California Wrap Up

Yes, it's true.  After 69 days in (sunny?) California, we are finally crossing into Oregon.  But first a few more pictures, most of them foggy.

In Patrick's Point State Park, we hiked the rim trail,

And walked through a forest of western hemlock and sitka spruce.

The docent in the visitors center said they refer to the sitka spruce as the potato chip tree because of its interesting bark.

We learned a bit about the native Yurok culture.  Local Yurok people, working with park staff, constructed traditional dwellings using boards split from redwood trees.

On our way north, we had already seen Avenue of the Giants and Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which left us Redwood National Park.  Now you would think this would be the best, being a national park, but I think the federal government was late getting into the game and ended up with whatever hadn't already been claimed by the state.  At least that was my impression.

Following the recommendation of the ranger, we headed to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove.  The fog did add an interesting look to the forest.

And I liked the rhododendron bushes intermingled with the redwoods.

This interesting burl looked like a dog's head coming out of the tree.

But the trees were generally not as impressive as ones we had seen further south.

The handout mentioned that coast redwoods gain most of their height in the first 100 years.  This information had me looking at the younger trees in a different light.  These three redwoods are no bigger around than your average lawn tree, but they have already soared skyward.


I had read good reviews about the Trillium Falls Trail, so we went to Elk Meadow (no elk) and set out to see the waterfall.  Wow!  That's a cluster of redwoods.

Actually, when an old one dies, new trees start all around it.  Kind of like children, but they never leave.

The waterfall turned out to be small, but pretty.

We did finally see the Roosevelt Elk.  Beautiful!

Look at the bow-legged little ones.

My last picture for California is of the lighthouse in Crescent City.

Although, with Oregon coming up, it certainly won't be the last lighthouse.

So we say goodbye to California.  I'm glad we did it and took our time which enabled us to see so much. It was even worth the $16.07 we averaged for camping fees during those 69 days.  It would have been a lot more but we had 7 free nights, including our final night at Elk River Casino in Crescent City.