Walking Among Giants

---

Friday, October 17, 2008

As we were driving into Eureka last night, we could see quite a fog had rolled in. This morning, even though reports said the fog would lift, it didn’t. We were quite disappointed not to see more of the ocean.

However, this was to be a big tree day, and that meant not worrying too much about the fog. It was clear, sunny and warm where the redwoods were, so that’s where we went. As we were walking among the giants in the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of Redwood National Park, we were reminded of several times on Vancouver Island when we drove the considerable distance on rough teeth-jarring logging roads for several hours, then hiked for some considerable distance, usually in the pouring rain, just to see the big trees in Carmanah and Walbran Valleys. It’s been many years, but the memories of those incredible experiences don’t fade.

Carmanah and Walbran are much wetter, muddier underfoot, with no developed trails. This was quite the opposite - dry, pleasant walking, well-developed trail, interpretive sign posts along the way, little brochures that tell the story - all very civilized. However, the majesty was not diminished by this, and we were no less awestruck, happily snapping away with stills and video. We found very few people on the trail, and enjoyed the absolute silence all along the way.

Check out our photos and see if you can spot the person. It’s a bit like ‘Where’s Waldo?’ The only way to get perspective in big tree photos is to put a person next to the tree. Then the wow factor kicks in.

Moseying our way up the coast, we landed at the KOA in Crescent City for the night, still annoyed by the fog that never lifted. Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

---

Photos

Giant Redwood
Parent and two clones.

Giant Redwood
Kayla did NOT have to bend over to take this!

Giant Redwood
Kayla's dead tree artistic photo of the day - well partially dead, anyway.

Giant Redwood
Ferns, banana slugs - just like home.

Burned out redwood
Still very much alive

Giant Redwood
Looking straight up.

Comments

[Jim]

Huge Trees!
Great photos! But what, no rock photos?! I'm really disappointed! And I'm still waiting for that peach pie. Have fun. -Jim

[KaylaRichard]

Peach Pie
Sorry, we finished the last piece of a real peach pie just tonight, celebrating our return home. Glad to be back, but we could have stayed on the road for at least another few weeks and made our way down to southern Arizona. It was still too hot to go there in September and October.