Mile 760 - Jedidiah State Park, CA

It feels like in everyday life we’re in constant pursuit of shortcuts.  Faster ways of getting work done, faster way of communicating, and faster ways of getting places.  On the Rad Trip, we have renounced shortcuts.  But be found one that was really worth taking.

After Redwood National Park, we set our heading North towards Oregon for a couple nights in Crater Lake.  The Garmin told us to take the 101 westward to the 199 but thanks to our “Most helpful Ranger”, we altered our route and headed down another gravel road, which took us through Jedidiah State Park.  We were told our National Parks Pass would get us into the park for free, but the route he gave us took us through a suburban neighborhood and up Hill Road, the park’s fire road, without passing single park kiosk.

The road itself is narrow and slow going, but it’s because you’re driving on the floor of a redwood forest.  At this point we’d already seen some massive trees, but in this section of the forest we could feel the density of our surroundings as we wove our Tacoma through the redwoods.  All we could hear was our own engine, and when we stopped, there was nothing but a breeze, a nearby creek, and off in the distance, an elk calling.

Needless to say, this shortcut took longer.

You can see for yourself below:

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