May 21st - May 23rd Driving Along The Northern California Coast

From San Francisco we headed north along Hwy 1 on the west coast, destination unknown.  We really just wanted to get out of the wind.  We stopped at a visitor’s center in the small town of Mendocino and we were directed to MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg.  This campground is situated along the ocean. 

It has a boardwalk out to an overlook where we were able to watch seals and their pups rolling in the waves and hear them barking away.  There is also a long paved trail (old road) that stretches for miles along the shoreline. Trevor had the pleasure of biking it and I had the joy of running it while also venturing down many side trails to the edge of the ocean cliffs.

 

The following day we drove Hwy 101, detouring along the Avenue of the Giants.   The giants are old growth Redwood trees that can grow more than 350 feet high.  But wait…. didn’t we say that the Sequoia trees were the biggest…true, but the Redwoods are the tallest!!!  We stayed at Patrick’s Point State Park.  Another park located right on the ocean and also inhabited by seals who playfully frolicked in the waves.  This park is thick with vegetation and wandering along it’s trails makes you feel like you are in a dense jungle.  The weather was a mix of rain and  sun and cooler than we expected, around 5-10 degrees C.   Makes us miss the hot and sunny Mexican weather, however we heard snow was expected in Canmore this weekend, so who can complain!!!