Jedidiah Smith Redwoods Hike

posted in: Landscape, Nature 4

After spending the evening in Crescent City, CA we set out the next morning to do a little hiking in the nearby Jedidiah Smith State Park. It was a chance to explore more of the Redwoods before heading back up into Oregon and continuing up the coast.

It was early morning and the relatively easy trail we decided on was empty, so it made for a very peaceful stroll among the giants.

Trio

Criss Cross Redwoods

We even came across on of the things my wife was most keen to spot, a banana slug.

Banana Slug

More photos from our hike, as well as the rest of our long Memorial Day road trip,  will be forthcoming on the blog in the next few weeks!

Trees of Mystery

posted in: Nature, Travel 3

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, the wife and I decided to take a road trip down into Northern California. This would allow us too not only take in the coast line of Oregon all the way down to the state line, but also venture into California for a little exploring of the coast, and the Redwoods!

Our first destination was a place called Trees of Mystery.

Granted, if you follow that link, some of the stuff that they do here could be considered a little cheesy, and touristy. It’s all good fun, and beyond that, there are some great example of Redwoods here, and some great educational tools to learn more about how these trees grow, how they continue on and even how when they fall, their roots continue to generate new life. Plus, if you don’t know much about how Redwoods were used by Native Americans, you can learn, and the legend of Paul Bunyon through the carvings that were done as part of the park, like the one above.

I enjoyed it, and going here on day one actually made me appreciate our trip to Jedidiah Smith Redwoods park the next day more, because I had some education on what I was seeing as we did some hiking. That’s a win in my book!

Some of the cool stuff at Trees of Mystery:

Family Tree

Family Tree
A redwood that has started to grow full size trees on it’s own branches.

Cathedral Tree

Cathedral Trees

Brotherhood Tree

Brotherhood Tree

Brotherhood Tree Higher

Candelabra Tree

Candelabra Tree

Literally, a fallen Redwood that starting growing new trees out of the nutrients in it’s own root system.

Life Reforming

Life Reforming

New forest life grows inside the husk of a redwood that burned after a lightning strike.

One more…

Looking up into the Redwoods