Day 2: Hiking in Redwood National and State Parks

---

We're up and ready for some hiking today. I spent a bit of time researching the trails in the multitude of hiking guides before flying out and realized that there are so many trails here that two days are only enough to barely scratch the surface so I have to pick carefully. I'm screening for distance (the kids aren't babies anymore and we've hiked enough in the past that I'm figuring about 7 miles in a day is a good target), difficulty (we've done some pretty tough hikes, up an active volcano in Guatemala and a mountain in Chile but moderate is about what I'm aiming for) and scenery (we're here for redwoods so I want to see old-growth forest, the oldest, biggest, tallest trees that escaped the lumberjack's axe and the developer's bulldozer).

I've imported a bunch of waypoints into my GPS and am ready to go. We're heading to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park to hit the James Irvine Trail to the Fern Canyon loop then back on the Miner's Ridge Trail via the Clintonia Connector. All together, it will be a bit longer than 7 miles but not too much so I figure it's doable. The Ranger Station isn't open yet because it's so early but the rangers are there and we get some info on the trails. Apparently my planned hike would be a bit over 10 miles so it gets voted down immediately. Oh, and the ranger mentions that the GPS might not work because the trees are so thick they'd block out the signal (that turns out not to be the case, but the lesson is learned nonetheless: always come prepared with topographic maps and compass; sure, it's old school, but as long as you keep the map dry, you can never go wrong---as long as you know what you're doing, which, fortunately, I do!).

Based on the ranger's recommendation, we head over to Gold Bluffs Beach and start the Fern Canyon Loop from that side. It's a short, easy 1 mile loop so we compromise on the fly to connect to the James Irvine Trail from here then over to the Miner's Ridge Trail for the return back to the beach. Kris and the kids take off, walk a minute then jog a minute. What they don't realize is that Mr. GPS will calculate the route at about 7.5 miles at the end so they're pretty tired. I lag way behind, stopping every few minutes to take pictures and admire the wonderful scenery of this old-growth forest. I can't get over the feeling of amazement at the trees.

Taking pictures is a bit more complicated now than it used to be. The days of point and click are long past for me. But here it's pretty tough. I'm glad I was able to attend a workshop on light at the Washington DC headquarters of National Geographic not all that long ago because the way the sunlight streams in through the forest makes calculating proper exposure difficult, at least for me. But still, it's fun and a learning experience. I try different things till the image looks about as close to what I'm looking at in reality as I can get it. Note to self: when I finally am able to have the time to join a photography club, ask about how to expose for situations like this, where there are shadows and bright spots. The scenes bring to mind an article I read a little while back about George Bush (the younger) painting in his post-presidential retirement days. Something he said sticks in my head: I see shadows now. I guess photography is similar to painting in that regard, it's all about light...and colors and shadows. Seeing the world in a different way now. I stop and admire the trees along the trail with that in mind.

We link back up at the beach and then head back to Prairie Creek ranger station for a short (2 mile) loop out to "The Big Tree" which is estimated at 2000 years old (to put this in perspective, we hiked out to an alerce tree estimated at over 3000 years old, one of the oldest trees in the world in Alerce Andino National Park while down in Chile). It's huge. About a hundred years ago, someone had the bright idea to cut it down and turn the stump into a dance floor. I'm glad some folks got together to protect the tree so that didn't work out. Zach is complaining all the way out to the tree but then he chippers up when we get to the tree.

The GPS is calculating the total at about 9.5 miles at the end of this loop. We're moving quickly now so we can reach the nearby national park ranger station before it closes to get the stamp for the passport book. It was too early when we passed by this morning and we'll have a full day tomorrow and don't want to have to configure the activities to factor that in so best to get it out of the way now. We arrive just as the rangers are locking up but I manage to persuade them to let me in just to get the stamp, which amazingly since it's barely 1 minute past closing time they've already changed the date to the following day! Anyways, mission accomplished, and none too soon because they turn Kris away when she saunters up to the door a couple of minutes behind me.

Back at the campsite, we get the fire going for dinner and s'mores (again...but can you ever too many?). Everyone is tired, so we're off to bed.

---