We started off today driving to the Albion River to see a huge wooden bridge. It’s like the largest wooden bridge in the United States. It was actually really cool (and huge!) to see and we used the campground below for a quick pit stop. We were starting to need gas, but there were truly no gas stations along the route — which was surprising because we drove through towns on the map like Manchester and Elk. I’m not sure how these people survive but they must really have to ration food and gas until they can drive 30+ miles to get it.
After Albion, we headed inland to Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve. The drive was about an hour and was the ABSOLUTE windiest curviest road we’ve ever driven. I think both of our heads were feeling funny by the time we pulled into the parking area. It truly never stopped and at one point we were just giggling at how ridiculous the road was. The scenery was really pretty though and again we passed pockets of homes that really made you wonder how the families who lived there survived. They had to be growing some of their own food because nobody in their right mind would put up with that drive on a regular basis.
Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve was a very remote wilderness pocket of towering redwood trees. And it was amazing. The trail was well-marked but very wild and while there were people there with us, it was nowhere as busy as Muir Woods was. We often had entire groves of redwood trees all to ourselves. It was magical. The afternoon sunlight just streamed through the trees and they towered above us. We couldn’t even see the tops of them! We hiked the 2.3 mile loop trail just soaking it all in. It took us almost two hours because we kept stopping! This reserve also had what used to be the highest redwood tree in California — until a slightly taller one was discovered further up north in the National Forrest. We knew which tree it was as soon as we rounded the corner and saw it because it was so massive! There were some very impressive neighboring trees, but this one was clearly the winner. We (of course) took photos hugging it and standing at the base.
Our drive out was slightly different and took us through Navarro River Redwoods State Park, which was also amazing. The road wound through huge groves of redwoods and it was really cool to see them from the car and sort of zoom through them. The trees really are magical and there is just something about them that is so calming and earthy. We both commented about how impressed we were with Mother Nature and our planet — and how important it is to keep things like these protected.
Once we made it back to the coast we headed back to the cabin for some soup and grilled sandwiches before zipping back to the lighthouse for sunset. We wanted to see if our seal pups were frolicking again and they were! We also met a nice local man who showed us how to step over the barricade to get a closer look at the rocks offshore where the colony of seals were hanging out. We would have never seen them otherwise because it was just out of sight and they really blended in with the rocks. It’s so cool that the seals are just living there every day, swimming and sunning and chilling. We definitely want to go back at least one more time to see them!
We were going to head back out for star gazing but were too worried about our gas. We never saw a station and our gas gauge says we have 60 miles with a 35 mile drive tomorrow morning. Yikes!