California - (Far) Northern California Road Trip

I will be going home to Santa Rosa, CA in a few weeks, and my sister and I would like to do a ~3.5 day road trip. We have explored (almost) everything within, say, a 50-100 mile radius of Santa Rosa and South (toward SF, Monterey/Carmel, Santa Barbara, and LA), so the idea now is to go North.

Any ideas on what places to visit in Northern Northern California, e.g., Mendocino, Eureka, Shasta, etc.? How do those compare to Lake Tahoe and surroundings? (I've never been to Tahoe in the summer.) For some reason, I can't get my hands on a guidebook...

Interests include hiking, nature, small towns, art, historical places.

Thanks very much!

Alex

Eureka and Ferndale are both lovely Victorian communities near the beach and the redwoods. Hiking in the redwoods is beautiful.
If you go, there's a great B&B in Eureka called Elegant Victorian Mansion, which pretty much sums it up. The place is amazing and the innkeepers are very professional. Rates are reasonable for what you get.
http://www.eureka-california.com/album.htm#Van_gogh_room

Ferndale
http://www.victorianferndale.org/chamber/

Eureka
http://www.caohwy.com/e/eureka.htm

How do they compare to Tahoe? Tough one. They're both great places to visit in the summer. Tahoe has more going on. The redwoods area is less crowded.

Not so much northern as eastern, but Calaveras County (of jumping frog fame) might be interesting. There are Victorian and mining towns (Angel's Camp, etc.)

I will be going home to Santa Rosa, CA in a few weeks, and my sister and I would like to do a ~3.5 day road trip. We have explored (almost) everything within, say, a 50-100 mile radius of Santa Rosa and South (toward SF, Monterey/Carmel, Santa Barbara, and LA), so the idea now is to go North.

Any ideas on what places to visit in Northern Northern California, e.g., Mendocino, Eureka, Shasta, etc.? How do those compare to Lake Tahoe and surroundings? (I've never been to Tahoe in the summer.) For some reason, I can't get my hands on a guidebook...

Interests include hiking, nature, small towns, art, historical places.

Thanks very much!

Alex

We did Lake Tahoe & Yosemite last year...found Lake Tahoe a bit boring after a few days, but really did like Yosemite Going to head to Mendocino this year, which my friends in CA say is very nice. From what I're read so far, it would seem like the Mendocino area has more art & history than Tahoe, and while both are excellent for nature, I would take the coast over a lake.

Captain Paulo's Seafood at the harbor in Ft. Bragg (I like Ft. Bragg much better than Mendocino). Incredible clam chowder at half the price of most places.

Drive the highway over Mt. Lassen. Amazing amount of snow in July.

For pure kitsch, the Drive Through Tree off of U.S. 101 where 101 and CA1 come together. For even more kitsch than you ever thought possible, Confusion Hill north of there.

Shelter Cove

Drive from Arcata to Redding on U.S. 299. Stop and tube lazily in the Trinity River.

The Skunk Train from Ft. Bragg to Willitts (either the full trip or the 1/2 way out and back)

Drive some of the Avenue of the Giants. Incredible.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

I think the current plan is to go up to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Redding and Mount Shasta, Eureka, and then down 101 to Santa Rosa. It may get amended though over the next few days!

Alex

When you reach Weaverville, check out the Weaverville Joss House (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=457) (and also here (http://www.trinitycounty.com/joss.htm),) and maybe look for Sasquatch crossing the road ;).

Thanks for all your suggestions!

I think the current plan is to go up to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Redding and Mount Shasta, Eureka, and then down 101 to Santa Rosa. It may get amended though over the next few days!

Alex

If any of you are curious, here is what we ended up doing:

Evening of Day 0: Drive up to Lassen from the Bay Area via I-5 (nothing exciting).

Day 1: Lassen Volcanic National Park (several hikes, including the geothermal areas, waterfalls, and lakes, as well as the Subway Cave (North of the park), but, alas, not Lassen Peak).

Day 2: Shasta Dam (more impressive than Hoover Dam and a great tour guide); Whiskeytown Lake (swimming and boating); Shasta Caverns; the Sundial Bridge in Redding (architecturally interesting but shaky!).

Day 3: Rte 299 to Eureka with a stop at Weaverville Joss House (very interesting); Avenue of the Giants; and Fort Bragg.

Still to do in that area: Lassen Peak and Lava Beds National Monument.

Thanks again to all of you for your suggestions.

Alex

Great suggestions thanks.

another N CA activity is taking a two to three day horseback ride through the 5,000 acre Wild Horse Sanctuary. Lodging is provided at cabins in a lakeside camp. Rides are open to novice through advanced riders.

The Wild Horse Sanctuary is located in Shingleton near Lassen Volcanic National Park. http://www.wildhorsesanctuary.org

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Good suggestion Sweet Willie, but MAN! how long did it take you to find a year and half old thread that you could add this too? LOL. :)

Good suggestion Sweet Willie, but MAN! how long did it take you to find a year and half old thread that you could add this too? LOL. :)
you can trust I didn't weed through all threads till I came upon this one, thank God for search! :D . Just wanted to add info to a thread instead of creating a new one.

Mt. Shasta City is great, and a wonderful place to spend a weekend (if not longer!) For years as I was growing up, my family would drive up from Sacramento for 4th of July long weekend to spend it in a cabin on Lake Siskiyou at the Mount Shasta Resort (http://www.mountshastaresort.com/) and do the fun run/walk that takes place on the 4th. Then, they shoot fire works over Lake Siskiyou and it is just spectacular. Plus, if you like to golf there is an excellent course up there.

Additionally, in Boy Scouts I used to go up to summer camp near Willits (Camp Wente) and the scenery up that way is quite nice. As was mentioned before the skunk train is quite fun, as is the drive from Willits to the coast, through the windy redwood highway, that at points will open up for amazing vistas to the valleys below.