COAST WITH THE MOST PLAY AMONG REDWOODS PLENTIFUL AT COOL PATRICK'S POINT.

Byline: BILL BECHER

The misty canyons and remote beaches of the Redwood Coast of Northern California seem the ideal hideout for the legendary Bigfoot.

The hairy primate with the size-20 feet could theoretically exist, according to a recent article in a respected science magazine.

But I'm not here to look for Bigfoot. I'm hiking, mountain biking, fishing and kayaking with friends and family. Seeing the big guy would be a bonus.

We're camped for a week at Patrick's Point State Park north of Eureka, about 300 miles from San Francisco. This popular park was slated for a makeover this year and left out of the reservation system. As a result, campers can just show up on a first-come, first-served basis.

Let's be honest about the weather. The State Parks Web site says, ``Patrick's Point has night and morning fog almost all year. During the summer it sometimes doesn't lift for days at a time.'' The fog is created by moist air flowing over the cold water that upwells in the ocean near the coast. Rising air on land draws in the fog.

According to supervising ranger Jim Baird, many visit Patrick's Point in summer to escape the inland heat and don't mind some gloomy weather. But this year the ocean has been warmer, so there has been much less fog.

We stayed at the Agate Campground. The campsites are well separated and many feature a sort of private backyard formed by vegetation that screens the campsites from each other. That and hot showers for 50 cents made for a great stay.

Hiking along the Rim Trail overlooking the beach we glimpsed spouts and even a breeching whale, most likely a gray whale on its migration route from Baja California.

Taking the trail down to Agate Beach we found a grey pebbly beach. A few of the pebbles are agates, a semi-precious gemstone. Although most state parks don't allow you to take anything away, here you can collect driftwood (up to 50 pounds) and agates in the zone between high and low tide.

Agates are translucent stones from pea to grape size. Often patterned, they can be nearly clear but most often are colored yellow or red, or sometimes green or blue. The constant pounding of ocean waves rounds and polishes the agates.

Baird said many families plan a stay around agate hunting. Successive generations of campers book a visit year after year, keeping the campground reserved near capacity every day in summer.

The planned improvements were not done this year, so the park will likely be on a first-come, first-served basis next year as well.

Patrick's Point makes a great base for exploring the rest of the Humboldt County coast.

We drove north to Lady Bird Johnson Grove in the Redwoods National Park for a look at some of the tallest trees on earth. The Grove offers a 1-mile mostly flat loop trail walk. It was here the former First Lady dedicated the park in 1968.

Redwoods once covered much of the Northern Hemisphere but now grow naturally only in a 40-mile-by-450-mile coastal strip from Southern Oregon to Monterey County. The scientific name of the coast redwood is Sequoia sempervirens, which means ever living - a bit of an exaggeration as the oldest redwood known is ``only'' about 2,200 years old. The world-record tree is 368 feet tall, a football field plus end zones.

After straining our necks looking at redwoods, we visited nearby Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. We rode our mountain bikes on a 19-mile loop from Newton Drury Parkway to the lush (and legal for bikes) single-track Ossagon Trail that leads to the Coastal Trail along Gold Bluff's Beach, the longest beach in Northern California.

This is a wonderful ride that takes you past tall trees, coastal grassland, beaches and, if you're lucky, a herd of Roosevelt elk.

Along the way be sure to park your bikes at Fern Canyon. Hike the loop trail for a closer view of this 50-foot deep canyon that's festooned with giant ferns. If it looks Jurassic to you, that might be because the canyon was used in filming scenes for ``Jurassic Park: The Lost World.'' Fern Canyon also can be reached by car via the gravel Davidson Road from Highway 101.

On the way back we encountered a bull elk on the trail. He pawed the ground and tossed some leaves in the air with his antlers, then fixed us with a hard look. Not wanting to butt heads with this 1,000-pound creature, we walked our bikes on a different trail back.

Our next adventure was a half-day fishing trip on the Jumpin' Jack out of Trinidad, a few miles north of Eureka.

The 36-foot-long, bright-red vessel is a commercial crab boat in winter and offers daily fishing charters for up to six anglers in the summer. This year, salmon fishing has been slow, so we fished for rockfish north of Trinidad Head after taking a look at the local sea lion rookery.

All the anglers aboard were successful in catching fish. We released many but kept a half-dozen for a barbecue at Patrick's Point. If you fish on the Jumpin' Jack from May 25 through July 30, trips include sport crabbing at no extra charge. The limit is 10 crabs a person, so you could end up with a fine seafood feast.

Our last adventure was a paddle on Big Lagoon just a couple of miles north of Patrick's Point.

This is an ideal venue for beginning kayakers because the lagoon is sheltered from ocean swells and tidal currents. North Coast Adventures offers a drop-off, pick-up kayak rental service that includes sit-on-top or sit-inside kayaks, paddles, paddle jackets, dry bags and PFD's, everything needed for a half day or full day of exploring the lagoons along the Redwood Coast.

After launching at the county park boat ramp, we paddled under the Highway 101 bridge to Maple Creek Estuary. Kayakers here have seen river otters, elk, deer and many kinds of birds. We paddled across the lagoon on the way back for a visit to the beach that separates the lagoon from the Pacific.

For a cool summer's vacation with lots to do, consider the many charms of the Redwood Coast. Just don't count on seeing Bigfoot.

IF YOU GO

Patrick's Point State Park is 25 miles north of Eureka. Summer temperatures average 40-60 degrees, and 35-55 in winter. Rainfall averages about 60 inches a year, and most of it falls between October and April. There are 6 miles of hiking trails and several campgrounds to accommodate groups, tent and RV campers, or hike or bike-in campers.

More information about Patrick's Point State Park is available at the State Parks Web site (www.parks.ca.gov), or by calling the park directly at [phone]. Be sure to check whether the park is back on the reservation system. Campsites now are $15 a day, with beach camping available during the summer.

For information about the Jumpin' Jack, contact Trinidad Bay Charters (www.members.cox.net/crab/) or [phone] in California.

For kayak rentals on Big or Stone Lagoons or guided sea kayaking trips including whale watching, contact North Coast Adventures at www.northcoastadventures.com or [phone].

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3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Fern Canyon, within the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, provided location scenes for the movie ``Jurassic Park: The Lost World.''

(2 -- color) The famous redwood trees, shown in Redwoods National Park, now grow naturally only along a coastal strip between Southern Oregon and Monterey County.

(3) Semi-precious agates litter the shoreline at aptly named Agate Beach, where families are known to return through the years to collect the gemstones between high and low tides.

Bill Becher/Special to the Daily News

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IF YOU GO (see text)