Northern California

Jefferson Secession

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

October 14^th, 2018

In God's wildness lies the hope of the world - the great fresh unblighted, unredeemed wilderness -John Muir

Finishing up our family visit we headed south for the Coastal Redwoods. We headed down I5 crossing Grants Pass into the redwood forest. The redwoods were amazing as they always are to see. We visited the John Muir grove north of San Francisco but we found this grove more impressive and much less crowded. We also enjoyed the coast while visiting the area, eating seafood in Trinidad or looking for agates on Agate Beach. We took the slower but more scenic route down the coast from Crescent City before heading across northern California over to the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We happened to overnight near Lassen Volcanic National Park and after a friend from Lake Jackson saw Facebook and told us all the things to see in his home town. We stayed an extra few days and really enjoyed our stay except for the sleet up on the mountain. Lassen is a park to spend more time!

This area is so very different from anything most people associate with California that it isn’t surprising that there have been several attempts to separate these northern counties along with the southern counties of Oregon. If successful this new state would be called Jefferson, named for Thomas Jefferson who chartered the Lewis & Clark Exposition.

Coastal Redwoods

The drive through Prairie Creek’s Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway is a breathtaking experience, one that could be considered spiritual. The grander of this old growth redwood forest is something everyone should experience. To see the worlds tallest tree is and to think they grow from a seed about the size of a tomato seed but an old growth tree can weigh as much as 500 tons and reach heights taller than the Statue of Liberty. Only about 5% of the original coastal old growth range exist due to logging, with most cut after the California gold rush ended. It would take over a 1000 years for them to grow this big again.

Jeff standing at base of old growth redwood

ferns growing near creed in Prairie Creed Redwood State Park

JoAnn with 'Big Tree' in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Jeff with fallen redwood, cut section to remove from trail

Coastal Hwy 101

Visiting the coastal redwoods gave us an opportunity to also visit the northern California beaches along US 101. The first beach section we visited was the Gold Bluffs Beach where gold was discovered but mining it proved not to be profitable. One of the highlights of this beach drive besides testing out our 4x4 capabilities was the visit to Fern Canyon. This 100+ foot deep canyon where the narrow walls are lined with five different varieties of ferns where some of Jurassic Park was filmed, was spectacular! Photos could never do this place justice.

We also visited Agate Beach after dinner in Trinidad where you can search for agates among the rocks. We watched the pelicans and saw a seal in the surf. The town of Trinidad was an old harbor town where in 1922 some 333 humpback whales were processed for oil and fertilizer. After the whaling industry dried up the port was used for shipping of lumber, including redwood. We found several agates and had a ton of fun searching.

JoAn n stacking rocks at Gold Bluff Beach

Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Davison Road, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Overlooking Agate Beach near Trinidad, CA

Lassen Volcanic National Park

On our way to Lassen in Susanville on CA 36, we stumbled across several large forest fire areas. The work crews were still trying to recover. Below are several homes that were leveled from the fires. We saw many homes that had been burned and all that were standing were the brick fireplace in the center. So very sad and a feeling of helpless. But as in the Gulf Coast during a hurricane, you see people picking up, helping each other and carrying on.

Fire damage outside of Susanville on CA 36

We just happened to be passing close and our friend Isiah's home when we posted on Facebook and he responded to our post with such excitement and a list of things we had to see from where he grew up that we ended up staying an extra day and visited the park.

Not only does Lassen have the world’s largest plug volcano, the non-extinct Lassen Peak, but also is one of the only places you can see all four types of volcanos. There are also some geothermic features, one where sulfur was mined from 1865until 1952 when the park service purchased the land around Supan's Sulphur Works.

The Kings Creek Falls hike is one of the most beautiful hikes we had ever been on with the Kings Creek cascades and the changing leaves. The stillness and beauty were unparalleled.

Lessons Learned: Social media, Facebook in particular has some very positive qualities. If it hadn’t been for a quick post from our friend Isiah, he wouldn’t have given us information that caused us to change our travel plans.

Man can destroy so much, so quickly for such temporary benefits. Take an old growth redwood, it takes over a thousand years to grow and the lumber from it can build 33 houses which has a useful life of less than a hundred years.

Seafood from the Gulf Coast is still the best in the country, or maybe the way we prepare it is the difference…I think both.

Next Stop: We are heading across the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east side, a quick stop by Lake Tahoe and then on south on Route 395. We plan to end up in Las Vegas to see friends before continuing our trip south.