Arcata and the Redwoods

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Steve:

Late on the sunday evening we drove up to Arcata to stay with Sam for a few days. It was a long drive in the dark through windy roads but not too bad. The next day we were pretty tired so didn't do much other than try to do the blog which was a pain and took a lot longer than we expected so i hope people are enjoying it !

It was cool staying at Sam's place as he is iin student halls and they are a lot nicer than english ones. It was also nice because we have been able to meet a few different people who are all pretty cool. In fact it was after only a few minutes that Spencer (sams neighbour) popped in to offer us a cup of tea (very civilised).

The next day we headed to Fern Canyon were they filmed some of Jurassic Park. Once we got to the National Park we had to drive up an 8 mile road which we really needed some sort of off road vehicle for. The road culminated in 3 river crossing, one of whcih was quite deep. This provedd too much for the car which started to make some really loud and strange noises. The canyon itseld was brilliant although the fern's are not as big as at other times of year, we also couldn't walk all the way around it because there was a river running through it but it was amazing. It is set in the middle of these huge Redwood trees and the entrance is on the beach. Not a beach like we are used to but a really wild and untamed coastline.

That evening Sam cooked us dinner which was Catfish, very nice and we spent evening there playing board games and drinking. It has been really nice for Kate to catch up ith Sam who she hasn't seen in ages and wierd that it is on California!

The next day we left for San Francisco. The drive back was incredible, we took the scenic route through the Avenue of the Giants.n Giant Redwoods line the way and this culminates in a drive through tree which are poorly car only just made it through. The car is fine on the freeway but if go under 20mph it is making awful noises. Wew will exchange in san Fran.

It was definately worth the 5 hour drive up from san fran to see these trees though they aare absolutly stunning!

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Photos

Kate on the beach
The Redwood Coast

Elk Meadow
You can just about see some Elk grazing in the aptly named Elk Meadow

About to make the crossing
On the way to Fern Canyon

The crossing!
It was very nearly the end of the road for the hire car!

Parked up at Fern Canyon
The car is trying to recover from its off road activities!

View from the car
Driving to Fern Canyon

Redwood National Park
I don't know if the trees are tall or Kate is just really small!

An even more worrying sign!
We decided to cut the walk a bit short, that print looked worryingly bear like and fresh!

The Redwood Coast
Its a pretty wild looking coast

Me and Kate
At the entrance to the canyon

Comments

[Michael Hay]

looks brillo.
Some brilliant photos already. would have liked some close up shots of the hippies though. keep the posts coming.

[Halberton crew]

A Question!!
When you drowned the car on the way to Fern Canyon, how did the photographer get to the other side ahead of the car??!! Keep the blogs coming, we want to know what to see when we go!

[Kate and Steve]

the photo
It looked quite deep so i sent kate ahead for the photo. Pretty sure it was the steep bank at the otherside and not the water that did the damage!