I had walked this alluvial floodplain deep in the woods a handful of times before without finding this elusive coast redwood, an estimated 337 feet tall with an imposing 22.3-foot diameter at breast height. Where could it be?

I was recounting those misadventures a few years ago, when my friend Heather Pierce, of Eureka, said she knew exactly where that tree stood. It’s her favorite Sequoia sempervirens. During a recent weeklong visit to the thick, verdant forests of Redwood National and State Parks, we took a side trip to Humboldt Redwoods State Park, 80 miles south.

Whenever I’m at the rooftop of California, I try to include a stop along the Avenue of the Giants, a 32-mile scenic stretch that weaves through big trees and enclaves in southern Humboldt County. From the Bay Area, you can reach Humboldt’s towering trees in about 4 hours, allowing a half day of hiking before continuing your adventures further north or along the coast.

This part of the Golden State offers plenty of non-redwood delights, too, from the Victorian gingerbread architecture of Ferndale to the seaside towns that hug the rugged coast. You can fill an entire weekend with redwood hikes and town rambles. Explore the Grieg-French-Bell Grove just south of Pepperwood along the Avenue of the Giants, say, with its fairyland expanse of lush Irish green sorrel ground cover and threadlike paths among the trees, then head to the coast to grab dinner in Ferndale, Arcata or perhaps Trinidad, where the Moonstone Grill offers cioppino with sunset views.

Avenue of the Giants has plenty of worthwhile stops, but I’m always drawn by the 9,400-acre Rockefeller Grove, the largest remaining contiguous old-growth coast redwood patch in the world. It’s at the northern end of the Avenue along narrow Mattole Road.

At 53,000 acres, Humboldt Redwoods is California’s third-largest state park behind Anza-Borrego Desert and Henry W. Coe near Morgan Hill. It boasts 130 trees that are 350 feet or taller. Most of them thrive in the Rockefeller Forest where Bull Creek cuts a rocky path through its heart.

Heather and I were headed for Bull Creek Flats, which has one of the world’s tallest forest canopies. It’s why the park is a World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve.

Coast redwoods exist in a relatively limited band of coastland from just across the Oregon border to the southern fringes of Big Sur. Most of the trees south of Humboldt cannot compete with the mammoths of the North Coast that have thrived in low-lying alluvial flats, along moist creek beds and up gullies and notch valleys. Before the California Gold Rush, trees dating back 2,000 years covered an estimated 2 million acres. Only about 5 percent of the old-growth forests have survived the onslaught of logging.

We’re lucky any of the groves persevered. Forward-thinking Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, played an important role in helping create the Save the Redwoods League, which raised money to buy the Humboldt groves in the early 1920s. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. spearheaded the purchase of this fabulous forest from the Pacific Lumber Company in 1931.

We had the Rockefeller forest to ourselves, as most tourists stop along Avenue of the Giants in easy-to-reach places like the Founders Grove, near the confluence of Bull Creek and the Eel River. Visitors can enjoy a self-guided half-mile walk through the temperate forest to the fallen Dyerville Giant.

In 1966, UC Berkeley scientist Paul Zinke discovered that tree with the help of a graduate student. Gale-force winds in 1991 knocked down the conifer, making it easier to measure. At a colossal 370 feet, scientists regarded the Dyerville Giant as the world’s tallest tree at the time, although Cal Poly Humboldt botanists and their colleagues have found taller trees since.

Measurements of living trees are estimates at best, because they keep growing and sometimes the tops of tall ones break off in powerful wind storms. Without climbing the trees and dropping a tape measure, it is difficult to say which one is the tallest.

So leave room for doubt that 380-foot Hyperion, a regal redwood tucked in a remote drainage in Redwood National Park, actually is the world’s tallest tree.

The tree we sought is much shorter than Hyperion. I’m more impressed with tree width than height, and this one is reportedly the largest tree in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. As we left the parking lot — where a giant redwood limb once broke off and smashed a car roof 30 feet from me — I felt hopeful I’d finally meet this behemoth.

The stubborn drought throughout the West proved beneficial, for once, as the usually rushing waterway was dry enough to tiptoe across and reach the trail on the south side of Bull Creek.

From there, the path rose and fell like a carnival roller coaster through a forest covered with redwood needles, kelly green sorrel and sword ferns. We reached an enormous fallen log Heather called the “Redwood Wall.” Later, she pointed to a gnarled tree she and a friend named “the Atomic Elephant.” From there, Pierce started a precarious descent to the valley floor.

Not here, I shouted. I knew the way to the floor from previous sorties. A quarter mile down the trail I found the gully I had used earlier. We followed it to the bottom without too much effort. Heather stopped me as I climbed under a fallen tree and started heading in the direction I had pursued on other visits.

“To the right,” she pointed toward the east.

So that’s why I never saw the tree. I had been searching in the wrong place. Oops. After 100 yards, we encountered the species that eluded me all these years. This time, there was no doubt. The tree dwarfed its skinny neighbors.

It felt sacred among the trees scattered throughout Bull Creek Flats. The world’s leading redwood authorities balanced spirituality with science as they named and cataloged the leathery-barked beast estimated to be 1,700 years old.

In this forest of soaring trees, there are two more that tower above the 360-foot mark. Heather didn’t know about them. We made a halfhearted attempt to identify the twin giants without any assurances that we succeeded.

It mattered not one bit. Not after communing with the redwood tree that we had come to visit.

If You Go

EAT: The Pizza Factory is a favorite with lumberjacks and visitors alike. Find it at 185 Wildwood Ave., Rio Dell; www.pizzafactory.com/riodell/.

Start your day at Los Bagels (1061 I St. in Arcata and 403 Second St. in Eureka) with a bagel topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, onion, capers and Larrupin mustard dill sauce; www.losbagels.com.

That Swedish-style mustard sauce is a Humboldt County treasure, created by founders Dixie Gorrell and Per Ingelsberg 40 years ago for their Larrupin Cafe. Find the cafe, now under different ownership, at 1658 Patricks Point Drive in Trinidad; www.facebook.com/TheLarrupinCafe/). Find the mustard sauce at  http://larrupingoods.com and local shops.

Moonstone Grill overlooks Trinidad’s Moonstone Beach at 100 Moonstone Beach Road; www.moonstonegrill.com.

SLEEP: Zack Stanton and Caroline Levesque’s Airbnb, Moonstone Manor, is just north of Arcata in McKinleyville; www.airbnb.com/rooms/34066966. Other options include the Victorian-era Inn at 2nd & C, 124 C St. in Old Town Eureka; www.historiceaglehouse.com. And in Ferndale, the Victorian Inn at 400 Ocean Ave.; https://victorianvillageinn.com.

MORE: Learn more about the Avenue of the Giants at www.visitredwoods.com.

As a military base, the Presidio defended the Golden Gate for two centuries before the U.S. Army left in 1994 and it became a national park. Two years later, Congress set up the Presidio Trust to care for the park and its surprising resources.

“We really are a city,” says the Presidio Trust’s public relation manager, Lisa Petrie. “We’ve inherited this old infrastructure — we have our own roads, electric grid … and 3,000 homes plus 200 businesses.”

Unlike other national park support organizations, the Presidio Trust doesn’t get a direct annual appropriation — its budget comes from managing the park’s businesses and housing stock along with visitor amenities.

From art installations to eateries, two boutique hotels, a bowling alley, golf course, community theater and more, the Presidio packs a punch, and there’s no entrance fee. Visitors can pay to park at the Presidio or take the free Presidio Go downtown shuttle or San Francisco Muni 30 and 29 lines. Visitors can also bike to the park or take a cab, Uber or Lyft.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the Presidio Tunnel Tops, which opened in the park last July. A $118 million project that was 20 years in the making, the Tunnel Tops are built on and around the Presidio Parkway tunnels. There are grassy meadows, picnic tables, food trucks, a campfire circle and trails — all with mind-blowing views of the Golden Gate Bridge and waterfront.

At the Tunnel Tops Outpost, kids can climb on play structures made from fallen tree trunks, boulders and other natural structures. In fact, the whole Presidio is a play-and-learn “power spot” for urban kids, says Damien Raffa, a Presidio park experience and partnerships specialist.

“[It’s got] immersive wild habitats, serendipitous opportunities for climbing and balancing and creating with nature,” Raffa says, adding that kids can find colorful creatures in the Presidio such as red velvet ants and green hairstreak butterflies. A field station acts as a curiosity lab to encourage children to explore with their senses.

One of the more memorable ways to see the Presidio is on a Segway. Oakland hills resident Drew Foster, who owns Segway Off Road, gives exhilarating private tours on beefed-up Segways with deep-tread tires. Riding what Foster calls “the world’s first robotic human transport,” you cruise on paved paths along the San Francisco waterfront and go off-roading to places like Baker Beach and the Presidio’s forested dirt trails.

The smiles on folks’ faces when you glide past the Palace of Fine Arts make the ride even more fun. Foster stops several times for photo ops of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Inspiration Point, Fort Point and more on a route that’s eye-candy every mile of the way.

You may be surprised to find four installations by world-renowned nature artist Andy Goldsworthy in the park. He first visited the Presidio in 2006 and was impressed with the interplay of city and nature. Goldsworthy’s art can be seen along a 3-mile hiking loop on the Presidio’s network of trails. His 1,200-foot-long “Wood Line” sculpture is especially impressive, made from eucalyptus branches in the parks largest eucalyptus grove.

With so much to do in the Presidio, you may want to spend the night. There are two options that blend history with luxury accommodations. The Lodge at the Presidio has 42 rooms with bridge, park or skyline views and gives you a complimentary breakfast and an evening wine reception.

Inn at the Presidio has 22 spacious rooms and is elegant and historic, having served as the home for bachelor officers. Both inns are within walking distance of one of the best Mexican restaurants in the city. Colibri is the perfect use of the former Presidio Officers’ Club, with its turn-of-the-century cantina vibe and amazing made-to-order guacamole, handmade tortillas, smoky mezcal cocktails and more.

The restaurant even has happy hour, almost unheard of in a national park setting. It’s just one more example of the unique offerings in this gem of an urban national park.

Ginny Prior can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.

FYI

For help planning your trip to the Presidio, visit presidio.gov online. For more information on Segway tours, go to segwayoffroad.com. To find out more about the Colibri restaurant, visit colibrimexicanbistro.com.

“When riding Amtrak I tell people just chill,” Jones said, as the Santa Ynez mountains passed by in the distance. “Because you will be exposed to America.”

Amtrak riders should take note of Jones’ leisurely approach to train riding in the United States. Its fleet of hulking diesel-powered locomotives are often slower than they were 85 years ago. On the Coast Starlight, an epic 1,377-mile journey from Seattle to Los Angeles, the Bay Area portion – connecting Oakland and San Jose to Los Angeles – takes over 12 hours. In 1938, the now-defunct Daylight train cruised down to Los Angeles in less than 10.

For the foreseeable future, California’s train riders are stuck with the lumbering connection. The state’s beleaguered high-speed rail project is decades behind schedule with hopes of eventually connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles through the Central Valley. And even as President Joe Biden, known for his love of Amtrak trains, funnels billions into passenger rail infrastructure, no major speed improvements are planned for the Coast Starlight – although the train’s dated snack bar menu was recently refreshed, but to mixed reviews.

Avid Coast Starlight riders say jumping on the $54 one-way trip from Oakland to LA is not about saving a few hours. It’s about finding a rare space where travelers from around the world come together and unplug from the hurried flow of everyday life.

“I don’t care much about speed,” said Nicolaos Zafiriou, a Greek filmmaker. On a weekday in July, Zafiriou went to bed in Oregon and woke in Sacramento. On a trip from Chicago to Seattle, he spent a night chit-chatting with a rock band manager and truck driver. “It’s so long that you don’t have to keep track of the time that passes.”

And the antiquated Coast Starlight, which has long been known for awe-inspiring views, is even generating buzz from a whole new generation of rail riders, who have been posting viral videos of the train’s vast route.

@trangofhearts

Highly recommend traveling on @Amtrak instead of flying once in a while!! We had such an amazing time, we’ll def do it again #amtrak #coaststarlight #bayarea #socal #vlogger #baytok

♬ original sound – zivsoundz

But why does California’s premier train connection take twice as long as driving?

Steve Roberts, president of RailPAC, a train advocacy organization, said the train’s slow speeds are tied to the nation’s 20th-century love affair with cars. In the heyday of 1900s train travel, before automobiles and highways supplanted mass transit, private railway companies operated a vast network of luxurious passenger trains. That was when rail travel came with elaborate art-deco drinking taverns and wood-paneled coffee carts.

Last century on the Daylight, dubbed “The Most Beautiful Train in the World,” the tracks and technology were upgraded so trains could zoom around corners at higher speeds. “The train at some places along the coast could go 90 miles an hour,” said Roberts.

But once passengers started skipping rail for their steering wheels, the private railway companies downgraded their faster infrastructure because it was too expensive to maintain, Roberts said. In 2022, Coast Starlight’s top speed is 79 miles per hour, but that velocity is rarely reached.

“Basically, society’s decision was to build the interstates,” said Roberts. “And the railroads stayed static.”

While lackluster infrastructure means slower trains, Amtrak’s biggest affliction is rampant delays caused by the nation’s economic workhorse: freight trains.

For the Coast Starlight, only 54% of passengers arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time in 2021. The dismal performance stems from a long-standing and bitter competition between Amtrak and freight train operators, both of whom are forced to cohabitate on the nation’s rail network. While Amtrak is supposed to be entitled to priority on railways, riders are often forced to wait hours for passing freight trains. Last week, in one of the latest dustups, Amtrak announced mass cancellations of its long-distance trains, including the Coast Starlight, due to freight workers threatening a strike.

Now that it’s fall, the sun sets before 7 p.m., just as the train hits miles of ocean views south of Santa Barbara.

“I’m here just to see the views,” said Kalen Chang, a graduate student at UCLA, as he shifted between grading papers and window gazing. “It really feels like the time isn’t wasted.”

TIPS FOR THE SLOW TRAIN TO LA

When traveling there are some tips gathered from this reporter’s 12-hour journey and other riders:

• Make sure you book the right trip: Riders have mistakenly reserved a “mixed service” connection, which involves a train from Oakland to Bakersfield with a bus connection to Los Angeles. The route is quicker but far less scenic.
• Head to the viewing car: After finding your reserved seat head to the viewing car, where expansive windows offer the best views and lively atmosphere. The car often fills up, especially during the later half of the Bay Area to Los Angeles route.
• Snag a right-side seat: If you are heading south, the viewing car’s right side faces the ocean.
• Be aware of food options: Since COVID-19, the train’s formal dining car is only available to passengers in business class or with a sleeper cabin. A snack bar with drinks, chips, and slim microwaveable options is available to all passengers. You won’t regret bringing your own meals for the 12-hour journey.

“Historically, chateaus were more of a city. You had people that lived on the property so they had to have a church,” says Château du Sureau hotel director Rani Grube.

She explains that chateaus were also built on high ground and secluded.

“The history of old chateaus … they had to be on top of a hill so you could oversee the town. They were the heart of a protected village.”

The woman who had Château du Sureau built in 1983 (when Oakhurst was just a small town) was Erna Kubin-Clanin, an Austrian chef, restaurateur and hotelier with a passion for sharing European charm and hospitality. Each room in the chateau isn’t just decorated; it’s curated with her favorite treasures.

“Everything she found herself, from the furniture to the tile in the breakfast room which she bought from an old castle in France,” says Grube. Erna even found a piano in a chateau in Vienna and had it shipped to Oakhurst.

“It’s the same type of piano that Chopin played,” says Grube. “That’s how old it is.

There’s also a separate Villa Sureau on the property, inspired by Barbra Streisand.

“Erna was very good friends with Barbra,” says Grube, “and when Barbra used to come here she told her ‘You know, I need something more private with my entourage.’ ” That’s how they got the idea. The villa has its own gate and Tesla charger. It’s very secluded.”

When Erna retired in 2017, she sold the chateau to the Rosenson family, owners of some other extraordinary inns — the Mansion on Sutter in San Francisco and Coquelicot Estate Vineyards and The Mirabelle Inn in the Santa Ynez Valley.

On the Château du Sureau property is a dining destination in its own right — the Elderberry House Restaurant. The philosophy there is that food is a culinary art meant to be served with gracious hospitality. Even the uniquely European Cellar Bar celebrates the romance of fine food. The warmth of stone and wood make this an intimate venue with creative dishes like free-range duck chili and, on Thursdays through September, Tiki-inspired dishes and drinks.

It would be understandable if Château du Sureau guests chose to stay close to the inn, exploring the beauty of the Sierra National Forest just outside Yosemite National Park. Only minutes from Oakhurst is Bass Lake, heralded as one of the West’s best destinations for swimming, fishing and boating. There’s a scenic circle drive around the 4-mile-long lake that takes in its emerald green waters framed by forested pines. There are also a variety of picnic spots, some with beach access and some on tree-lined bluffs overlooking the water. Nearby, Manzanita Lake is Bass Lake’s marshy little sister — a favorite for birders and butterfly spotters.

For train enthusiasts, the Yosemite Sugar Pine Railroad is an authentic steam railroad that traverses the Sierra National Forest just outside the park and offers outdoor barbecues and theme trains throughout the year.

For folks who want to explore Yosemite National Park, just 14 miles from Oakhurst, the southern entrance is home to the beloved Mariposa Grove and more than 500 mature giant redwoods that were saved from this summer’s Washburn fire. The southern entrance also boasts the historic Wawona Hotel and the nearby Pioneer Yosemite History Center — a collection of storied buildings with interpretive signs that were relocated to Wawona in the 1950s and 1960s.

As many of us emerge from the pandemic with a yearning to travel, we may find ourselves more discerning about our destinations and where we choose to stay. Life seems more precious to many travelers these days, and true hospitality can be difficult to find. Château du Sureau offers a unique opportunity to experience French luxury and tradition near Yosemite National Park.

Ginny Prior can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.

FYI

A reservation is required to drive into or through Yosemite National Park for those driving into the park between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. through Sept. 30. Château du Sureau is a Relais & Châteaux property with 10 guest suites and a private two-bedroom villa, the award-winning Elderberry House Restaurant and Spa du Sureau. For more information, visit chateausureau.com online.

Mammoth Lakes’ larger-than-life setting overflows with natural splendors: pristine Alpine lakes, dense forests, hot springs and off-the-charts mountain views. It’s a great alternative to Tahoe — and feels very different. Mammoth will undoubtedly satisfy the most adventurous and active outdoor enthusiasts — campers, hikers, runners, backpackers, fishers, paddlers, road cyclists and mountain bikers. For us, despite three days of non-stop action, it felt like we just got a sampling of the place. The oohs and aahs kept coming and coming, and we really craved more.

Our trip from the Bay Area started with a stop in Tahoe for a fun outdoor production of “Mamma Mia!” at the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (their summer season runs through August). With Abba’s catchy tunes stuck in our heads, we set out from our hotel in Carson City, Nevada’s state capital, heading south on Highway 395, then transitioning back into California through a scenic high desert landscape, accompanied by the soaring, jagged edifice of the eastern Sierra mountains.

After a midday side trip to the fascinating ghost town of Bodie — a former mining town preserved as a California state historic park — followed by a break for soft-serve Mono Cones near Mono Lake in Lee Vining, we arrived in Mammoth Lakes by mid-afternoon and checked into our comfy condo in the Snowcreek neighborhood on the outskirts of town.

Eager to orient ourselves, we followed the town’s Main Street to Lake Mary Road and the glacier-carved Mammoth Lakes basin. Along the way, we passed pristine Twin Lakes, the Tamarack Lodge and St. Mary’s Lake, where we spotted a huge brown bear sleeping under a pine tree. From the Horseshoe Lake parking lot, we took a short hike to scenic McLeod Lake, a perfect introduction to Mammoth’s summer wonderland.

Dinner that evening at Bleu Market & Kitchen — a restaurant, organic bakery and epicurean marketplace — turned out to be the best meal of the trip. We savored seared scallops with lobster ravioli, truffle mac ‘n’ cheese with Santa Maria tri-tip, and a tasty farm-to-table salad topped with Humboldt Fog goat cheese and a side of crispy calamari.

In the morning, after breakfast burritos at Looney Bean, we hightailed it to Mammoth Mountain, the famed ski resort that transitions each summer into the best, most extensive mountain bike park in the state. The Mammoth bike park has more than 80 miles of lift and shuttle-supported trails to ride. Renting Trek Fuel Ex mountain bikes at the Main Lodge, we rode Chair 11 for a few warm-up runs in Mammoth’s Discovery Zone before riding the gondola to the top of Mammoth Mountain, elevation 11,053 feet.

The summit was wrapped in a heavy mist, as we set out on the intermediate-level, five-mile-long “Off The Top” trail on the mountain’s backside. Following a winding single track trail through a series of switchback turns, we rode through moonlike pumice — the mountain is an old volcano — as we descended to hard-pack and occasionally rocky trails in sunnier pine forests on the mountain’s frontside.

A lunch of soup and sandwiches at Mammoth Lake’s Warming Hut was just the thing before heading to Devils Postpile National Monument for the afternoon. By shuttle bus (reservations required), it’s a 30-minute ride from Mammoth Mountain’s Main Lodge to the monument’s ranger station. Enroute, we observed the Minarets, a series of peaks in the Ritter range, looming darkly like J.R.R. Tolkein’s mountains of Mordor on the horizon, before descending to the park. An easy half-mile hike brought us to the park’s namesake formation of basalt columns, which formed some 100,000 years ago.

Over big, country-style breakfasts the next morning at The Stove, we decided that next time we visited we’d check out places like nearby Hot Creek Geologic site, the Devil’s Postpile trails to Rainbow and Minaret falls and more bike park and path adventures.

On the way home, we took the long way through Yosemite’s lovely Tuolumne Meadows, adding a final bit of Alpine splendor to our epic summer family escape to Mammoth Lakes and the Eastern Sierra.

If You Go

Travel: We road-tripped, but an incredibly easy way to visit Mammoth in summer is by air. Direct flights on United from SFO to Eastern Sierra Regional Airport (BIH) in Bishop take only about an hour. visitmammoth.com/flying.

Bleu Market & Kitchen: Open daily during the season from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for soup, sandwiches and market fare. The bar and lounge are open daily from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 106 Old Mammoth Road inMammoth Lakes; www.bleufoods.com.

Warming Hut: Open for breakfast and lunch daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 8 p.m. at 343 Old Mammoth Road, Mammoth Lakes; www.thewarminghutmammoth.com.

The Stove: Open daily for big country breakfasts and lunch fare from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.  at 644 Old Mammoth Road; www.thestoverestaurantmammoth.com.

Distant Brewing: This microbrewery and brewpub is open from noon to 9 p.m. daily (10 p.m. Friday-Saturday) at 568 Old Mammoth Road; distantbeer.com.

Looney Bean: This coffee house is open from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily at 26H Old Mammoth Road;  www.looneybeanmammoth.com.

Stellar Brew: This coffee house is open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 3280 Main St.; www.stellarbrew.life.

Snowcreek Resort: This Mammoth Lakes resort offers vacation rentals starting at $170; www.livesnowcreek.com.

Visitor information: Learn more about the region at www.visitmammoth.com and www.monocounty.org.

“This used to belong to Mick Jagger,” one explains, while the other twiddles a beer-can weather vane on the elephant’s trunk. “He had two made for his daughter’s wedding on Treasure Island. I got this one and painted it pink.”

Yes, it’s your typical day in everyone’s favorite boho Sonoma town, Guerneville. Tourists clutching sun block and ice cream head down to the Russian River beach, while a shirtless dude who has hooked an amp up to a VW van blasts wah-wah-infused funk. It’s hard to believe this place was underwater three years ago, in one of the most disastrous floods this flood-prone area’s witnessed.

The effects of the deluge and other calamities – Guerneville seems to attract misfortune – still linger. “The flood was definitely the beginning of a massive hit on the town. We went from that to COVID to nine days of being evacuated due to the Walbridge fire. It’s like kicking a guy while he’s down,” says Crista Luedtke, chef and owner of Boon Eat + Drink and other local establishments.

Many people have raised their homes; others have moved out of smaller in-law units knowing the risk of future flooding. On the flip side, there’s been an influx of new blood, thanks to COVID luring folks out of cities.

“Because people are able to work remote, we have a lot more full-time residents. It’s nice to see more people during the week and the off-season,” says Luedtke. “I do think there’s a fair amount of new energy coming to town and a new shift we’re seeing.”

This remote worker recently traveled with a companion to Guerneville to poke a tuning fork into the postdiluvian vibes. What we found were exciting new enterprises – places to dine, stay and groove to live music – and natural wonders like the river and majestic redwoods that still retain their well-deserved popularity. Plus there’s a ghost, which we should just get into now.

Where to stay: The Stavrand

The first thing we heard while checking into the Stavrand Russian River Valley, a posh retreat that opened last year at the site of the old Applewood Inn, is that we had unexpected company. “The original owner was Gretchen, and she haunts the Belden House,” says the concierge, referring to a building on the property that’s celebrating its 100th anniversary. “It’s low-key,” she reassures us. “Just stuff randomly falling down.”

The Stavrand clusters Spanish Revival-style villas and a rustic dining hall on six shady acres scented with fruit-tree blossoms. There’s a pool by a forest and trails that lead up a small hill or into a garden of tomatoes and artichokes and summer squash. A chef roots through the veggies to prepare seasonally inspired dinners. Lovely tilework and strategically positioned pottery give the grounds a comforting feeling best described as quasi-Anthropologie.

We considered cooking s’mores over the outdoor fire pits, but being homebodies went to our room instead. It had the pleasures you’d expect from a Russian River cabin in the woods, if it were run by discriminating hoteliers. A gas fireplace embedded in the wall pushes warmth over a king bed with a leather headboard. On the back patio, a cedar hot tub simmered under flowering vines. Walls protect it from view if you wanted to, say, shed some clothing, not that it’s explicitly encouraged in the hotel literature.

We took a plunge and went to sleep … at least until 3 a.m., when there was a loud thump. A frantic scan of the room with a phone flashlight revealed no sheeted apparitions or ectoplasm dripping from the faucets so, after a while, we headed back to dreamland. The morning light revealed an unexpected pleasure of the Stavrand: Roll up the curtains, and you’re looking directly into quiet redwoods. It’s a much more zen way to start the day than watching “Law & Order” reruns on TV.

Details: Find the Stavrand at 13555 Highway 116, Guerneville; 707-869-9093, thestavrand.com

Other options: Mine + Farm is a modernist B&B in a restored farmhouse, where breakfast includes locally butchered meat and eggs from the farm’s own chickens (mineandfarminn.com). The recently redone Highlands Resort provides rustic-chic cabins and glamping tents (highlandsresort.com). And Dawn Ranch has just reopened with riverside cabins and live music in its bandshell (dawnranch.com).

Where to eat: Saucy Mama’s

Walk into the brand-new Saucy Mama’s restaurant – formerly a pop-up from chef Yvette Bidegain – and you might think you’re in a place called Richardson’s Ribs, given all the signage. That was the restaurant chain of her parents, with locations in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, who came from the South and raised Bidegain and her siblings on soul-food staples. The chef keeps the tradition alive with, yes, ribs, both of the beef and pork variety and cooked until tender and smoky. Folks who remember Chris Rock’s character from “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” will be delighted you can order just one rib here – it comes with tangy barbecue sauce and a steak knife, asking you to carve it like a miniature Thanksgiving turkey.

Hanging ferns and festive streamers give Saucy Mama’s a New Orleans feel, as do remoulade-drizzled catfish and oyster po’boys on French bread. Fried chicken marinated for 24 hours in buttermilk and herbs drips with juices while maintaining a crust that shatters like glass. (Fried-chicken skin itself is an appetizer here.) A soul-food joint lives and dies by its sides, and to its credit, the kitchen turns out good versions: The collards are bacon-y with the appropriate amount of vinegar, the mac and cheese gooey with four cheeses, and the cornbread formed into waffles with “crack butter” – with honey, molasses and cinnamon, it’s worthy of its addictive name. There are also Southern desserts done well, like peach cobbler and banana pudding topped with Nilla Wafers.

Details: Saucy Mama’s is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 16632 Highway 116 in Guerneville; 707-604-7184, saucymamasjookjoint.com.

Boon Eat + Drink

It’s with relief we found Boon Eat + Drink – perhaps the town’s most well-known casual-upscale restaurant – was as good after the flood as before. The place was thronged with diners enjoying Crista Luedtke’s Californian fare with international accents like preserved lemon and black-garlic crema. The turnip soup was root-vegetable velvet, needing little more than a slash of fresh olive oil. A glossy orb of burrata was nestled with watermelon and cantaloupe that likely had been ripening in the sun that week. (Boon maintains a produce garden down the block that’s available for seating, too.) A flat-iron steak from NorCal’s Five Dot Ranch was grilled perfectly and accompanied by truffle fries with the interior of buttery mashed potatoes.

Details: Open from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 16248 Main St., Guerneville; 707-869-0780, eatatboon.com.

Nimble & Finn’s

Nimble & Finn’s makes Straus Family Creamery ice cream with uncommon flavors like lavender honeycomb and bourbon cornflake. It’s inside the Guerneville Bank Club, a historic establishment with a new wine shop (The Wine Vault, thewinevaultsonoma.com) and an old bank vault you can inspect (if you’re casing your next job). The building is also home to a collection of photographs from the Russian River Historical Society. The photos are meant to serve as a tribute but come across more as a highlight reel of the tragedies the area has endured. Gordon Herr’s Hexagon House, built in the 1940s as part of an artist colony, burned down in 1991. The popular resort and dance hall Guernewood Park Tavern burned in the ’70s. Gori’s Tavern, that Russian River mainstay with fancy Italian dinners? You better believe it “burned down with the other businesses in the middle of the block in the big Guerneville Fire of October 9, 1963.”

Details: Opens at noon daily (closed Wednesdays) at 16290 Main St., Guerneville; 707-666-9411, nimbleandfinns.com.

Other options: Big Bottom Market has breakfast- and lunch sandwiches and also bakes Oprah’s favorite biscuit; it’s like biting into a sweet cloud (bigbottommarket.com). Brot is a German-inspired eatery with sausages from Journeyman Meat in Healdsburg (brotguerneville.com). The Guerneville Taco Truck in the parking lot of the local Safeway has a passionate fan base for its authentic carnitas and lengua (guernevilletacotruck.com).

Explore nature: Armstrong Redwoods

A fantastic way to experience natural prehistory is to walk the valley trail at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. It’s a gorgeous, deeply contemplative park with original-growth redwoods saved from loggers by local preservationists. (There’s a reason Guerneville was known in the 1800s as “Stumptown.”)

The trail from the visitor’s center is easy and partially paved, with alternatives for more strenuous hikes available by climbing into the dry hills. In the valley, sound is dampened by “duff,” a carpet of plant debris on the forest floor. Light filters through towering trees, and thick moss coats everything from fences to fallen trees, which rest like Godzilla bones feeding the ecosystem with their decay.

Some of the most impressive redwoods south of Humboldt County are here, including the Colonel Armstrong Tree rising more than 300 feet and the Icicle Tree with its pendulous burls. Some of the trees are charred, a testament to the fires that regularly torch the land, while others are hollow for kids to explore. There’s also a cross section of a dead tree with date markers: On this ring in 1620, the pilgrims arrived in America; here in 1300 was the beginning of Aztec civilization.

Details: Open daily from 8 a.m. until one hour after sunset at 17000 Armstrong Woods Road, Guerneville; 707-869-2015, parks.ca.gov/?page_id=450.

Explore: The river

There are many ways to explore the Russian River from tubing to canoeing to swimming in the peaceful dusk or dawn hours. We rented a tandem kayak from King’s Sport and Tackle, mostly because you get a cool code name for your group, such as Hammerhead, Shark or Monk. Ours was Surfperch, and we were thrilled to be living a Tom Clancy novel, until we realized it would probably only be used by the operator yelling into a radio, “Find Surfperch, you idiots! They’ve lost their way and are trying to paddle to Japan!”

The journey started in town at Johnson’s Beach, a privately owned waterfront that changed hands this year. It has a Mediterranean atmosphere with reclining chairs and umbrellas, small stones instead of sand and a snack service with alcohol. We pushed off downstream between a sheer canyon of trees with houses impossibly nailed to the side, like an old painting that didn’t understand physics. Islands of vegetation floated on tea-colored water populated by minnows and ducks with mohawks. Occasionally, a great blue heron hunting fish on the shoreline would disengage and flap so close we could almost feel the draft of its wings.

The river has released its whitewater flood energy – for now – but still put up a fight with winds blowing in from the ocean. Thankfully, there are plenty of small beaches where you can pull over to tan and read books. The trip back was basically a matter of taking the paddles out of the water and drifting, while admiring verdant woods and real estate with floating docks and people in lawn chairs enjoying the view. “The houses along the way,” noted my companion, “make you jealous of the life you could’ve had.”

Details: 16258 Main St., Guerneville; 707-869-2156, kingsrussianriver.wixsite.com/kingsrussianriver

Hyperion, certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s tallest living tree, is officially off-limits to visitors.

California’s Redwood National Park issued a statement last week that anyone who is caught near the tree can face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

The tree, which is deep in the park and has no trails leading to it, has faced serious environmental degradation from thrill-seekers who have visited since 2006, when it was found by a pair of naturalists.

The coast redwood (sequoia sempervirens) tree is 115.92 meters (380 feet) tall and its name is derived from Greek mythology — Hyperion was one of the Titans and the father of sun god Helios and moon goddess Selene.

“Hyperion is located off trail through dense vegetation and requires heavy ‘bushwhacking’ in order to reach the tree,” reads a statement on the national park’s website.

“Despite the difficult journey, increased popularity due to bloggers, travel writers, and websites of this off-trail tree has resulted in the devastation of the habitat surrounding Hyperion,” the statement says. “As a visitor, you must decide if you will be part of the preservation of this unique landscape – or will you be part of its destruction?”

Leonel Arguello, the park’s Chief of Natural Resources, told news site San Francisco Gate that the area has limited cellphone and GPS service, which means it can be very challenging to rescue any lost or injured hikers in the area.

In addition to erosion and damage caused at the base of the tree, there are secondary issues that come from an influx of people.

Human visitors are not the only risk to these giant trees.

Wildfires are a growing concern throughout California’s national parks.

In 2021, officials at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks took extreme measures to protect some of the world’s biggest trees from fire.

General Sherman, considered the world’s largest tree — determined by density not height, as it is shorter than Hyperion — was wrapped in an “aluminum-based burn-resistant material” akin to tinfoil as a way to keep it safe during the devastating KNP Complex Fire.

The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

Santa Clara on Feb. 3, 2020, was the state’s first county to declare a COVID-19 health emergency. Nonessential businesses closed, and San Jose State University shuttered its campus just a few weeks later, making the downtown core seem like a ghost town. The final blow was when the venerable Fairmont itself closed on March 5, 2021, and filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

Yet the resurrection has begun. Plans for a massive Google campus called Downtown West plus the addition of the Signia hotel — just Hilton’s second in the United States, signal the return of a vibrant downtown core. The energy is palpable. For the overnight visitor, this summer is a good time to visit San Jose and take advantage of lighter crowds and all the museums and history the city’s downtown has to offer.

The Tech Interactive, across from Signia, is a perennial award winner for its interactive exhibits that engage the whole family. Young architects can design their own city, making decisions on everything from parks to skyscrapers. Explorers can strap in for a virtual space expedition. And an exhibit with a high ‘eek factor’ lets visitors see what’s inside real, preserved human bodies. Body Worlds Decoded combines the world-famous specimens by Gunther von Hagens with a layer of augmented reality developed in the Silicon Valley.

Gaming destinations are a growing part of downtown San Jose, with two new food and drink venues for adults who want an elevated game-play experience. Think of them like interactive sports bars with giant TVs and dozens of e-games for solo or group play. In fact, Guildhouse is so big that it has 18,000 square feet of gaming and dining space. MINIBOSS has 32 arcade games and 12 pinball machines in over 5000 square feet of space.

What makes these businesses even more unique is the high quality of food and drink. The menus include local wines, craft beers and cocktails, along with a higher level of food than you’d expect to find. In fact, MINIBOSS has roasted forest mushroom and fried duck egg sandwiches, Wagyu beef sliders and oxtail poutine.

Speaking of gaming and technology, San Jose is hosting its annual SiliCon Aug. 27-28 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The event, the vision of Rick White and Steve Wozniak, started in 2014 and attracts about 60,000 people with special guests like actors George Takei and Christopher Lloyd.

Much like Comic Con and Maker Con, SiliCon celebrates the best of pop culture, tech, science, gaming and more with appearances from celebrities, authors, astronauts and artists. Co-producer Adam Savage calls SiliCon a “giant, blank canvas that every attendee can draw on.” There’ll be virtual workshops to build cyberpunk headsets, dragon horns, 3D printing and prop-making.

As San Jose continues to build on its tech cred, it’s also proud of its history. The city was the first capital of California and is marked by Plaza de César Chávez, the oldest public open space in California. The downtown core also has a stunning Catholic Church, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, which was built in 1877 and offers free tours. A few blocks away is the oldest district in San Jose, San Pedro Square. Today, it’s a popular public market with vendors offering food and beverages from around the world.

From history to breathtaking innovation, a stay in downtown San Jose gives you access to a mind-boggling array of museums, historical sites and cutting-edge shops and restaurants. An overnight stay at the new Signia by Hilton San Jose puts you in the epicenter of a city that celebrates history and innovation.

Ginny Prior can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.

FYI

Visit San Jose has information on museums, hotels, restaurants and upcoming events and festivals. You can also download a walking map of downtown online at sanjose.org.

The new Signia by Hilton San Jose has special summer rates at hilton.com/en/hotels/sjcsmhh-signia-san-jose.

Find information and tickets to SiliCon at siliconsj.com.

A recent weekend found us history lovers ambling up to Mendocino, drawn by the allure of those sun-dappled waves, fresh seafood and maritime history. The village has long been a charming seaside destination, one that combines spectacular ocean views with fun restaurants and tempting little shops.

But Mendocino’s post-Gold Rush history began with a spectacular shipwreck. The Frolic, a Baltimore-built brig laden with Chinese porcelain, silks and, some believe, opium, was bound from China to San Francisco in 1850, when it foundered off Point Cabrillo. A search party was sent to retrieve anything salvageable. What they found back then was a treasure beyond compare: forests of old-growth redwoods.

By 1852, Mendocino was a logging encampment. Within a year, the Redwood Lumber Manufacturing Company had erected a sawmill there and soon after, ships were plying the waters off the Mendocino and Sonoma coasts to haul lumber from dozens of coastal camps and logging operations to San Francisco, Asia, Australia and the Eastern U.S. And the way the timber got from mill to ship was truly jaw dropping.

We were fascinated by the tales and the lingo — a doghole port? And a maritime history foray fit in nicely with our hopes of scoring some stellar seafood, preferably at a waterfront shack. So we meandered along Highway 1 one recent sunny afternoon, stopping first at the Point Arena lighthouse, which looks like a smokestack, probably because a smokestack company rebuilt it after the 1906 earthquake.

The lighthouses that dot the Northern California coastline are here precisely because of the logging operations. Of the nearly 200 shipwrecks along the Mendocino and Sonoma coast during this period, “lumber schooners” accounted for the majority, according to James Delgado, director of the maritime heritage program in the office of National Marine Sanctuaries at NOAA.

There were so many shipwrecks at Point Arena alone, the federal government commissioned a lighthouse for that point in 1866. A light station opened in 1909 at Point Cabrillo, where the debris from the Frolic litters the ocean floor to this day.

Today, you can not only visit those lighthouses and wander the grounds and museums, you can even book an overnight stay in one of the lighthouse keepers’ historic homes. No Fresnel-lens polishing duty required. There’s no shortage of places to stay, though. Mendocino is known for its historic inns and bed-and-breakfasts, including the Glendeven Inn & Lodge and the Brewery Gulch Inn.

As the sun set, we took a break from our lighthouse explorations to seek out sustenance in Fort Bragg, where the Noyo River flows to the sea. Its sheltered harbor, one of the few along this stretch of coast, is home to commercial fishing vessels — and to the Noyo Fish Company. This casual waterfront eatery offers some of the freshest, crispiest fish and chips ($16) we’ve ever had, as well as chowder ($7/cup) and local craft beer.

Man cannot live by lighthouses alone, so we spent the next day strolling the streets of Mendocino itself, popping into shops, from the charming Gallery Bookshop and Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books to Mendocino Jams and Preserves. Olallieberry jam is the top seller there with good reason, and the housemade mustard packs a wallop.

A few years ago, the venerable Cafe Beaujolais turned its bakery — The Brickery — into a pizza spot serving up blistered, wood-fired, Neapolitan-style pizza with toppings inspired by the season. So we ordered at the window, then grabbed a seat in the lush garden to enjoy wine, craft beer and a pizza ($16) topped with housemade fennel sausage, red onions and pickled Fresno chiles. (The spinach pesto, snap peas and chèvre number was awfully tempting, too.)

We’d visited Mendocino’s Out of This World, purveyor of telescopes and wonderful science toys, in the before times and convinced ourselves that we did not actually need a pair of binoculars. Except we really, really did. So this time, we dashed inside, whipped out a credit card and were soon admiring the horizon, the headlands and everything in between, including — could it be? Was that odd object part of the wire chutes used in doghole ports?

You knew we’d come back to that, didn’t you? Back in the 1850s, there were few roads and no rail line. Point Arena didn’t get a wharf until 1866. The Skunk Train didn’t arrive until 1885. So someone came up with the idea of anchoring schooners in the unpredictable swells of teeny, tiny, rocky coves — coves “so small and exposed that mariners joked they were barely large enough for a dog to turn around,” maritime archaeologist Deborah Marx noted in a NOAA document, hence the name doghole port. And they rigged up chutes — first made of wood, then wire — to basically shoot logs from the towering bluffs to a ship waiting below.

We kept thinking that the rigging could not possibly be as horrifying as that description implied. Through our new binoculars (we’re calling them a Father’s Day prezzie), we could see vestiges of those long-gone works on the headlands, where lumber was lowered to schooners below.

So we nipped into the Mendocino Headlands State Park visitors center and museum, which holds all kinds of interesting artifacts, including tools used by 19th-century loggers, ship memorabilia and an enormous diorama of Mendocino, circa 1890, when water towers dotted the village even more so than now and lumber operations filled what is now the state park’s lawns and picnic area.

A scale model shows exactly what that lumber delivery system looked like — so much more terrifying than anything we’d conjured — and historic photos showed that they delivered passengers to the ship deck that way, too. Incredibly, they were not screaming.

Hours later, sitting in the twinkle-lit fairy gardens of Luna Trattoria over our seafood, we were still talking about it. Clearly, those Gold Rush-era Mendocino-ites were much braver than we are.

If You Go

Point Arena Lighthouse: This historic lighthouse has reopened for in-person tours ($5 per person), which run every 30 minutes daily at 45500 Lighthouse Road in Point Arena, and free virtual tours at www.pointarenalighthouse.com.

Point Cabrillo Light: The lighthouse is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 13800 Point Cabrillo Drive in Mendocino; https://pointcabrillo.org.

Noyo Fish Company: Open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 32440 N. Harbor Drive in Fort Bragg; www.facebook.com/noyofishcompany.

Gallery Bookshop and Bookwinkle’s: Open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Main and Kasten streets in Mendocino; www.gallerybookshop.com.

Mendocino Jams & Preserves: Open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday-Monday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 440 Main St. in Mendocino; https://mendocinojams.com

Out of This World: Open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 45100 Main St. in Mendocino; https://outofthisworldshop.com.

The Brickery: Open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and until 5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday at 961 Ukiah St. in Mendocino; www.cafebeaujolais.com/the-brickery.

Mendocino Headlands State Park: Open for day use at 735 Main St. in Mendocino; www.parks.ca.gov.

Luna Trattoria: Dinner seatings (reservations strongly recommended) at 5 and 7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 955 Ukiah St. in Mendocino; www.lunatrattoria.com.

So here are three picnic venue suggestions and two places to pick up picnic fare.

Mendocino Headlands State Park

This state park wraps around the village of Mendocino, offering easy trails, quiet beaches and miles of easy hiking trails. Pop into the visitors center and museum tucked inside the historic Ford House, which was built in 1854, then head out to the park’s lush lawns, which are dotted with picnic tables.

Details: The park is open for day use daily at 735 Main St. in Mendocino; www.parks.ca.gov.

Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park

Stroll out to this 1909 lighthouse — it’s a half-mile walk from the parking lot, with handicapped parking available near the lighthouse itself — to take in spectacular views. There are picnic tables next to the lighthouse and near the lighthouse keepers’ houses.

Details: The park is open from sunrise to sunset daily; the lighthouse is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Find the park at 13800 Point Cabrillo Drive, just north of Mendocino; www.parks.ca.gov and https://pointcabrillo.org.

Noyo Headlands Park

The Noyo River meets the Pacific Ocean in dramatic fashion at this Fort Bragg park. The 104-acre park includes a relatively recent addition to the California Coastal Trail that opened a long-inaccessible section of coastline. Now a 6-mile, ADA-accessible trail meanders along the headlands, with 18 artists’ benches and several picnic tables tucked here and there.

Details: Open daily. There are parking lots at the southern and northern ends of the park, including one at the end of Cypress Street, north of the Fort Bragg’s Noyo bridge, and one near Glass Beach on Elm Street; www.city.fortbragg.com.

The Trillium Picnic Box

Sure, you could brown bag it with a sandwich on your lap. Or you could picnic with an actual tablecloth and napkins, dishes, silverware, wine glasses, a fizzy St. Germain cocktail, perhaps, and a Point Reyes Blue cheese salad ($15) and grilled wild prawn and avocado sandwich ($20). And a dazzled spouse or beau.

Mendocino’s Trillium Cafe serves lunch and dinner alfresco on the patio — or in a Trillium Picnic Box you order ahead, pick up on your way to your picnic, then drop off afterward. Open Friday-Tuesday at 10390 Kasten Street in Mendocino. Find the picnic box details and peek at the menu at www.trilliummendocino.com.

The Harvest Market at Mendosa’s option

This longtime market and deli offers pre-made sandwiches in the refrigerator case, as well as deli salads, organic produce and various chip options. The pre-made sammies are fine, just make sure you pick up packets of mustard and mayo — they’re near the door — to give your sandwich a little more oomph.

Mendocino’s Harvest Market opens at 7 a.m. daily at 10501 Lansing St. Fort Bragg’s Harvest Market opens at 6 a.m. daily at 171 Boatyard Drive. Find details at www.harvestmarket.com.