Akaka Falls is east of Hilo off of Route 19, and is reached from the parking area by following a paved trail/stairs dropping down through lush tropical plants to an overlook.  The trail is narrow, and the stairs many, but the view is simply lovely. 

We made an accidental discovery (looking out for the little King Kamehaha highway signs that mark historic or scenic sights) of a vanilla farm and factory.  The only USA vanilla farm in existence, this family-run enterprise is a small treasure--with tours, lunch (both requiring advance reservations) and a small gift shop. We learned the intricate process of making vanilla from a specific orchid plant, which must be fertilized during a tight 4-hour window of opportunity, and then how it must be carefully stored to develop the sweet vanillin, and finally how it can be added to almost anything to enhance flavor and scent.

We continued along the scenic coastline highway all the way to the end of the road for a lookout over the Waipio Valley -- beautiful, but requires horses or 4-wheel drive for the extreme excursion.  We` lunched on crackers and chees/salami at a little park, then headed back. 

Earlier this morning, we watched the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Pride of America sail in (below), and we planned to watch it sail away, but it was very late in leaving.  My camera could not catch a good image of the ship, all alight in the falling dusk, sail away.

The Puna District

The Puna District sets below the Kilauea Volcano that regularly sends lava emerging from fissures on the great volcanic mountain then flowing down its slopes to the sea.  The Volcano has taken out homes and highways, and built new island in vast stretches along its base.



In the past, the flows sometimes encased trees as the lava slowly moved through the ancient forests of what would one day become the Puna district.  Some of those trees stayed upright, allowing the lava to wrap the tree, which in its destruction left behind hollow shells in tree shapes (shown above).  The state has created a lovely walkway through a grove of these lava encased trees at Lava Trees State Park in the heart of the district.  Now filled with the rich greenery that 200 inches of rain a year brings, these trees are thrust out of the dense jungle as stark reminders of the volcano's power.



The road to the lighthouse at the distant Cape Kumakahi traverses vast fields of pahoehoe lava.  Black flows edge the road as we traveled down to the sea.  At the lighthouse parking lot, three disreputable vehicles containing large groups of young haolies were parked with their campsite gear strewn about.  As one had to leave one's car and walk to the lighthouse, Helen, Lizzie, and I decided that the car would likely be broken into while we walked, so we didn't stay, and instead traveled back to explore the lava-formed Wai' Opae tide pools in the district,  with a stop at the lovely Painted Church.

In 2014, a new flow emerged and instead of heading as it traditionally has toward Kalapana (where it destroyed the highway paralleling the sea decades ago), a new fissure opened and disgorged slow-moving lava.  This lava crept toward the town of Pahoa, threatening the entire developed section of the Puna district.  It wrapped around the disposal transfer station, crossing Old Cemetary Road, and continued down the valley toward schools, houses, businesses, and a thriving community. Then, as tragedy was threatening, the flow stopped as suddenly as it started, sparing the bulk of the town.  We stopped near the transfer station and looked at the wall of lava on both sides of the re-opened road.  The black rock has already began to be colonized by plants, with ferns the first invaders of the new rock surface.  This shouldn't be surprising, as ferns are among the oldest plants on earth, and must have colonized lava many times over the eons.

Rainforests and orchids

The wind continued to be strong in Hilo, so we decided to save explorations of the Puna coastline4 (including tidepools) until Monday when the ocean would hopefully  be more calm.  Today, we headed south to visit the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens.  The gardens start well above the sea, then drop down through jungle terraces with orchids,  bromiliads, ti plants, ferns, bananas, gingers and so much more.

The setting is a tropical forest, with light shimmering through dense canopies of tall trees, draped with orchids, vines, and ferns.  Through th0s jungle cascades streams, with layered waterfalls abundant.

Hilo Happiness

We have  arrived in Hilo Hawaii on the big Island--our vacation rental is rustic but nice, and the view is wonderful.  We were tired after returning to the airport to collect Helen who was on a later flight, so it was an early night for all.  On Thursday, we  breakfasted-in while watching a large Princess Lines cruise ship glide past our deck to settle in port barely a stone's throw away.  The Bay is calm, and the weather slightly overcast as we head out for Volcano National Park, about an hour away.

The first stop was the visitor center, where we watched a film of the geology and cultural history of the park, then gathered maps and headed out to devastation trail, and other overlooks.

Our picnic lunch was at a pretty site at the end of a road where we passed grazing ne-ne geese amid vast stretches of hardened lava from slow-moving flows.  New "island" area was visible from the overlook--where kava had flowed and hardened in the sea, for mining a brand new and very large stretch of rock bench shelf just above the water's edge. At the Jagger Museum we saw the crater and steam vents shown below.

As we headed back the day grew cooler and the wind stronger.  What had been a calm flat bay now was a white-capped angry patch of water crashing against the rocks at the base of our rental lot.  The wind carried the salt spray all the way to the upper story deck.  Surprisingly, the cruise ship began to leave in these stormy waters, heading out through the bay to the open sea.   The winds howled all through the night.

Friday morning it was still windy and we decided to look around Hilo, as the winds were expected to die back by Friday night.  Helen and I took Lizzie to some of the places we enjoyed in Hilo--the lovely Japanese garden park off Banyan Drive, the tsunami memorial (and Vietnam memorial), and the exquisite gilded statue of King Kamehameha.

Darlingtonia Bog and Depoe Bay

We left Bullards Beach State Park on a Friday morning, and had made reservations at a commercial RV park near Depoe Bay.  It sounded good on the Web, and we were having no luck finding vacancies in any State Parks in the area--probably too close to the major metropolitan areas and the desirable campgrounds fill up well in advance of the weekend.

Along the way, we stopped at the Darlingtonia Bog State Wayside.  This patch of large (two feet or more high) carniverous California Pitcher Plants (also known as Cobra Lilies from their shape) is traversed along a wooden boardwalk.  These unique plants can also be found in the Smith River watershed in bogs with standing water and acidic soils of nutrient poor quality, and I had come across them before in my work and travels there.  This particular patch is the largest I have ever seen, and the plants themselves were the tallest I had ever seen. Years ago I had written an article called Strike of the Cobra Lily and had photographed this bog--the article and pictures were published in The American Gardener magazine.

That night we found (eventually--took almost four passes before we finally figured out the entrance) our RV park and were disappointed that the campsites were very small, lacked amenities, and ours was far from the beach.  Others we might have reserved were not pull-throughs but were right next to the beach, but one couldn't   tell from the automated reservation system whether those back-in sites would be workable for us.  It turns out that they would have been far better than the one we had reserved.  In any event, the weather has turned, so we are planning to leave this site a day early (after exploring the nearby Newport Aquarium) and heading south to Reedsport and a State Park there.

It rained in the early morning of Saturday, and continues to threaten rain throughout the day.  On Saturday morning, we dined out at the Pig N' Pancake for breakfast (I had a crab omelette--delish--and Lizzie had a taco omelette; highly varied menu) and it rained briefly while we dined, then explored the OSU Aquarium (and it rained once while we explored).  This latter has great displays for both children and adults, but it is truly engaging for kids.  Later, we shopped and explored the main strip of Depoe Bay, enjoying Tillamook ice cream and the many shops along the way.

We had planned to go to Astoria for a couple of nights, but it is forecast to rain there, so we are heading back along the coast, stopping for two nights at Reedsport and exploring that area. Rain hits Reedsport on Wednesday, but we plan to depart on Tuesday, and end up for three nights in the Redwood National Park in Del Norte County.  After working in that country for 30 years, there are plenty of sites that I still want to explore more!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we head south again

Exploring Coos County and Camping by the Coquille River

The distance between Brookings and Bandon is less than 100 miles, so we planned an easy day.  The short distance allowed us to stop at Cape Blanco and tour the historic Hughes House, a restored Victorian home belonging to some of the first settlers along the coast.  After the tour, we lunched by the Lighthouse, where a hang glider was floating just off the cliffs, occasionally drifting back to touch down briefly on the cliff edge, then float away again.  Once, he touched down about ten feet from where the Apex was parked, almost coming in our door

We planned to use the Bullards Beach State Park as our base for exploring the area around Coos Bay and  Cape Arago.  The campsite we selected was fairly private, and because we backed up to a timbered hill, it was very lovely (see below).  We were going to barbecue chicken, but the regulator for attaching the small propane tank to Liz' camp stove did not fit the connection on the BBQ, so we opted instead to make Coq au Vin in the Dutch oven.  Delicious.   The list of things we want to add to the trailer supplies is growing.

The next morning we struck out for Cape Arago, stopping at an overlook where hundreds of sea lions basked on all of the low rocks near the cape (see below). 

Their barking was loud and continuous (can be heard in the video below(, and could easily be heard from the Shore Acres Botanical Gardens about a mile away.

The gardens had blooms of dahlias and roses (Strawberry Parfait, shown above), as well as many other plants.  While not in full color in October as it is in spring and summer, the gardens were lovely to stroll through and enjoy. The gift shop at the gardens is one of the best for locally made products like delectable jellies, jewelry, etc., where the sales support the non-profit Friends of the Garden.

We explored a few other campgrounds on the way out, and found one with lots of children's activities which would be good for Liz' three grandsons if they ever camped there.  Its lovely beach and shallow creek estuary allowed for warm basking and playing in the water even in the Fall.

We lunched in Coos Bay at a German Restaurant (titled, interestingly enough: The Blue Heron) where we both had weiner schnitzel. Food was good and the decor was a combination of western outback-meets-Germany.  More antlers hung on the wall than I see in my wildlife cameras...

After a rather hectic arrival at a Myrtlewood factory, we traipsed back to our campsite to relax.

The Apex Nano hits the Trail

We finally are testing out the new trailer, a 2017 Apex Nano 19-foot BHS model by Coachman, being pulled by my Jeep Grand Cherokee.  It supports a full-sized dinette slideout, large refrigerator/freezer, two back bunk beds, and one queen bed--a layout that had proven difficult to find.  First purchased in March, the two planned trailer test runs did not materialize between surgeries, illnesses, and events that were happening over the summer.  But on October 3, at 8:00 a.m., the Nano finally was loaded and sufficiently ready to pull out.  Additional shelving, pull out drawers, hooks, and other amenities to customize the trailer for our needs remain to be added, but the Nano is fit to travel.

It was windy in Mendocino the past two days, so we had joked that we might only make it as far as Willits or perhaps, if we were lucky, to Benbow.   But the winds had died, and we sailed past the KOA in Willits, and turned north on Highway 101.  Although we had frequent stops for roadwork, we still made good time, and had our lunch in Fortuna (having zipped by Benbow) at the Riverwalk Center.  We decided to press on to above Crescent City.  We passed a KOA just south of Smith River, but were heading for the old Ship-A-Shore resort.  We had looked on the web and the resort was marked permanently closed, but another link also was shown as active and the telephone number had transferred us to the "front office" where we were invited to leave a message, so we were unsure what we would find as we neared our destination.  Sadly, it is indeed permanently closed.

The lovely resort at the mouth of the exquisite Smith River was dilapidated and definitely closed.  No more motel, no RV park, and no restaurant bustled with life--only a few year-round permanent trailers sat forlornly on what was once a lovely place.  I shared memories with Liz of dancing to live music after a Board meeting on the dance floor thirty years ago at the end of the bar, enjoying several great meals over the years looking out at the breathtaking view, and the happy times I had with the folks starting 20-odd years ago as we traveled and often stayed in the large suite sitting on our private balcony overlooking the estuary and watching the diverse bird life--it has been ten years or more since I was last there.  But the place is sadly just a ghost now.  We decided to push on to Brookings.

By now, we had traveled long miles, and we were both ready to find a good RV park, and had identified the Beachfront RV Park near Brookings harbor as a likely candidate.  It was not full of amenities, such as grass and roominess, but the view from our overnight space was spectacular (see above) as we were less than 50 feet from the high tide line, and immediately adjacent to the Winchuck River.  After watching the sunset (below) from our camp, we slept listening to the sounds of the ocean crashing for the first night in the little Nano.

The next morning, we walked along the Winchuck jetty and watched the circle of small fishing boats rotating as they motored counter-clockwise at the very mouth of the river hoping to hook one of the incoming salmon.  Although we watched for awhile, we didn't see any salmon landed.

Today, Wednesday, our goal was to leave Brookings and push on to Bandon, Oregon, with stops along the way.