Seeing the Redwoods was something we always meant to do during past trips to California, but we just never made it. We are SO glad we made it one of our top destinations this trip. They are absolutely amazing!
We drove in on Howland Hills road which is a relatively short road that takes a long time to drive. Many places are only wide enough for one car to get through the trees at a time so it is slow going. This works out well because you just want to stop and take it all in.
When a tree falls over the road they just cut and move the part in the road itself. The rest stays. Below is a good illustration of this. You can get a sense of the size with our car parked close by.
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In order to really feel the energy and peace in the forest you have to get out and hike. The air is so fresh and the ground cover is so dense! The surprising thing is how quiet it is, even with other people around. Stout Grove has some of the largest trees in the area. This is a shorter hike and gave us a good opportunity to experience the forest.
This fallen tree has a whole new forest of it's own growing on top of it. You can get an idea of it's size with Bob standing on the root end.
Some of the trees have what appears to be a face. We decided they probably come alive and carry people around at night like in The Lord of The Rings.
The root systems of these trees are surprisingly fairly shallow. There are some pretty good sized ones to hike over however.
For those of us who buy ferns because we like a little greenery...I found the motherload! Unfortunately, it's illegal to remove anything from a National Park so I will continue to purchase ferns if/when we move out of the car.
There are several varietes of fern growing in the Redwood Forest. Also, a lot of clover and many other small plants. The ground is really soft and spongy on the forest floor. A ranger encouraged us to pick up a bit of the groundcover and take a sniff. Yep, we did it. It has an extrememly clean fresh smell.
We saw a lot of thise large bumbs on many of the trees. These contain the tree's DNA and can totally reproduce (clone) the entire tree if something happens to it. Bob also swears he sees a side view of a face in this one. I don't see it...anybody?
Some of the trees in Stout Grove appeared to be charred in places. I asked a ranger when the fire occured that damaged these trees. He told me there hadn't been one. He said it is very hard to burn a redwood but they do occassionally get hit by lightening. Most survive this and have some blackened sections higher up on their trunks. These could have been hit between 500 and 1000 years ago!
If you see burned Northern Hemlocks in an area then you know there was a forest fire. They commonly live amongst the redwoods but are not as fire resistant. They are easy to spot because of thier octopus like trunks.
Some of the trees sprout new trees right off the sides like the one picutred below.
When the California fog rolls in it gives the forest an earie feel.
One of the animals Bob had been waiting to see on this trip was Elk. We saw quite a few in Redwood. Bob jumped out of the car in order to get these great photos. I stayed inside and watched from a safer distance. These guys are BIG! The babies are adorable but we both kept a safe distance from them. You don't want to upset a momma Elk.
The California coastline is full of wildlife. The visitors center told us about a couple of areas we shouldn't miss. One was an area where Seals and Sealions hang out. We enjoyed watching these guys laying on docks in the sun. Their "bark" is fun to listen to as well. They were pretty vocal while we were there.
The other area we were told about was up a steep hill overlooking the spot where the Klamath River meets the ocean. This is where a resident pod of grey whales is living. We stopped there a couple of times but could not spot the elusive whales. The views are worth the drive however.
Bob took a steep hike down to the ocean and ran across a couple of snakes. He had to walk right over this one.
We saw so many birds we have not seen before in this area. Thanks again to the family bird experts, Barb and Craig, for identifying these for us!
Below is a Gray Jay.
These are Stellller's Jays.
This beach walker is a California Gull.
These odd looking birds are called Black Oystercatchers.
Cormorants, both Double Crested and Pelagic. (double points if you knew these)
Finally, a Turkey Vulture.
Northern California has many streams where people fish for salmon. This was one particulaly lovely area.
Here are few additional pictures taken along the coast.
