Vacation in Gasquet on the

California Northcoast . Adventures in fishing, kayaking, swimming & more

Within a short excursion south of the Oregon boarder, its pristine wilderness and unspoiled Smith River will make you want to return again and again.

If you think about Sacramento, San Fransisco, Redding, or even Eureka when someone talks about "Northern California" you haven't really been to the real northern California, till you've been here.

Long known for its botanical diversity and unspoiled beauty, Gasquet is a popular residential community enjoying a full spectrum of seasonal changes.

This unique, and diverse landscape with snow in the mountain tops in winter, sunshine and warm, even hot temperatures during the summer and mountainsides full of color in spring and fall make it a picture to behold.

The town itself is composed of a general store/post office combination, snack shack "She She's" and the headquarters for the "Redwood National Parks". There are a church, grade school, a couple antique shops and wood carvers.

But what people really think about locally when they talk about Gasquet is the natural beauty and the weather. Much different from down at the oceans edge in Crescent City a good 30-35 minute drive southwest.

Don't forget of course, Patricks Creek Lodge, reputed to have a "resident ghost". It is northeast of the town up into the mountain pass that climbs through the Smith River canyon to nearly a 2000 elevation before heading down into the Rouge Valley & intersecting with Interstate Highway 5 between Grants Pass & Medford Oregon. Patricks Creek Lodge is about as far out there as you can get and still stay civilized.

Rumor has it that the Lodge is haunted. Although I have never seen or heard anything when I have been there.

The restaurant serves huge gourmet-style breakfasts, lunches & elegant dinners served either indoors in the log cabin atmosphere, in the adjacent sunroom or on the covered patio to take advantage of those cooling evening breezes.

Reservations are recommended on weekends and holidays.

There is a nice lighted, paved path along the river which starts at the lodge's parking lot and runs into the State Park campground next door. In the daytime there are lots of nice spots to sit by the river, but unless you like coool water, you may not want to take a dip right here.

The Smith River canyon runs for about seventeen miles from Hwy 101 up along Hwy 199 east into Oregon at what locals call the "tunnel" at the top of the mountain range just west of the boarder.

Between the Gasquet townsite and Particks Creek Lodge there are a few places with enough parking to get off the roadway and trails down to the waters edge.

Sandy Beach is one such place. Located on a sweeping southern turn in the road just south of the campground, rangers finally figured out a portable restroom was necessary in the summers as many people converge on this small spot on the banks of the Smith River to sunbath and cool off in the hot Gasquet summer weather.
My grandmother used to just love to take the 1 hour drive from our house here over the mountain pass to Oregon, if for no other reason than to see the wild dogwood trees and rhododendrons blooming in spring, or the big leave maples, dogwoods and alders changing into their fall colors.

Of course, the views of the unobstructed Smith River white water rapids and waterfalls make this route from Highway 101 east to Gasquet and beyond a favorite river for kayaking, rafting and fly fishing.