California is having record-breaking rain. Yesterday, the Los Angeles area received over 4 inches of rain, more than double the previous record set in the 1920s. Here in Eureka, there hasn’t been as much rain, but it’s been rainy. Today, we decided to do some exploring and go take a look at the Eel River.
We drove south until we could approach the shore and it was easy to see the river is high. Normally there are gravel bars along both sides of the river, but today the river was full to the banks.
After seeing the full river, we headed for Crab Park, where the Eel River empties into the ocean. When we visited in the past, we could see logs and debris floating out the mouth of the river. Today, the water was moving much faster and who knows what we might see. We turned onto Cannibal Island Rd. (!), that runs straight as an arrow to the west for four miles to Crab Park. The rain was not heavy, but continuous, and we didn’t get very far.
Flooding across the road kept us from continuing. We made it through the water in this photo, but found more flooding beyond, where we couldn’t see any break in the water ahead. Driving a Prius rather than a 4 wheel drive truck limits where we can go, and we’ve been stuck in the past. These days we’re trying to stay on the pavement….
Two days later, we drove the other direction to look at Mad River. The river had been flooding, and we wanted to see what it looked like. The water was still very high, filling the river from bank to bank across all the sandbars that are usually visible.
We had a great view from the footbridge across the river.
Our next stop was once again going to be the nearest beach, and once again, we didn’t get there, with too much water across the road.
The grass is bright green from all the rain. It’s a wonderful color. A flock of white egrets rose out of a field, a larger group than we’ve ever seen.
Llywindatravels 2025 