Giant trees, Hume Lake and the California Coast

After a day of driving from Vegas, we found a campsite in Giant Sequoia National Forest not too far from Hume Lake where we stayed for one night.

On our way out the next morning we saw a sign advertising Hume Lake Christian Camp and decided to swing by and see what it was. When we drove up I felt like I was on a movie set. It reminded me of the summer camp from the movie Parent Trap .

The lake was perfectly level with the ground. There were kayaks and tubes on the beach and counselors out setting up games at the pool and on the lawn around the beach. They had an adorable little coffee shop and General Store. We stopped and got a coffee then sat outside at one of the picnic tables and we could hear music coming from the chapel. When chapel ended all the kids came pouring out like water bursting from a dam. They separated out and started doing their different group games. It looked sooo fun!

Next we headed towards the coast. We hopped on state Hwy 1 just north of San Francisco. Our drive along the coast was so beautiful! We stayed at Salt Point State Park Campground off of Hwy 1 right across from the coast, in the forest. Our site was completely surrounded by thick brush and trees as were the others.

One night before bed, my brothers and I decided to make one last bathroom trip. As we were walking down in the pitch black we heard noises that sounded like animals running in the woods we rounded the corner and saw a site that was totally illuminated and I said “Wow! That dude’s fire is going really well…it sounds like a wildfire!” When we got to the other side of his camper we saw fire all over! Turns out the owner had left his table top charcoal grill on his table and went to bed! His grill had fallen off the table and set fire to the brush and ground around it and the wooden picnic table it had originally been sitting on! As soon as we saw it some of us ran and told mom and got water from back at our site, others stayed behind to wake up the owner and to let him know his site was on fire. When we got back we started throwing water on the fire trying to put it out. We formed a bucket brigade and soon realized that some sort of grease had been left on the table and water would only make it worse. We put out the fire on the ground with water and did our best to stamp out the grease fire on the table. When the fire was all out we finished our trip to the restroom and headed back to camp. Some folks camped nearby and the ranger commended our work the next morning as they chatted with my Mom. Who knew we would end up fighting a huge fire and save a campground on this trip. You’re welcome California!

The next morning we packed up and headed for the Redwoods. On the way, we stopped at a couple of beaches and saw some amazing wildflowers and seals.

I had never seen seals out in the wild before. I made friends with one of them (from a safe distance of course).

Our next stop was a beach covered in sea glass. I collected a lot of Sea Glass of all colors there. It was so beautiful!

Stopping at the Sea Glass beach made us a little late getting to our campsite. We made it to a site in the Redwoods just before dark and set up camp for the night. In the morning we went to a visitor center in the campground and met the nicest couple. Sue and Rich are volunteers that work at the visitor center. Mom stopped by to ask a few questions and we found out that they are from the Yellowstone area. They stood there talking to us and giving us tips for an hour or so. They were so helpful and helped us plan a lot of what will happen from here through Yellowstone. They were a sweet couple and made us feel like family…even shared their phone numbers in case we ever needed help along our trip. We drove through The Avenue of the Giants. It had the biggest most beautiful trees ever…By far my favorite stop yet!

Sadly, we quickly had to leave that area and head to Redding, CA to pick up our new license plate since our temporary one was about to expire (Dad mailed it to a Walgreens…did you know you can pick up packages there???) We spent one night in Redding and headed for Mt. Shasta. We found a great “dispersed” free site in the mountains. We had a stream of snow melt running through our site that we used to keep our water cold. Mt. Shasta was beautiful and had many crystal clear lakes around it. We enjoyed our stay in this area for about a week…. Just relaxing, playing games and running wild in the forest on a mountain. We only took one picture!

I was kind of skeptical going into California but it has been one of the prettiest places we have been and I can’t wait to see what comes next!!!