Finding a place to sleep is always an adventure, but the real journey comes from the awesome places we get to see and explore along the way. There are so many incredible places to see in California, but I have decided to condense the exploration tales and talk about our top three favorite destinations.

Shelter Cove, CA
The campground we stayed in near Shelter Cove was a great location. Not only for the peaceful campsite that we had at Wailaki Campground, but it was just a short distance drive into Shelter Cove. Our first day we took a 15 minute drive to Black Sands Beach, which we learned should really be named, “Black Rocks Beach.” It was interesting to see a beach that was completely covered in black rocks the size of quarters or larger, instead of sand. The best part about this beach was the sound the waves would make as they rolled up and down the rocks. The sound was identical to the sound rain sticks make when you tip them over, just incredible to hear it coming from the ocean. Not only was the beach itself a beautiful site, but we climbed up some giant rocks that were just off the coastline in the ocean. From the top of the rocks we were treated with front row seats to a sea lion and a seal swimming just several feet below us. It is always a good day when you get to see wildlife and enjoy a walk along the beach.

After Black Sands Beach we decided to drive into the main stretch of the town and get some lunch. We stopped at a local brewery, Gyppo, for some beer and snacks. We decided to order the fish and chips because the waitress told us they were freshly made from the local fish of the season; they turned out to be the best fish and chips I have ever had!

I typically steer away from ordering fish when I go out to little restaurants because I am very picky about the fish I like, but I figured this would be a good opportunity to try something new and local. I was not disappointed! Not only was the food and beer great, but they had the cutest little patio with firepits, ping-pong, cornhole, a stage for live music, and an ocean view. I would definitely recommend this place to others who adventure to Shelter Cove.

Redwood National Forest

Passing through Redwood National Forest, it would be hard not to want to see some giant redwood trees. Of course, if we’re going to look at giant trees we wanted to see the biggest ones that we could. This led us to hiking the Tall Trees Trail. As you might imagine this trail leads you through the tallest redwood trees, and it is truly amazing how tall these trees are!

To get to the trail we had to travel up the side of a mountain on a cold, foggy day. There was so much fog that we couldn’t even see anything off the lookout points. There also was very few people on the road due to the weather- it was peaceful, yet eerie at the same time. To do this trail you must have a permit from the visitor center. Not only must you retrieve a permit, but a gate code is also needed from the rangers to gain access to the road that leads to the trail.

It was nice to explore a trail where they monitor the amount of people entering at a given time, that way it isn’t too overrun by people and you can enjoy the hike without feeling rushed or crowded by others.

I have never felt so small standing next to a tree, and it still boggles my mind to know that some of those trees have been standing more than 700 years. Seeing the redwood trees in person is truly an amazing experience. Definitely a site to see if you are passing through this national forest.

 

Lava Beds National Monument
When it comes to the Lava Beds National Park, Scott and I found this location to be very underrated. We didn’t initially have this park on our list, but once we did a little more research on it and realized we would be driving that direction anyway, we decided it might be a fun stop. As anyone might suspect the park has large parts of the land that are covered with large black lava rocks, which honestly we didn’t find too exciting. The part that drew us into this park, was the cave tours.

After walking into the visitors center we learned quickly that this was not a highly populated tourist stop. This was great for us because it had an affordable ($10/night) and available campground right next to the caves. When we pulled into the park we had no idea where we were going to stay for the night, so this uncrowded campground was perfect.

To our surprise the tours are all self-guided. We were given a map that listed each cave with a short description about each one so we were able to determine which ones we wanted to explore. There are a lot more caves than we were expecting, all ranging from easy, to moderate, to most challenging. If you have never gone caving before, the most challenging caves are caves that you will be army clawing through and will need hardhats and kneepads to protect yourself-neither of which we had. Due to our lack of caving gear, and frankly the fact that neither of us had the desire to army crawl through dark caves, we opted to explore several easy and moderate caves.

It is awesome; yet, concerning that all of the tours are self-guided and open for exploration 24 hours a day. There were several caves we entered and turned out to be the only explorers inside– it was fun, but also sort of scary being the only two people deep underground in a pitch black cave.

We definitely got turned around in one of the caves and I was 85% sure we were never going to find our way out, nor were any of the rangers going to come looking for us. Luckily, after traveling in several circles we found our way back to daylight. Since there are so many different caves this adventure is fun for all ages. Many of the easy caves have daylight shining through some spots, making it more child friendly. Or if you’re looking for a more challenging caving experience you can bring your hardhats and kneepads!