Trip to Navarro Beach

June 9, 07

Me and Aparna had been thinking about camping for sometime. Last few weekends had been very busy for both of us and we needed a break. On thursday, night we looked up at various possibilities given that our plan was a bit last minute. We had driven on the Pacific Coast Highway section between Los Angeles and San Francisco several times and were keen to explore up north. After about an hour of googling we stumbled upon a beautiful picture of Navarro river meandering through a dense gaint redwood forest. Upon reading a little bit, it turned out that there are a few camp-grounds available on a first come first serve basis= near Navarro beach - where the river meets the pacific ocean. We had never seen a river meeting the ocean and immediately decided that this was where we wanted to go.

We rented a car on Saturday morning, packed up our things and started a little before 11:00 after an early lunch. We took 101N all the way 128 and then took 128W. There was quite a bit of stagnant traffic in and around San Francisco. Navarro beach is located at the intersection of Hwy 1 and128W (128 actually merges into Hwy 1 here). The drive along 128W is very scenic, the last 10-12 miles as it runs along the Navarro river with all its twists and turns through the gaint redwoods. We couldn't help stopping at various points in the drive just to wait and enjoy the scene.

As we took the thin road at the end of 128 that lead to the beach, there was no sign of the ocean from the road and all we could see was the river beside us. When it finally arrived, it was a bit of a shock - the view of the river meeting the ocean is absolutely flabbergasting. There are waves crashing on the beach and the fresh water from Navarro river unassumingly merges into the salty ocean!! There are only 10 campsites at the beach itself and they were all taken by the time we reached (at about 4:00 P.M). There was another campground about 6 miles East of the beach and we decided to head there without wasting any time least we may loose that one too.

The Paul M Dimmick campground is one of the most amazing campsites you can experience. There are about 25 campsites among the giant redwood trees that filter sunlight and soften it as it enters the campground. There a babbling brook running beside the campsites providing soft background music. The place is a great romantic getaway. We chose site 24, - it had the babbling brook right behind us and set up our tent here. We were hungry and had some delicious food that we had brought from home. The menu included Mamidikaya pulihora, Artikaya vepudu and Banagaladumpala vepudu and perugannam. Eating under the giant redwoods was an amazing experience.

Beside our campground there was a family that had come to spend the day. The kids had been having fun in the river all day and they were packing to leave. We had forgotten to bring a matchbox for lighting our campfire and they graciously helped us by giving us a lighter.

There were quite a few mosquitoes here and it was getting dark and so we lit up our campfire early. Theres Aparna playing with fire. Soon as the sun set it grew very dark and the forest seemed amazing in the flickering light of the campground. We had our dinner by the campfire. There were only three sounds in the forest, frogs croaking int the river behind us, the crackling of the fire and babbling brook - there was no other sound. It finally felt like a vacation. We chatted for a long time by the fire before finally going to sleep in our tent.

The morning was fresh and refreshing. The frogs were still croaking and the brook was still babbling. We took a long walk among the redwoods in the fresh invigorating air. We walked down to the stream and had our breakfast by the water. The water was fresh and clear and we couldn't help getting in. The water felt a bit cold initially but soon we got used to it.

After spending some time in the water, we decided it time to wrap up and and head back. We packed up and decided to take the Hwy 1 on the way back. We stopped briefly at the Navarro beach since we couldn't spend much time the day before. The drive on Hwy 1 was wonderful and very scenic. We stopped on the way and had lunch. We have always found food and people in small towns much nicer and warm. We had some great pasta and we on.

The point where Russian river meets the ocean near Jenner is a fabulous place. There were a lot of sea lions basking about on the beach. We had brought a pair of binoculars with us and watching the lazing sea lions was a treat. We took 116E to head back to 101. 116 is a great drive by the Russian river and there are several outlets for kayaking here. We had no time to stop. We reached by 7:00 P.M in the evening after a very nice refreshing trip.