Lake Sonoma ACE Campground, 226 mile jump
The day was odd from start to finish. The trailer brake controller, a device that allows adjustment of pressure applied to those brakes from the driver’s seat, was not giving digital readings. It had a loose part bouncing around inside ever since I bought the truck. I felt that sooner or later, it would need to be replaced; today was the day. While Penny made sack lunches and got the interior secured for travel, I went into town for LP, diesel, and fast food breakfast. No LP was pumped nearby, so I punted on that. It wasn’t urgent. When we started to pull out of Widow White, I could not get the trailer brakes to operate, so I assumed whatever was rattling around inside the controller had shorted out the circuit board. We tried three stores before O’Reilly”s who had the parts we needed. After replacing the controller, I had the same problem. In my haste to leave, I had neglected to properly connect the trailer wiring harness to the truck. D’oh! On a positive note, there was LP for sale right across the street!
Things improved greatly from there as we travelled south on Hwy 101, we planned to travel the “Avenue of the Giants” scenic bypass. Actually, the Avenue was the original 101, which follows the Eel River through a steep canyon. The new 101 is mostly elevated above the river and the Avenue. It’s quite an engineering feat to bridge over the river back and forth and do limited impact on the valuable redwood stands in this 32 mile stretch.
The Drury Cheney Grove was touted as the most scenic to walk; it was lovely! The colors were vibrant creating a huge contrast between the red of the needles and fallen trees and the green sorrel (like shamrocks). There was also a lot of the iridescent green moss covering the maples. The huge canopy had kept the underbrush down allowing one to see a long way into the forest. It was a beautiful walk 1.5 miles through a cornucopia of sensory delights. In spite of the thousands of trees we have witnessed in our travels, the awe factor is still high.
I have mentioned earlier how sacred these groves feel and that these ancient trees evoke a sense that they are beings. Well, I have evidence! In this grove, I found two distinct faces of tree beings and while in the Sitka Spruce grove a few weeks ago, a full body that appeared to be hugging a tree. I know, call me crazy!
We proceeded south on the “avenue”, stopping for a late picnic lunch overlooking the Eel river at Dyerville Junction and finally, the very cool Visitor’s Center. Unfortunately, we had almost used all of our daylight and could not stay there long enough to study the many exhibits. We still had almost an hour to our next campsite.
As we continued south on Hwy 101, it started to rain and fog was settling in. To be honest, we weren’t sure of the distance or difficulty getting from the 101 to our campsite. My, we were in for a surprise! First of all, I wanted diesel to be sure that we could get back to civilization. Did that. Then, my navigator was disagreeing with the directions to the Lake Sonoma ACE campground. She found a much shorter route that did save time, but darkness was upon us, add in the fog and we were severely handicapped.
It turns out the road we were on was just below an 300’ earthen dam holding back two creeks which now fed an enormous lake. We had to climb a first gear steep hill just to get to the bridge across the lake. We could barely see 20’ in any direction! Hoping we were there, we then met an equally steep hill to the campground gate. We were concerned about this gate as it was supposed to be locked and we did not know the combination. Fortunately, a ranger was waiting and helped us learn about the lock. He told us there was only one other camper in the whole park and to just pick a site. Then, it was back down the other side of the hill we had just climbed! The campground was on the side of that hill, off to our right.
In the fog, all the sites looked the same. They were adamant about not driving on the grass, so they lined the narrow road with large, jagged boulders. One of those caught the retractable stair step and bent its mounting frame. Bummer! I was unable to see the trailer in the side mirrors and while following a gentle curve got too close. The sites were too narrow to swing into. So, we settled on one that faced an intersection facilitating a easy entry. 6PM, heavy fog that feels like rain. Can’t see Penny’s hand signals, but got it in, chocked, leveled, stabilized and hooked to power. No cell service. Our pants were soaked; we cranked the heat, stripped off the wet clothes, and had a beer. Exasperated!