Sunday, July 18, 1971

[written by Jean]

Sunday, July 18

Dear Muriel and Palma

When we arrived at the motel tonight Daddy mentioned phoning but I reminded him we said tomorrow. It’s 9:15 and I wonder if you’re home yet. Hope you had a good time and no rain. We had a little mist a few times but early this afternoon there was a brief precipitation which could be called nothing but rain. There has been some sun but mostly overcast and some fog along the coast of course.

Our first stop this morning was Prairie Creek State Park. First we took a short loop trail walk which took us to the tallest tree in that park and it is a big grizzly one then we went on for 15 min along another trail up hill & down dale through the minor [?] rain forest — mostly coarse ferns over our heads. It was luxuriant growth to be sure. Back to the car we took a graveled road with wide spots for passing over to Gold Bluff Beach. We stopped to look over the driftwood, turn over the pebbles on the beach, and walk on the sand. Laurel went wading of course. There are two main sections of bluffs cut by Fern Canyon. Here was a gorgeous V canyon with very steep sides all overgrown with ½ dozen varieties of fern and a live creek running down the bottom. There were several places where water was constantly trickling down over the mossy bank. Lunch out of the car and another stop on the beach just as the road starts inland. There were many red alders in this area.

Back on to Highway 101 to drive through Redwood National Park and Jedediah Smith State Park. The No. Calif. Sunset book recommended a back road called Howland Hill Road. http://www.nps.gov/redw/planyourvisit/drives.htm We missed it so ended up going west on it rather than east which was fine. It too was unpaved an narrow but slow and delightful. We made one stop to see the Stout Grove which was the initial part of the park given to the state in the 20s. In this we saw the Stout tree which is the largest and a real beauty — straight, tall and not grizzly appearing. It overlooks the Smith river which is quite wide at least the rocky flood plain is.

We also stopped at a Demonstration Forest. There are several in the No. Calif. coast area each run by a lumber company demonstrating how tree farming can be conducted.

As we drove into Oregon the road goes along the ocean quite a bit and we stopped at a few vistas to see the waves and rocky shores.

Gold Beach tonight. Do write us about your weekend — Sylvia can tell you where to send it.

Love from your family