Jun/Jul, 2006 NorCal Coast, Oregon Mountains, NorCal Mountains.

Tara and I both had some time off from work so we decided to go camping. We started out by heading to Fort Bragg, Ca. The campground where we were going to stay was full. 122 campsites on a Wednesday afternoon and it was full. So here we are thinking this sucks. So we decided to go on up Hwy 1 along the coast and found just about the best campground, Abalone Point, in the world along with the best view. We camped right on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. After spending the rest of the day and night there we headed on up the coast to the Avenue of the Giants on Hwy 101. Avenue of the Giants is a 35 mile long stretch of Giant Coastal Redwoods. From there we drove up into Oregon to our ultimate destination of Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S. at 1943 feet deep. The lake is a collapsed volcano that erupted about 1000 years ago. After spending two nights at Crater Lake we drove south into California to Lava Beds National Monument. Lava Beds is a large area of volcanic activity that has several lava tube caves that you can explore unguided, on your own, and at your own risk. The caves were created by hot molten lava flowing underneath the ground. Once the lava flowed up and out of the ground the caves were left behind. I'm not sure how many caves there are but I would say around 100. Some of these caves go for miles underground and some even have permanent ice. While at Lava Beds we also got to see some Petroglyphs dated at 2000 to 4500 years old. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

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