Nickerson Ranch Trail - #WYFF

Post by Michael

This is the second time on this trail, but the first time to get all of the way down it.  It was easy to see that it was once a wagon trail/road.  The trail is wide and level for the most part.  The real question is where, exactly, is the homestead.  Years ago, my mother said, the homestead was well-marked because of all of the apple trees.  Now, it is a bit more difficult to see the homestead.  Actually, we are not so sure we found it the site.  Michael's memory was that the homestead was across Mill Creek.  We did not get adventurous enough to cross the creek this time out, but the area is amazing.  You walk through towering Redwoods and alongside the ubiquitous fern to reach Mill Creek and its crystal clear waters.  If I were to build a homestead, this would be far and away ideal.  It is not easy to find out much about the Nickerson homestead, but the imagination can see an absolutely idyllic setting for raising a family and living life.

These towering Redwoods are only enhanced by such a lovely young woman as our Stacia has become.

Nolan showed his prowess at navigating a 15 passenger van through the sometimes tight confines of Howland Hill Rd.  He did a great job.  No dents, no dings, no errors.  Well done!

Someday, we are going to take the time to count the rings on one of these fallen Rewoods, but not this one.  It is just too small, and the rings are hard to see from about the hundred year mark to the center of the tree.  Any where else, this would be a massively huge tree, but not here.  Here it is smallish, at best.

Sitting on the top of the logs and looking out across the scenic beauty of Mill Creek.  No takers on jumping in this day, though.  The weather is beginning to change and the water is just a tad bit cooler than before. The view is amazing.

Guessing there may have been a barn or corral in this area for horses.  Just guessing though.  Will need to bring a metal detector the next time we come through.

For those who would like to hike along with us. 

More EXCITING mail

This has been our week for exciting mail! Stacia has been waiting and WAITING since her birthday in August  for this to arrive! Captain America - Civil War!  The boys saw it at Jared's Bachelor Party - but the rest of us are excited to sit down for Friday night movies tomorrow!

Who knew there is a Grandparents day? Bella is so thoughtful to send us these beautiful magnets! 

Mail Call

We got something in the mail today. I waited until everyone was back from working to bring it out. 

There are very few pieces of mail that would garner this much attention. 

Baby Girl's Wedding Invite! 

We're counting down the days to celebrate with CoRielle! 

Grandparents Day

Our first Grandparents day, too! ::wink:: 

Bella brightens our screens and our lives. Here she is at 5 months. 

We've obviously fallen down on the whole grandparent thing as we didn't know to be celebrating this all these years with our parents. LOL

#WYFF - Walker Road Adventure

It's Friday! We've finished our second full week of school.  Michael reminded me  we schedule Friday lighter so we can explore....and 84 degree weather was predicted.  I'm proud of us; in addition to school this week, I had two days to run into town (Mom G's labs and Mom G's pedi), we made it to church on Wed night, and we ate dinner every night. The boys worked like maniacs on Thursday to make sure they could finish school by lunch on Friday. Score! We're worn out! But we did it!!!

There is a little sign off Hwy 199, on the way in to Crescent City, that says, "Walker Road."  We decided it would be fun to explore. This could be hiked, we chose to drive. By the end of the day we'd explored both spurs. Both lead to the river. We'll be back. We discussed any tow behind vehicle we buy will need to be able to handle roads like this, as well as in town driving. Jeeps are looking like a favorite option. Do you have a toad? Do you tow a vehicle behind a Class A or C? If so, which do you have and what are the pros and cons you've discovered of your model?

This being Friday - we did take a couple of "Where's Your Feet" photos....

Feet on Walker Road

Feet in the Smith River

Michael continues to illustrate the finer points of skipping rocks across a river. The kids continue to find the biggest rocks they can handle to chuck. To see this in action, watch the video below.

I did not grow up in the woods - or hiking in the woods. I've noticed some lovely vines climbing over the trees....this week the leaves turned red...so pretty. It turns out the vines are poison oak - this sort of ruins the beauty for me. ::snort::

I plan to get smaller glasses. Stacia responded this week, "Please, don't buy embarrassing Grannie glasses."

Fall can't be too far away.....stay away rain! 

Our own tower of stones

We drove the rest of the way into town to pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza.  The kids and I were amazed at the change in weather. It was 84* on Walker Road....7 -8 miles later in town it was foggy and 59*. That's some weather variation. I understand why Mom G says she loves living "out here," but doesn't want to live in Crescent City.

The video version of our Walker Road Adventure. The final view reminds me of Mirror Lake in AK.


#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. For more #WYFF entries, click the tab above.

Grove of the Titans

While hiking Mill Creek Trail on  Saturday, a couple of hikers asked us if we knew where to find the trail to the Grove of the Titans.  They had a map, but it was rather sketchy, and they were lost. Michael is the 4th generation of his family in the area and hadn't heard of the Grove. Mom G hadn't heard of the Grove. We did some research and some said it was an urban legend. HOWEVER, the couple had stopped at Jed Smith park for help with their map and were told it "wasn't officially open to the public, so we don't give directions." O.k. That sounds like it exists.  Our research indicated there used to be a marked trail and signs in the grove, but the signs had been removed due to concerns of damage to the Grove. The Grove was "discovered" in 1998. We checked more sites, read up about what we were supposed to see and where people thought the Grove was located; we scoured google earth/maps, checked photos and stats on the trees, and finally found a site that listed coordinates!

With all the coordinates confidently loaded into our trusty GPS, we headed out. The first problem we encountered is the GPS couldn't get a signal out in the woods. ::snort:: This looked like the parking spot and trail head described on several sites. There is a sign, it's loose, it doesn't say Grove of the Titans....but we were 99% sure this was a good starting point. 

"Mill Creek Trail, Hiouchi Trail, Howland Hill Rd" 

Without the GPS, we depended on my print outs of  descriptions, mileage, sketchy maps,  and my fit bit to navigate. We decided it was a GORGEOUS hike, and we were in awe of the BIG TREES - even if we weren't 100% sure of their names and such. LOL 

At one point we went right under Redwood Roots

The Lost Monarch - Largest Multi-Stem Coast Redwood

We were skeptical, but YES, this tree was bigger than Stout Tree and the others in Stout Grove.

All of a sudden the GPS worked

 We discovered the tree we had thought was El Viejo Del Norte  - wasn't. This one was. 

4th largest Coast Redwood

Screaming Titans (only ones we didn't video)

Mill Creek

 Del Norte Titan - 3rd largest Coast Redwood (Above and Below)

Under the Roots

 Stunning!

This was spectacular! The hike is more rugged than many of the maintained trails. While there are paths around the Titans, nothing is marked, and it is rather overgrown... so we felt as if we simply walked right into them while out for a hike.  I loved not having multitudes of other hikers on the trails, and those we did meet were in the same state of awe. LOL I also appreciated there was no trash, no graffiti,  and no carvings in the groves. It was lovely.

Michael was in a lot of pain for two days after this hike - a lot. He couldn't sleep the first night at all due to Charley Horses and such, but he says this was worth it!  I sure wish we had run into the couple asking about the Grove THIS weekend - we know right where to tell them to start now. LOL

Here is a a video of our hike and time in the Grove...sorry for the noisy auto focus. I'll switch to manual. I wanted to deal with the shakes and edit titles...but my laptop froze and this was the version that was available....so I went with it rather than starting all over. LOL