-Thru Tree!

IMG_4068

I had to pull the mirrors in, but we fit.  Here’s a picture I took in the mirror after we passed through and I pushed the drivers-side mirror back out.

IMG_4066

IMG_4071

IMG_4072

When I said we fit – it was with one caveat.. I had to loosen one of the bicycles on the rack because the tire was starting to rub on one side.  But hey, we fit 🙂

IMG_4073

That was worth the $5 entrance fee.  The tree is approximately 785 years old and the opening is 7’4″ (2.23 m) wide and 9’6″ (2.90 m) high.

The next tip we got from the camp host was to take the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway which is a road that parallels Hwy 101 and goes through some more of the fantastically huge Coastal Redwoods.

But first we had to cross the Klamath River bridge.

IMG_4077

This is the Klamath River.

IMG_4082

After driving through some more of the scenic forest along the Newton B. Drury Parkway  (which used to be part of the original Redwood Highway) to the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park we arrived at Elk Prairie and the Ranger Station.  It closed at 5 PM and it was now 5:30, so we just toured the outside of the building, took pictures of Elk in and around the meadow there, and took a short walk in the woods to close out our evening.

IMG_4083

IMG_4084

IMG_2069

IMG_2072

IMG_4085

IMG_4086

This picture of the map on the ranger station wall shows our location.  Sorry about the quality, but as always, if you click on any of the pictures you get an enlarged view.

IMG_4091

We took the long way back along a rarely used coastal road.

IMG_4092

IMG_4093

For those interested in WWII trivia; we came upon a “farmhouse” that was really a radar station in disguise.  It has been preserved here on the coast just south of the town of Klamath.  The placard below provides some interesting information.

IMG_4095

Here’s the roof of one of the disguised radar stations from WWII.

IMG_4094

We finally got back to our campground just after dusk.  Shore power was still working fine and we even have satellite TV through the rooftop dish at our latest spot.  I worked on this blog post while we watched some TV.  We’ll head on a little farther South tomorrow (Monday) before we start moving back East towards Colorado… at least that’s the plan for now 🙂

IMG_4098
Site #1 at the Chinook RV Resort, Klamath, CA.