Heading back into California for the home stretch of our western roadtrip took us to Redwood National Park, home to some of the tallest trees on the planet. It was a very impressive forest area that delivered on its promise. We walked along a trail to the tree known as the "Boy Scout" tree, which was an absolute giant. After catching the Redwoods it was time to move on to our host's house for the night, a guy named David who lives in the near coastal town of Arcata. David was a great bloke who even helped us out for a host the next night, as we didn't have any couches to surf at the time. He phoned his friend in Sacramento, which was in the direction we were headed, and his friend was happy to put us up.

Lassen Volcanic National Park was on the agenda the next day. Compared with most of the parks we've been to in the USA we would say it was great but definitely didn't rate as the standard has been very high. We walked to one of the peaks in the area, and although the view at the top was once again impressive, we wouldn't consider it a memorable walk.

David's friend, Gavin, took us in for the night in his home near Sacramento. We spent the night hanging out with Gavin, his girlfriend and his housemates. Being Friday night, they were keen to enjoy a few drinks in with us and we had a blast playing cards, cooking dinner and chatting the night away.