Heather wanted to go ‘slowly’ to make sure Betty performed after her slide like a good bus. Well sometimes she did but a lot of the time she acted up and no matter what Heather changed or tweaked she found something else to demonstrate. But as long as we went ‘fast’ she was happy. So guess what we did? Our first tourist stop was the elk viewing area at Dean Creek. The elk were gathered in 2 groups at the west end. The boy group and the girl group. It was not mixing season! It is a marvel at some of the huge racks on the males. And they sit right there near the road just flaunting them at all the frustrated hunters driving by.

Finally a last stop in Brookings at the Fred Meyer for some liquid groceries. Betty started balking at the slower speeds especially as we headed the last 8 miles up the road to Loeb State Park winding along the Chetco River. We got to our spots about 4pm. A bit longer time than originally planned but still light and plenty of time to set up. Heather immediately took Betty to task and had her innards strewn about her campsite promptly. We came 188 miles from my house. Brent put up the tent, the dogs investigated the shoreline. Fisher folk were floating by on the river or standing on the banks. Except for 2 hosts and 2 other campsites and all the cabins we were the only campers. It is a small 50 unit park, which if full would be way too crowded for me but winter camping has its benefits. All sites had electricity and water and cost $12. The bathrooms had warm water and individual showers. A third of the sites were ‘waterfront’ and the whole thing is in the middle of a myrtle grove. The sun shone on us on the trip down frequently and we still had sun above us here. Brent had been a good chopping boy the day before so all the stuff was ready to make a pot of chili. Tried to do cornbread in the dutch oven on the fire. Well we had corn ‘bread’ oversized pancake but at least it wasn’t burned. And of course smores for desert.

Saturday morning got up to almost sunny skies and fishermen floating down the river. After an outdoor breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we depart to tackle our goal for the day: The hike from the myrtle wood forest to the northernmost redwood forest. We took off about 10ish and discovered it was really 2 trails and they both were ‘nature trails’ with a brochure and marked things to read about. The first was a ¾ mile river trail between the river and the road. Unfortunately they were digging up the road somewhere and by 7am every day they were running dump trucks up and down the road. (in other words it was a little smelly on our walk) We learned about myrtle wood leaves for tea and seasoning (myrtle is related to the bay leaf laurel). Decided myrtle smelled like bubble gum. We identified things we couldn’t see due to the time of year: thimbleberry and huckleberry bushes. We identified the red alder by its bark and the big leaf maple by process of elimination.

So the five folks and four dogs hiked vigorously off into the woods. We crossed the road at the end of the trail and entered the National Forest Redwood Trail; a 1 mile loop up up and around. We continued our learning experience by tasting the shamrocks (oxalis) which we decided tasted like green apples but we picked some for our dinner salad. We found big redwoods, dead redwoods, baby redwoods we had to pick out from baby Douglas firs, redwoods with goose pens, and redwood families. We learned about the air moss growing on everything that gets its moisture from the air or bark it is on. It does not take anything from the plant it seems to be attached to. This one fills up the space on the rhody

branches while the leaves reach for the sun.

We got up early and tried to beat the rain in taking down our ‘stuff’. We were successful fortunately. Some stuff was wet but at least we didn’t have to get wet to get it. Sunday morning’s fare was French toast and bacon but cooked in the bus in case..... By 10:30 we were all fixed up and on the road. While Heather thought she fiddled and found some things that would make the bus run better she was proved wrong. :-( Down the road to the FM for gas and then south to California! Joann had never been to California so she did a seat dance when we crossed the border. We left Brookings at 11:05 and got to the drive in entrance of Stout Grove at noon in Jeddidiah Smith Redwoods State Park. Now we were in BIG redwood country! We hiked the loop there and went a little way down the river checking out all the big trees, laying down and standing up both. Us and them. It is really pleasant to go to popular places during the off season. I had been here before and run into a few folks but we were virtually alone on the walk. Can’t count the bicycling pair who came careening down the trail with their sheppard. (we obeyed the rules and left our dogs in the warm buses) Since the redwoods are so big I didn’t try to take their picture but we did spot a little spider web that had caught a big drop of sap and a redwood needle branch. We finished up our walk in an hour and were back on the road by 1pm.

We barely made it back to Hwy 199 with Betty balking at the corners. We got on the road and pulled out politely once. It created such refusal in Betty it wasn’t worth it again. But she got going again and we headed north toward Cave Junction, Oregon. The road is lovely as it winds along beside the West Fork of the Smith River. Most things in the bergs we passed were closed for the winter and traffic was light. The incline is mild. We pulled into Cave Junction about 2ish. Heather decided to forgo our side trip up to Oregon Caves as Betty would not like it and she was hoping to make it to Beaverton by dark. So we parted and now just the green buses would go 18 miles up the road to tour the cave. It is a national monument so it never occurred to me they would be closed especially on a weekend. Harrumph. Well fine. No stamp in my book, No pin for my bus and obviously no tour. Well let’s check out the cool bark covered deserted hotel and visitor’s center, take pictures to show we were here, train the little dogs to be circus acts and mill about.

Well good things come to those that wait. Or dawdle in our case. Some folks again with law breaking major dogs (3) came down the trail inquiring if we knew where they could get some flashlights as the cave was actually open just the lights turned off. Well that didn’t take much discussion on our part. And no we were not generous neighbors and offer to share. Their dogs were not going to be with us. So into the hole in the rock we went. But hey the lights are on! Well fine off we go down and up and then the lights end. Good thing we have lights and now we really start spelunking and exploring (the path is well marked and mostly paved) but we had to shine our lights on all the crevices and oddities in order to see them so we looked a little better than usual and didn’t rely on what someone else thought was noteworthy. We went through a door hmmm not locked, kept going, found bats cute little furry ones. Saw tons of formations that I will not even attempt to describe but it is a wet active cave and with the rainy weather you can actually see the formations forming with their individual droplets. Here are 6 pictures you can anticipate for your selves. :-)

So we had an unplanned very fun adventure in the cave. We were hot and tired when we came out on the top and there was only one lone truck in the parking lot when we left. The government car and the dog folks had gone. But never saw a sign of anybody there. Other than the box of bones at the end of the cave!

We continued on uneventfully to the Fred Meyer in Grants Pass for gas trying to outrun the rain that started catching up with us more frequently now. We made it to the rest area just north of town before the rain and threw together tuna sandwiches and chips and cookies and cocoa then as the rain arrived hit the road north just before 7pm.