Our Internet connection (via Rich C) was not available most of the time due to a very poor signal, so I couldn’t update the blog until we pulled into this campground about 80 miles north of the state park. We’ve got wi-fi here, although as usual I wouldn’t be able to access it without the range extender in place.

Saturday was a nice day in hobbit-land, among the giant trees. Waking in the morning I had to check the clock to know if it was even daytime, since so little light filtered down through the tree at 7 a.m. it might as well have been night. The photos don’t really do it justice, since the camera automatically compensated for the general dimness. But it was very neat to be waking up in the redwood forest. The temperatures were very steady (in the 60s) and I never saw any bugs at all. That’s a big plus compared to most other forests we’ve camped in.

Emma slept 13 hours (a direct result of having a cold) and woke up saying she wanted to just hang out at the trailer. That’s pretty unusual for her, so we took her seriously and let her have a quiet morning with Mom. Rich C and I headed out to Fortuna to satisfy Rich’s endless craving for Jelly Bellies.

Fortified by Jelly Bellies, we then we hiked an easy 2.5 mile trail in the park, near the town of Pepperwood. There’s more than redwoods to be seen. Ever spotted a banana slug?

This guy was about 7 inches long.

Emma was the only kid at the 3 pm “Junior Ranger” field trip. She used binoculars and a magnifying glass to learn how to look for animal signs. By this time, I was feeling the effects of the cold (yes, I’ve got it too now), and headed back to camp for a big nap.

It was starting to get depressing in the constant darkness. It felt like wintertime. Rich C came by and said, “I miss sunshine,” so we decided we weren’t going to take a third night in the park. But I’m not saying it’s a bad place to go — quite the contrary. It’s a spectacular park and well worth the visit. Just don’t expect any solar power!

Speaking of which, we arrived at Humboldt showing a deficit of 10 amp-hours on the Tri-Metric (we had regained most of the power we used the night before, during the towing, thanks to plentiful sunshine). By the time we left this morning, we were showing a deficit of 95 amp-hours. We used a lot of power and replenished none of it in the dark forest. But I was interested to see that as soon as we pulled out and into the foggy, overcast sky, we started generating 6 amps. That’s not bad for a cloudy day.

Rich C followed us up Rt 101 today, and we made a group lunch stop at the coast. The wind was picking up so Rich ran to get his kite out. Emma helped him.

And now, we are camped in Klamath, only about 50 miles south of the Oregon border. We’ll stay here a night or two to catch up on work and see some local sights, then head into Oregon.