Lyons Ranch

Redwood National Park

Click for map.


The trailhead for Lyons Ranch is at the far edge of Redwood National Park, so far out the road runs out of pavement before it gets there. I was disappointed to find the smoke visible as I was driving out although still not very thick. It had a rather nice smell to it for smoke, but who let it in? The likely source was Red Salmon Complex, which has burned most of the trail I was on in Trinity Alps Wilderness. [As of 20 Sept, it has less than two miles of trail yet to touch and less than half a mile of easy uphill crawling needed to touch it.] I dumped most my gear from by big backpack because I found I'd forgotten to get the day pack, then dropped in the water because in spite of the smoke, it was hot and the prairie almost devoid of shade.

At the trailhead for Lyons Ranch. With the right key, you can just drive down.

I walked around the gate and started the easy two miles down to the old ranch. I quite liked the view I'd got on the drive over, but the smoke got thicker as I went east and rather so the view was rather diminished.

A look back northwest, the way the road came, at the patches of forest and prairie.

The smoke is even thicker to the southwest.

Just to make me wonder about how much water there can be in a place even when the grass has long gone to brown, there were little springs along the road. One was pooling a little above the road before passing through a culvert. Another displayed a puddle of green among the tan.

Across the canyon of Redwood Creek, the effect of large groves of redwoods getting cut down is quite evident.

There's not much of a spring, but there's enough for a patch of green.

There was a rather varied forest of madrone and oak and spruce and laurel about halfway along, so there was some shade along the way after all. I turned a corner and the old buildings of the ranch came into view. Remaining buildings include a barn, small house, and bunk house.

Rounding the corner, the barn comes into view. The house and bunkhouse are just visible behind a line of trees.

I rounded the barn and walked a path through the remains of the orchard before going to look at the houses. The path took me past a grave to a viewpoint. Although obstructed with trees, the viewpoint was quite impressive. There, the land just drops away suddenly.

The other side of the barn.

A non-traditional barn resident.

Some metal among the orchard trees looks like an old tractor with ridged wheels for grip.

Path beside the grave.

It's really the precarious feeling on the edge of the rock more than the view itself that makes the spot.

Through the trees in another direction for a look at the patchwork of trees beyond.

Some of the doors have been left open, so I poked my head into the barn briefly.

The road crosses a small stream area with lots of plants that tend to wetter environments than the prairie looks to be in general. Pipes leading up it suggest it was a water source. It has a water seep near the road, so it could still be if called upon. The buildings don't look like it's been called upon recently. The doors are only latched so they won't let the weather in, so I could have a look in them as well.

A simple room is all there is to the house as viewed through the doorway. The closet on the back and another make some small spaces.

Wallpaper? The newspapers glued to the wall would have been little help with the gaps.

The farmhouse on the left an the bunkhouse on the right, which has a large porch. Well, large for the size of the building.

If you look very closely, you might notice the water storage up in the small valley.

There is a picnic area with a table out in the yard in front of the buildings, but I had already stopped on the rocky perch. A couple fire personnel and someone from the park service were gathering, making it quite an unusually large crowd, as I started up the road once more. The steady climb is gentle enough to just chug right on up almost as fast as coming down.

There's a fire lookout to watch over it all up the hill behind the parking area.

The more distant hills past over the ridge line were lost in the haze.

©2020 Valerie Norton
Written 20 Sep 2020