Meador Manor

June 5, 2024 | Photo Album

The highlight of our trip were the walks associated with a three-night stay at Elk Meadow Cabins, which are nestled on private land between the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Redwood National Park. The state park began with just over 5,000 acres in 1923 and over time grew to 14,000 acres. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the present visitor center, trail system, campground, and picnic facilities.

In October 1968, the National Park Service created Redwood National Park in Del Norte and Humboldt counties, and in 1994 the service and California State Parks agreed to co-manage four parks: Del Norte Coast, Prairie Creek and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Parks, and Redwood National Park. Together the four parks preserve over 105,000 acres of redwood forest.

We had enjoyed Stout Grove and driving Howland Hill Road through the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park to the north. Now we drove down coastal highway 101 to the entrance of the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway running through the heart of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, shown at the top of the map below.

Newton Drury was born in San Francisco in 1889. He and his brother had an advertising and public relations agency which was approached by the Save the Redwoods League in 1920 to manage their organization. An ardent conservationist, he was instrumental in raising $25 million to preserve 135,000 acres of redwoods across thirty state parks in California. He was the Land Acquisitions Officer of the State Park Commission, and later Director of the National Park Service.

We drove along the ten-mile parkway named in his honor through the old growth forest until we reached the Big Tree Wayside. There were plenty of people taking the short trail to the photo opportunity at the Big Tree. I preferred to avoid the crowd and instead shot it from a side angle.

The Big Tree is not the biggest in the park, but it is over 1,500 years old, 304 feet high, and almost 22 feet in diameter. I then drew us away from the families down the Cathedral Trees Trail, and we did not have to walk far to lose almost everyone.

As the giant trees surrounded us, Wendy was struck by how we could no longer hear the people at The Big Tree and all sounds died away. She whispered to me, “Isn’t this great?”

I could tell it was an emotional experience for her. She later described it as feeling protected by giants, sheltering her and giving her the peace she has sought on our many travels.

We continued along the hilly trail, watching our steps to avoid stumbling over the many tree roots. I had Wendy pose by the upended roots of a fallen giant.

Wendy took a shot of me with some of the redwoods.

And I returned the favor, with her providing much-needed scale for the spectacle.

I shot a video pan upward, and Wendy photographed me in the act.

Here is the pan I was shooting:

We couldn’t resist some more shots of the outlandish scale of the trees.

And I wrapped up the walk shooting upwards.

We returned to our vehicle and drove the short distance to the Prairie Creek Visitor Center, where we could use the restroom, and Wendy got a poster and some mugs to remember this favorite place.

Then we drove past our rented cabin to Orick, where we bought groceries for our stay; there are few restaurants in the region. Then it was back up 101 to Elk Meadow Cabins. I had reserved the Johnny Redwood cabin, which was quite nice.

We knew that one of the Roosevelt Elk herds in the parks lived nearby, and on the first evening I saw one meander by our back porch.

Later, on one of our drives along US 101, a herd of elk crossed near our cabins.

We would return on the following days for two more walks at Prairie Creek park, which will be described in the next post.

Photo Album | < Redwoods IV | Redwoods VI >

June 4, 2024 | Photo Album

We got around early on our third morning of the vacation so that we could reach the Stout Grove of redwoods before it became crowded.

The Stout Memorial Grove is in the heart of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in northern California. The 44-acre grove has many 300-foot tall trees. It was donated to the Save the Redwoods League in 1929 by Clara W. Stout, the widow of lumberman Frank D. Stout, in memory of her late husband.

I remembered from my visit in 2006 that to reach the grove from the east, before you reach Hiouchi you have to exit the Redwoods Highway onto the long, winding, narrow, and mostly unpaved Howland Hill Road. I remembered it had frequent turnouts, so I wasn’t too concerned about taking our large rented GMC Yukon Denali SUV on it so long as we beat the crowds.

Google Maps told me that visits to the trailhead pick up after 10 a.m. So we headed out at 6:15 a.m. from Rogue River and made it, after a few restroom stops, to the trailhead just before 9 a.m.

There were only a few vehicles at the trailhead when we pulled in, but by the time we left about an hour later, all of the parking spaces were taken with some vehicles parking in pullouts along the branch road off Howland Hill Road.

The weather was perfect, sunny but cool and comfortable, as we walked the loop.

Wendy was a bit surprised at seeing redwoods so early in our trip.

She told me it had been a 40-year-wait for her to get to see them.

Wendy got a shot of me inside the same tree I had ducked into back in 2006. This time the camera wasn’t sitting on a nearby log, which had caused a severe list.

She had fun posing Barbie by one of the huge trees, and it took a video to provide scale.

We ourselves were dwarfed by the giants. Pictures of the redwoods can be tricky. If you don’t have a person in the shot, your sense of scale tends to be WAY off.

I remembered the diagonal fallen trees at one point along the loop, and this time was glad to have Wendy pose to provide scale that was lacking in my shot from 2006.

There were lots of photographers along the loop, shooting the trees in the morning light.

Wendy had me pose by one of the fallen giants.

A ranger was on hand to take photos, and shared with us how there were scorch marks on one of the big trees, yet there was no record of a fire in that area for over four hundred years, illustrating their immense age. The tallest tree in the grove is 342 feet high.

Since we had no problems navigating the first part of the six-mile Howland Hill Road, I opted to take it the rest of the way to Crescent City on the coast. It was once a stage coach road linking the Pacific Ocean harbor of Crescent City with mines in southern Oregon and weaves among the immense trees.

The road was surveyed by J.S. Howard in 1881 and in 1887 the Del Norte Board of Supervisors hired brothers Nels and Soren O. Christensen to build it. Redwood slabs or puncheon were added to the road in 1888 and 1892 during the “plank road” era.

Roads were often paved with redwood planks in segments in the redwood forests or where the soil was soft. Otherwise, wagon wheels dug beneath the surface of the powdery forest soil and became stuck. The road was graded and then the planks, called “puncheon,” were laid on top with dirt solidly packed between. The road was excellent as long as the packing remained in place. Winter rain, however, often washed dirt away, and water collected under the puncheon. As the vehicles drove over them, muddy water squirted up. In summer, dust on these roads was thick, with clouds trailing the stages through the woods. Vegetation along the sides was coated for months with a thick layer of road dust, and passengers often arrived at their destination coated in dust.

One stage coach made the roundtrip between Gasquet and Crescent City every day, while another carried mail. Wagons hauling equipment to mining areas often were pulled up Howland Hill with six-horse teams.

Sunset Telephone Company ran a line parallel to the road in 1897, and the first car drove over the road in 1904. Jack Williams, a resident of Grants Pass, purchased a “White Steamer” and took delivery of it in Crescent City where it was unloaded from a ship. He managed to get over Howland Hill Road, but the rest of the journey was too much for his car. The trip almost shook the car to pieces, and it had to be hauled home on a springless lumber wagon to be repaired at a blacksmith shop.

Even today, US 199 from Gasquet to Idlewild is quite narrow and winding, with me glad to have had lane guidance for the GMC Yukon Denali while traversing it. I was patient with a guy hauling a recreational travel trailer; negotiating that combination around the narrow curves would be nerve-wracking.

In 1916, the Board of Supervisors hired contractors to improve Howland Hill Road for cars and remove the puncheon from it. The road was in active use for about 40 years as a link between Crescent City to Gasquet on the Smith River.

The Redwood Highway, now US 199, opened in 1926, bypassing Howland Hill Road, so Howland Hill has seen only minimal improvement since then. Thus it is one of the few popular scenic roads that still retain the feeling and character of travel on a dirt road from the 1920s.

Stout Grove was the first one donated along Howland Hill Road in 1929. The last of the redwood groves along the route was purchased and donated to the State of California in 1949 with funds raised by the Garden Club of America, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and thousands of other donors for a memorial grove for fallen soldiers of World War II.

I enjoyed driving the rest of Howland Hill Road into Crescent City, where we would have time to enjoy the seashore before heading south to more redwoods.

Photo Album | < Redwoods Part II | Redwoods Part IV >