Chico, Redwoods, and Crater Lake

We had a great time in Chico with Marie. We spent the day researching places on the Internet and organizing some loose ends while Marie was at work. When Marie got home, we went to Bidwell Park, Chico's amazing huge park in the foothills. So big, that it took a half hour to get to Bear Hole where there was a river surrounded by volcanic rock. We had never seen rock quite like it before, Nicole took one and later made a necklace out of it. After Bear Hole we drove back to the park entrance to a spot Marie often hikes and she took us up into the foothills, fist to a place she and her friends call "Monkey Rock". Here, we rested and decided where to go next. We chose to continue hiking up into the hills and away from the car. We might have slightly lost the trail but we had a great time. Finally, after the sun had set, we found a path down the hills and made it back to the car. On our way out we had a great time playing with the full moon. We miss Marie back home!

We had dinner at Chico's new Indian restaurant that Marie had heard good things about but never been. We all loved it. The food was excellent and because we all ordered the Thali dinners we were introduced to a few new side dishes. Good company and good conversation. On the way back to Marie's we stopped and played with the largest chimes we'd ever seen. The guy who makes them hangs them in his front yard and posts a sign saying anyone is free to play, so we did.

Nicole had asked Marie to teach her to crochet, so back at Marie's the two of them sat out on the front porch and Nicole learned how to crochet. She made a cloth and a coaster while the two of them caught up on old times.

The following day we said our goodbyes and thanks to Marie and headed on our way to Red Woods National Park. We arrived at the visitor centre around 4:30pm in hopes they would help us figure out where we should camp. The woman at the information booth was excellent. She quickly hooked us up with permits and a code for the locked gate at the entrance to the access road down to the trailhead for the Tall Trees Grove hike. It took us about half an hour to get to the trailhead and once there we re-organized our packs and headed down the trail for some back country camping.

We hiked a little too far as we ended up at the Tall Trees Grove which you must camp at least a quarter of a mile away from so we backed off and found a camp spot on the gravel bar down the creek. Nicole cooked dinner while Jason set up the tent. Dinner was rice and veggies and it was yummy! After, we both hung our food and packed it in for the night. Not much to do after dark.

We were up early in the rain because we still needed to hike Tall Trees Grove. Without breakfast we packed up and got out of there. With our packs loaded up we still enjoyed the loop hike around the tall trees and back up to the car. The trees were huge! It's amazing what mother nature can produce.We arrived at the car around 10:00am and ate breakfast on the road. We had a long drive ahead of us, first to crater lake and then to Portland.

We crossed the Oregon border around 1:30pm and hit snow around 3:00pm! As our elevation increased on our way to Crater Lake, the temperature dropped to below freezing and the rain turned to snow. It was beautiful. Unfortunately it made in nearly impossible to see the lake. Just means we'll have to come back again!The drive out of the Crater Lake park was awesome, with cliffs on each side and leaved trees in Fall colours We later found we weren't on the road we expected but we managed to still find our way to Portland without a map and arrived at a Travelodge around 9pm.

Chico Pics | Redwoods Pics | Crater Lake Pics