We’re in Crescent City today and because we’re a bit tired, we decided to tour the city today rather than taking a hike through the Redwoods park. I always do lots of research before we travel to a particular area so that we know what we want to see. Then we get surprised by some unexpected gems. Crescent City was one of these times. We had really planned this stop as a Redwoods stop with hiking and touring the Redwood State Park and National Park. (By the way we have learned that the state parks have more to see and do and more trails to hike than the national park. However, the 3 state parks and the national park have joined into the Redwoods State and National Parks - RSNP - and are managed as a single entity.) But there is more to Crescent City than the redwoods.
There is a magnificent lighthouse that we could tour. There is the tsunami history in Crescent that we could learn about and there is a drive and a trail along the Pacific and lots of beaches and rocky areas that we could walk through and enjoy. There are also some neat wetlands areas that we did not have time for but - we’ll leave it for our next visit.
When one is at the harbor area, the building that stands apart is the Battery Point Lighthouse. It is actually on a causeway which you can only traverse when the tide is low. Well, you can traverse it at other times, but you will get wet. No two ways about it, you will get wet. Which means that the lighthouse keepers had to be disciplined about when they went into town to get groceries, haircuts, or whatever. Called the Crescent City Light Station, it was the 10th lighthouse on the CA coast, built at a cost of $15,000, opened in December 10, 1856 and lit with oil lamps. The US lighthouse Service was in charge followed by the US Coast Guard but in 1953 the lighthouse was automated. Finally it was taken over by the Del Norte Historical Society and was maintained by the curators of the museum. Today it is manned by volunteers who live there for a month and give tours of the facility. It is now a private lighthouse and the volunteer ‘keepers’ who live there for a month must also keep watch on the light and notify the Coast Guard should it ever go out.
We heard that the lighthouse was open between 12 - 4:00 today and we got there about 11:30. The tide was low but there were some rocks we could hop to and from to get to the lighthouse grounds. We enjoyed the coastal flowers all around the grounds.
We walked around it, marveling at the views and watching the receding tide eddying around the rocks at the base.
At 12, the current volunteer keepers opened up and we got the tour. Though most of the furnishings are period there are some from the previous keepers and their families. We could not take pictures of the interior to preserve the furnishings. Out the kitchen window we could see the Pacific and the rocky coast to the north of Crescent City. I could do dishes all day with that view.
But it is the view that is stunning. The kitchen window looks out over the ocean - wow - I could do dishes for hours here. We also climbed into the tower using metal rungs. And, the view here is equally stunning but it covers 360 degrees and we can look over the town. When the tsunami waves destroyed the town of Crescent City in 1964, the keepers stood on their island watching it all happen.
After the lighthouse tour, we walked out on the jetty. There was a sign at the beginning of the jetty which was pretty specific in its warning NOT to walk on the jetty. However, we wanted to walk out to see how Crescent City was protecting itself using some new contraptions called do loses. From the shore we could see them sticking up. But, at the end of the jetty we could actually seem them and how they worked. They look like giant jacks and, when they are moved by the waves, they interlock and aren’t moved as much as piled-up rocks are. Much more efficient and will not have to be replaced. They also can be made on site and not have to be moved in like giant boulders.
Here is one which the city has on display in the harbor.
On the seaside park in Crescent City was a memorial 5 merchant mariners who died in 1941 when a Japanese sub sank their ship, the SS Emidio. It was the first casualty of the Japanese navy’s action off the California coast. The ship was attacked some 200 miles north of San Francisco and 5 crew members were killed. The ship was abandoned, drifted and sank off the shore of Crescent City where it lay until it was salvaged in 1950. This is the bow plate of the ship.
After all this, we were not done with walking around Crescent City and headed over to their coastline drive and beaches. We found people busily scouring the tiny rocks along the beach. Aha, they are searching for agates, semi-precious stones. One couple told us that they make jewelry with these.
But the views were stunning.
We continued our walk, sometimes on the beach and sometimes up on the cliffs above the beach.
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