Selecting appropriate campsites 101.

There are a number of common criteria that I use to select a good campsite.

Some of the obvious ones go without saying.

View – ocean, river, desert, lake, 400 year old tree stump, that kind of thing.

Solitude – should be quiet, not including waves pounding on the shore, little or no traffic noise, no yahoos partying close by (unless at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival).

Flat – or at least close to it in at least one aspect, and won’t turn to mud if it rains.

Free of neighbours – in case one wants to run the generator or have an outdoor shower.

These are some of the common criteria, and I’m sure we can think of lots more. But this camp site broke some new ground. What is the meaning, if any, of a dead cow’s head stuck in a kids stroller? I admit to pausing on that one for a bit, but the spot had riverside, good access, quiet (till the sawmill started up in the morning for a wakeup call). And I made sure the cows head affair was downwind – and hadn’t disappeared by morning! Sorry; no pics of the cow head in the stroller.

There was also a strange looking turbine anchored on a floating stand in the middle of Redwood Creek,

(Click on any photo for a larger view)

just where it flows out of Redwoods National Park.

In the morning I drove into Orick which was very close by, and checked my camp location on Google Earth. Close by, there was this symbol and I pulled up the info – which said that someone had documented seeing bigfoot track – only 89 meters from my parking spot. Cool, if you believe such things. Perhaps there is a link with the cows head?

Bigfoot tracks spotted only 89 meters from my camp spot on Redwood Ck, near Orick!

My camp at 41.2989 -124.042

Bigfoot track report here!

Location of bigfoot tracks!

41.298459 -124.040724

Anyway, Google Earth also showed a possible camp spot that had both ocean and river views without the bonus sawmill. So I drove out to the ocean and found a very nice spot – with a bunch of lounging seals across the river, a marten cruising by, and a river otter cavorting on the near bank, but not long enough to get the video going. But there was a great, long, deserted, beautiful beach that I strolled and picked up some fishing floats and looked at some washed up lobster traps.

Also in this area was some chunks of firewood that could have been straight out of Monty Python. Even though cut into lengths for firewood, this piece is saying, “We’re not DEAD, yet”! You have to add the Monty Python emphasis yourself.

I don’t know if it is California, or what, but there are an awful lot of homeless types wandering around, in the small towns as well as the larger cities. But most of them seem intent on earning a living by collecting bottles and dumpster diving. And so, like Mexico, I have had no trouble finding worthy vagabonds to donate my empty cans to.

And the kids down here really do have problems keeping their pants up. I think we should really take up a collection of belts and suspenders to help them out. With one hand holding up their pants full time, and the other on the cell phone, I don’t know how they even manage to open a door. Or eat.

But perhaps that is just the fashion down here. I was driving along today, looking at a large number of females on one side of the road, when I spotted their apparent father watching me from the other side. I took a picture of him to show you. He did not look impressed with me at all!

When I looked closely at the gals, and I’m sure they were all pre-teens, I could see that without exception they had some type of large gaudy ear ornaments, and huge ugly rings in their otherwise relatively cute noses! At least the cows head in the stroller was not so decorated – not that I spent much time looking!

Oh, I almost forgot. The river turbine.

I chatted with a nearby local, who did not resemble BigFoot at all as a matter of fact, and he told me that it was a sort of minnow trap, set up by the local fisheries department to monitor the salmon fry coming downstream toward the ocean, which was only another kilometre – and where the seals were waiting for the snacks to be delivered. And the otter.

So there you have it. That's how I spent my day. How was yours?

I never think I have enough photos for a good blog post, but inevitably when I look, I have way too many and have to pick and choose.

Such is the case with my bridge photos today.

First are photos of a bridge under construction just in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park area. I took these shots of the bridge on February 9^th when I headed south, and these on April 6^th on the way north. I think you can see the progress they are making? There is another amazing bridge just around the corner, but the light totally prevented a decent shot of it.

And also today, I was impressed by some old bridges adjacent to the Highway 101 in this area. I took pictures of them from the new highway I was driving on, then went over and drove across both of them – which are still open on a secondary road. Both had lights and gates to close the bridges, but I am not sure under what conditions they would need to be closed? They are both pretty spectacular, especially considering that they were built in the early 30’s, and are still in use. Both cross very deep gorges, I estimated at 2-300 feet deep. I expect that they were key links in opening up this part of the California coast way back then. I found online that the Big Dann Ck bridge is 187.5 ft long, with 7 spans, but it did not list the height.

It was a fairly drab day when I stopped at Pigeon Point Lighthouse south of San Francisco near Half Moon Bay, but people were still stopping in droves to take pictures of it. In the morning the sun came out as I was leaving, so I took a couple from the road.

Driving through Willits, I thought I was looking at a building being demolished. Then I saw a car parked alongside, and realized it was an active drive-through at an open Taco Bell. I don’t know what the inside looked like, but I hope it was better than the outside!

(Click on any photo in this blog and you will get a larger version of it)

Harley also posed at a sign for the Pfeiffer Beach in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

I only spotted the road on Google Earth last time through as there is no sign on the highway – this sign is down around the first corner when you are already started on the road. I ignored the signs saying No RV’s and navigated the 2 miles of mostly one lane track through a few hillbilly type places, and promptly arrived at a Park Gate (!) where the guy wanted $5. for a look at the ocean there! I figured that at that rate, I must owe someone a couple billion for all the miles of ocean and beach I have been driving along and camping on!

South of Pigeon Point and north of Santa Cruz the winds were up, so the Kite Boarders were out in force.

Because of the winds, a R/C aircraft flying site was empty.

Still headed north. Slowly!

Well, I promised you some video of the sea otter and it turned our fairly well, considering the distance. Of course, I have had to break out my real video camera finally instead of relying on the video function on my still camera. These guys are hard to spot because they are often among a whole bunch of dark floating sea weed heads. Check it out.

As I try to move as slowly as possible, it is giving me time to stop and smell the roses. Almost literally, but I haven’t seen any roses yet. But there have been plenty of other blooming things to attract my megapixels.

I have taken the time to check out a few hiking trails as well, and it is just great weather here for that; not too hot, not too cool.

I had pulled in to the front of this library to check the e-mail, when I discovered that it was advertised right on the sign in front of me. The 'hotspot' sign.

Here is a neat perspective of the area I am now in at Big Sur. If you can see the date on the waypoint, that is the spot where I stayed on the way south through here about six weeks or so ago.

You may have to click on any of these photos to see a larger version so you can see the details i am talking about, eh!

On one of the trails I was on, there was this historic homesteaders cabin somewhat preserved in the state park.

In this photo, if you squint, you might be able to see where the camper is – across the valley and upper left in the photo. This was taken from the Oak Grove hiking trail in Big Sur State park.

And a photo of the Big Creek bridge where we stopped to enjoy breakfast with a view this morning.

The clover is really really big along some of the trails here.

And the only notable wildlife that I was glad I did not step on. I was climbing up a steep bank at the time, so I came pretty much face to face with him. Although he is a slug, he (or she?) as travelling at the proverbial snails pace.

They had cougar warning signs in the area, but the only one I saw had a collar around his neck, and was kind of an orange tabby colour!