I woke up in a rest stop somewhere in Oregon this morning around 4 am. I did my daily social media dump and decided I was going to drive the 200 miles to Redwood National Forest before having my morning tea and oatmeal… I made it 40 miles to the next rest stop, pulled over and went back to sleep…
I woke up the second time around 7 and was determined to make it to Redwood… I made it 46 miles to the next rest stop and fell asleep again…
I finally arose for good around 9 and off I went.
My first stop was a visitors center right outside the forest. I walked in and was greeted by a ranger who immediately asked about the kilt. Haha! We chatted and I told him about my adventures and asked him about camping in the area. He told me that lol of the reserved sites were spoken for, but he laid out a day full of adventures and gave me a list of national, state, and county campsites outside of the park along the way to San Francisco to try as I progressed. The theory being that the further away from the park the more luck I’d have.
The first stop on the adventure was a gravel road through the old growth. It was everything that I wanted it to be… Mainly looking like the 2nd moon orbiting Endor from Star Wars. Massive trees, ferns the size of Jeff, and an anticipation that I was being watched by small furry creatures.
Along the road I stopped at a tail head that took me to The Boy Scout Tree. It is a massive tree with a trunk that is 23 feet wide, names for its popularity with the scouts back in their early days of the program. That being said the trail is a beautiful showcase of old growth redwoods. Any Star Wars fan is going to have a hard time not imaging Ewoks and speeder bikes as you hike this beautiful trail.
Post hike I hopped in Jeff and headed to the recommended scenic overlook. Each place I visit on this trip seems to top the previous one in beauty. I don’t remember what river this is running into the ocean, but the bike club that was there and I enjoyed swapping stories as we sat up there eating our respective snacks. I didn’t catch any of their names, but apparently they are riding from Portland to San Francisco for Pride tomorrow… yes that’s right folks, I am going to be in San Francisco for pride…
After making some friends (who actually googled “a man, a Jeep, no” and google sent them to this page), Jeff and I began our hunt for a campground. The first 3 were full. The 4th one had some vacancies, but it was on the beach and there wasn’t a single tree in the entire campground. So I moved on to the last one on the list…
Upon arrival I immediately found my home for the night. So I parked Jeff and walked back to the registration board. The fee was 10 dollars, and I only had 7 in singles and then several twenties… As I was pondering how the hell I was going to solve this problem A family pulled in and they had a similar problem. I made my first friends for the night. We registered as a group in 2 sites, I put my 20 in and they Venmo’ed me 10 dollars.
We parted ways and I set up my camp, but I knew I would be talking to them more later. I decided to start the water for dinner and while it boiled I cleaned out a weeks worth of trash from Jeff’s floorboard. I also restocked my snack crate from the cargo pod on top of the jeep.
Dinner tonight was a Mountain House spaghetti with meat sauce. I burned my mouth because it was hot and way too good to wait for.
Up next I decided to walk down to the nearby creek. As I approached I could smell someone smoking the good stuff. Upon arrival I found 5 college kids in their underwear swimming in this pool. They invited me to join, I politely declined the pot but welcomed the swim. We swam and shot the shit for a while. According to the consensus on Facebook this does not count as skinny dipping, so no points, but it was fun regardless.
As the shadows grew and night approached we parted ways and I headed back to the campground.
Upon return to my site I discovered that my trusty boot had a blow out… crap… there is no way that I can get a replacement before I hit Yosemite this week, so it’s going to be gaff tape and prayer this week. Hopefully I can get a friend in Vegas to let me drop shop a new pair there and I’ll pick it up next weekend.
At any rate, I secured my site for the night and then headed over to the site that the family was staying at. I spent a few hours talking with the family and trading stories as their two children played. The father is in the CBD oil business and as dark truly approached he asked if he could get a photo of me with the product if he tagged me on Instagram with it. So expect that to pop up in the near future (if it hasn’t already). It really was a great evening. Hell its been a great day, and now I am leaning against a Redwood getting that checked off the list tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be headed to San Fran for a few days and then who knows!
Daily Scavenger Hunt score: 4
– 1 point for accruing another 1000 Miles
– 3 points for sleeping against a readwood
Total score to date: 21
Do you want to be emailed every time I post something new? sign up for email notifications here: