California, Fort Bragg Oct 4 - 9

Pomo RV Park and Campground, Fort Bragg, California.  Kay and I have been waiting a long time to get back to this part of California.  We will be meeting up with Bob Noble who we met kayaking the Russian River back in 2010.  I want to thank Bob for some of the pictures we used in this blog.

Fort Bragg, California

THE BIG RIVER KAYAK RUN OUT OF MENDOCINO, CA
This will be the third time we kayaked the Big River.  The first time was when we had a 2 man rubber kayak, that was back about 10 years ago.  The second time was about 1 1/2 years ago on out trip to California.  This time we did it with our friend Bob Noble.

This is where the Big River goes into the ocean.

A bay just north of the Big river.

Bob got this Gull eating a crab.

On our way up the Big River.  Riding the tide up.

Another section of the river.  sure was a gentle ride up the river.

Thanks Bob for the picture of the happy kayakers.

Timber production is the primary land use in the area. The California Lumber Company built the first sawmill on the Mendocino County coast at the mouth of the river in 1852. By 1873, the name had changed to Mendocino Lumber Company and the mill was the most important in Mendocino County. A railway line extended 9 miles (14 km) up the Big River to bring logs to the mill. The mill operated until 1931, and was briefly reopened in 1938 to mill logs salvaged when a log raft broke up off the coast. The North Fork Big River was logged by the Caspar Lumber Company.  The old wooden columns along the side of the river was from a railroad track that loggers used.  They would load logs onto the train and haul them to a drop off point and load them on to barges.

This is one of the barge loading points on the river.

Here Kay and I taking pictures of a couple of seals on a log in the river.

You can see how close we  can get to them in the kayaks.

They sure are beautiful animals.

This is the furthest point we made it up the river.  I guessed it was about 6 miles.  We were on the river for 6.5 hours.

THE NOYO RIVER RUN OUT OF FORT BRAGG, CA

It looked like a lot of permanent campers along this part of the river.

A couple of fishing boats.

We saw this seal just after we left the drop off point on the river.

This is the first time we kayaked this river.  We also are riding the tide as it goes up stream.
This trip on the river was only about 3.5 hours.  That was a lot of kayaking in two days.

There were not many turtles on this river.  Not like down south where there were hundreds of them.

It was a very peaceful run up this river.  It was not as wide as Big River we did the day before.

This is the first bridge we went under.  This one was a car bridge.

Kay trying to catch up with me and Bob.

This is our  friend and fellow kayaker Bob Noble.

Another shot up the river.

This is the second bridge we went under.  This one is for trains.  We crossed this one when we did the Skunk Train ride later in the week.

Kay waiting for me to get back from my run up the river as far as I could go.  Which was about another /14 mile, where I ran aground.  Would not have gotten this far except for high tide.

Pampas grass growing along side of the river.  sure was pretty.

Of course we had to get a picture of a Blue Heron.

Kay always has to have at least one flower picture.  Some day I am going to get a book on flowers so I can tell all the readers of this blog what they are.

We did fine these Common Merganser on the river.

RIDE THE SKUNK TRAIN OUT OF FORT BRAG TO NORTHSPUR, CA
If you want to learn more about the train log onto this web site.  http://www.skunktrain.com/aboutus-history.html

Getting ready to board

Engine # 65 and the engineer.

I wish I could drive this one.

This is why they call it the skunk train.  Lots of diesel smoke.

View of #1 tunnel from the back of the train.

Crossing the Noyo River.  We kayaked under this bridge.

Noyo river as seen from the train.

Ain't they sweet.

Our conductor was very musical.  He could play many different instruments.

This is a view of Northspur as we pulled in.

This is what Kay had for lunch.  Not bad, and she said it tasted very good.

Our conductor entertaining us as we ate lunch.

Kay waiting to board the train for the trip back to Fort Bragg.

The Engineer, Main Conductor, and Marty

Looking back on the track as we were going back to Fort Bragg.

Looking at Pudding Creek

This is what the train signal looks like from the train view.

I do not know who this was waiting for the train to pass, but it looked like the dog had a good ride.

A WALK ON THE BEACH AT MACKERRICHER SP NORTH OF FORT BRAGG
We will surly miss the northern California coast.  We and the dogs have enjoyed it so much.

Looking south on the beach.

Looking north on the beach.

Some of the old logs along the beach.

Zoe and Max love going after the gulls on the beach.

If Zoe finds a log, she has to see what is under it.

I have no idea what all the stakes are sticking up in the sand.

Kay's flowers.  A must have for each blog.

I have no idea what these are.  Some kind of succulent that is growing on the sand dunes.