Hiking the Stout Grove Trail

Kelly Jo and I drove back to the beautiful road through the redwoods to do some hiking on Thursday....

But first we needed some KFC for a picnic under the majestic trees. It was finger licking good!

We headed for the trail that leads down to the Stout Memorial Grove.

We stocked up on water before we picked up the chicken. If a fat boy is going to hike he needs huge amounts of water! No sense in getting dehydrated out in the redwood wilderness...

Full of chicken and stocked up on H2O we hit the trail!

This particular grove was donated as a memorial in 1929 by the widow of Frank D. Stout who made several fortunes in the timber industry.

Here is Kelly Jo standing by the roots of a tree that fell many years ago.

This place is awesome! We can't get enough of all these massive trees!

Anyway, we had a great day.

Davy

Jedediah Smith State and National Parks (Redwoods)

The most beautiful Redwoods that we have seen are in Jedediah Smith State and National Park near Crescent City, California. We came through here in June of 2005 on our way to some of the same churches we will be preaching in the next several weeks. We found a campground in the evening and ask about pretty drives in the area. A ranger directed us to a gravel road that runs through the Stout Grove. He said we would like it and we did. It is a 6 mile drive right though the heart of a fabulous grove of Redwoods. In 2005 Kelly Jo and Odie road in the back of the truck so they could take it all in. Kelly Jo thought about climbing on the luggage rack on Mr. Cheap Jeep this time but we forgot the bungee straps and it was pretty chilly!

After five years of dreaming we made this drive again Wednesday evening and it was just as great as we remembered it. We love it so well we will probably drive it again before we leave. Please enjoy the pictures and let us know what you think.

Hope you all had a great day as well...

Davy

Sutherlin, Oregon to Crescent City, California

Two Posts for Wednesday's travel.

We left Sutherlin, Oregon around mid morning and headed south on I-5 to Grants Pass. It was a mountain drive the whole distance. 5 and 6 percent grades up and down constantly and beauty at every turn.

This was a 6% grade going up for several miles. This trucker was nice enough to drive on the shoulder so as not to impede the flow of traffic. Because there were no straight runs to build up steam it was very hard to make any time going up hill. I went down the steep and curvy slopes very slowly so this guy would barrel pasted me going down and I would pass him going up. I passed him on this hill in third gear going 42 mph! I would say I used a fair amount of diesel today...

At Grants Pass we exited onto Hwy 199. It is very curvy, steep and narrow in places but it is the only way to cut over to the coast at that point. It is about 85 miles over to Crescent City, California. We took our time and enjoyed the scenery all the way through. There were several times I wanted to take pictures out the windshield but two hands on the wheel were required to stay on the road.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Davy