This morning, we hear about Ebola in
Texas as a couple talk about it over breakfast. Not too worried about that, we eat our baked
goods, yogurt, and waffle, pack up, and head to
Shelton's to get our oil changed. We make it just in time before they take a
lunch break, lucky. The drive into the
park is full of all sorts of coniferous trees, so much green. D picks out the places to see today. The park is too large for me to narrow down
the options; I just want to see some big trees.
Our first stop is the visitor center to pick up a map. Behind the center lies a beach with large
logs washed ashore and tsunami and sneaker wave warnings. We skip some rocks into the ocean, take
pictures of the amazing off-shore rocks, and head to our first trail.
The Lady Bird Johnson Trail is a short loop among the
redwoods. Trees over 100 feet tall tower
above us. They are so abundant that most
of the trail is in complete shadow due to their massive trunks blocking the
afternoon sun. Several redwoods have
been burned hollow but continue to live and grow. Dead stumps stand taller than most of the
trees in my backyard. We feel as though Jurassic Park
should have been filmed here. After a
happy walk and pictures of us hugging a very large redwood we move on to the
next trail to see Trillium
Falls.
Elk are napping beside the road as we drive to the trail
head at Elk Meadow. At a safe spot off
the road and away from the elk we stop to watch as the stragglers catch up and
cautiously cross the road, stopping traffic.
A fed up semi driver decides to inch through the road when the elk look
like they're stuck trying to decide whether or not to cross. Finally the last three or four cross and
traffic can move again. We turn into the
meadow and aren't surprised to find it empty since all the elk just left.
Tall yellow-leafed birch surround the parking lot and behind
them hide an ancient world. A rabbit
crosses our path just as we turn right off the gravel path and onto a path no
wider than a deer run. Once engulfed in
the redwood forest the path widens again.
We half expect to see velociraptors stalking us from behind the fallen
trunks. Ferns complete the scene of
towering trees, moss hanging from branches, shadows rarely letting a ray of
sunlight through, and a rich smell of pine everywhere.
It is a short hike to the Trillium Falls, and it looks a lot
like what we're used to seeing in Illinois, except of course for being
surrounded by giant redwoods in a prehistoric setting. We admire the view and our surroundings a
while before continuing up the path.
We walk quietly as I think about our luck at seeing bears at
both the other parks and now elk at this park when something darts from my feet
onto a stump. A red-orange-brown frog
the size of my palm keeps and eye on us and pretends we can't see it as we bend
closer for a better look. We've never
seen a frog like this guy before, and it is beautiful. It is very patient as I take my pictures
inching closer and closer, but when I put the camera over his head, that's the
last straw, and it hops further away.
Excited to find a frog we move on.
It isn't long before more movement catches my eye, but this
time it is a small green frog trying to avoid being tread upon. This one also poses for photos, hoping I'm a
National Geographic photographer and that it'll end up on a magazine
cover. Sorry little guy, but I'll put
you in my blog instead! Not quite as
far-reaching or prestigious.
The trail continues winding up and down the sides of the
mountain, sometimes following the path made by fallen trunks wider than we are
tall. We get to study the root systems
of several downed trees and give up on counting rings of split trunks. These trees are very old, and we'd love to
know more. When did this dead tree start
to grow, when and how did it die and fall, how long has it been rotting
here? Redwoods can be thousands of years
old, so if you find a dead one that was thousands of years old and has been
lying here for a while, just how long has this organism been on Earth total?
The hike has been going on for longer than we expected now
and rustling noises are starting to spook us.
It is around four in the afternoon and the trees make it seem like seven
with all the excessive shadow. We see a
few more frogs but some rustling noises don't have a clear owner. I start hoping we won't see any bears
today. The sound of traffic excites us
because that means we're getting closer to civilization but more and more bends
take us further from their sounds. It is
when I smell elk as strongly as you smell the animals in a petting zoo that we
both get really nervous. Elk poo is all
over the path, too. D takes the lead and
speeds up our pace with the hopes of getting out of here safely.
Right now is breeding season for elk and the males are
rather dangerous as they defend their harem from outsiders. The last thing we want to do is run into a
defensive elk. The smell begins to fade
as we find a grassy drive that must be for the park rangers and we are so glad
to be out of the woods and to have a better view of our surroundings. We make it back to the car and glad to be
done. That was a fantastic hike and we
would definitely do it again, but when you don't know where the end of the path
is and you start fearing for your safety, even the most beautiful hike can
become a haunted trail.
The elk are now in their meadow and the male sounds his
high-pitched trumpet to let others know that this is his territory and these
are his girls. I wonder if our trail
lead behind that section of the meadow and that is why the smell was so
strong. With other trails being on our
"To See When We Return" list we make our last stop at a lily pond and
take a short hike to a lookout with an ocean view.
Two kids chase a young goose as D and I head to the
trail. It is a short hike with lots of
trees, birds, and flowers. The ocean
opens up before us and once again we're treated with a sunset over the
ocean. A beach lies to the north and we
both want one last chance to play in the water before we head inland.
The waves here are
the largest we've seen and they go high up on the beach as they crash in. A lone surfer is trying to catch some waves
while we chase the water down the beach and sprint away from the waves back up
the beach. More often than not they
catch us this time and our legs are dotted with sand up to our shorts. The sand here sinks a few inches beneath our
feet which slows our run, but maybe we also want to get caught by the cold
waves.
After we've had our fill and the sun has set we dry our legs
off and start our route north to
Eugene,
OR. Our last stop in
California is Perlita's Mexican Food for
dinner. D gets a burrito and I get the
enchilada/tamale plate with rice and beans.
The chips and salsa they brought us were gone before our food arrived
and that is a first. Despite the spice
our hungry tummies continue through our plates until all the food is gone. The food is all fantastic and we're sure the
price was right for that satisfaction.
Another perfect end to a very fun day.
