Travel Trailer Trek

The Narrow & Windy Road, Caves and Really Big Trees

We started our second day's adventure out of Grant's Pass. We were heading to Crescent City to see the Red Woods. As we traveled, we came upon a sign that advertised the Oregon Caves in Cave Junction. It sparked our interest earlier when we were doing laundry looking at things to do, so we decided to venture over to see what they were all about, besides, it was sort of on the way.

We looked at the map and the website and the website warned of narrow and windy roads. We've experienced them already on this trip and we didn't have the trailer, so no big worries. As we drove, we saw there were 17 miles to go and the GPS said it would take 45 minutes. Why would it take that long to go that far? It didn't make sense. We figured it was a mistake and continued our journey. Forty-five minutes later, we realized the GPS was telling the truth. The road was carved into the side of a mountain with about a 1/2" to spare on either side. Did we mention that Oregon doesn't believe in guide rails? That 1/2" was what saved you from a 200 ft drop off the side in many cases. Needless to say, Carolyn, who was riding on the drop off side, found herself leaning towards the middle of the car. The recommended speed on the curves were anywhere from 15 to 25 mph some were surprisingly higher. There were a lot of them and they wound up the mountain to the Oregon Cave. We got out and felt the need to kiss the ground that we made it. Remember, our vehicle is rather large. We figured the engineers who planned the road must have ridden motorcycles or driven really narrow cars.

At the top, we found a 1 1/2 hour tour through a marble cave. It was not for the faint of heart, as they advertised it had 514 steps. We were intrigued (and didn't want to go down that mountain just yet), so we bought tickets to go through. There are 3 marble caves in the United States. Marble, which is metamorphosed limestone, will dissolve and make formations, but at a much slower pace then the limestone caves of PA. Our tour guide was corny, but knowledgeable. It was nice to come out to the sunshine after 1 1/2 hours of 44 degree temperatures in shorts. We hiked to the top of the mountain, saw the vistas and had a picnic lunch with a group of Stellar Jays. They look like the punk rock cousin of the Blue Jay.

Carolyn drove us to Crescent City. The trip down the mountain was not as harrowing, as we were on the inside edge. Redwood National Forest is so large and part of a state forest, that it was not well marked where the visitor's centers were. We ended up driving down scenic route 101, which combined a rugged Pacific Northwest Coast with the beautiful and amazing Red Wood trees. We saw some elk along the way near a camping area in the park. There were several overlooks where we stopped including beaches and trails to explore the area. The beach sand is black, but the same consistency as the sand in NJ. There are more rocks and "islands" near the coast, which made for a beautiful sunset when we went for dinner along the harbor in Crescent City.

As for the Redwoods, they were even bigger than we thought. They are a relative of the Sequoias - which are known first for being large in circumference and then tall. The Redwoods are known first for being tall then large in circumference. Both live to be very old. We were told Redwoods could live to be 2000 years old. As we walked through the forest, it felt as though we were walking amongst giants. These sentinels of time would have stories to tell if they could only talk. The area around them is lush with ferns and other trees. We were surprised how other trees and plants were growing in or on the Redwoods. We tried to get pictures of them. It was so quiet and awe inspiring, but the pictures don't do them justice. This is a definite bucket list item.

After dinner we made the trip home. We got to Cave Junction and there were police ahead. We waited in line for about 20 minutes when they started to turn us around. They said it would take at least 2 hours. Not knowing the area, we asked if there was a way around. The guy said we needed to turn around now as there was an armed suspect and they need us out of there. We quickly turned around and went to a gas station where a local gave us easy directions to get back on our path. With our extra stops and this incident, we got back to Grant's Pass around 11:30 and decided to just go to bed.

With our late night and early start today, we did not get to post yesterday. Today's travel was through central Oregon. We passed through the forest where we had the picnic lunch on the way to Crater Lake. After these forests, the high desert of Oregon was the next environment we passed through. Dry, flat and sagebrush dominated the scenery. We passed our campsite at 65 mph because the GPS had it 50 miles from where it is located. Mitch and Dan jokingly said that that was our campground and Carolyn said, "No really, that's it." We are at the Crystal Crane Hot Springs RV Park. We are literally in the middle of nowhere, but there is a hot spring (98 degrees) to swim in. We will be off early tomorrow, but will post pics if we have them.