Checking out Redwood State and National Parks October 18

Friday, October 18.  After talking to some locals and reading some pamphlets, we made a rough plan of our activities to check out the area. The day began with a trip up Requa Road to an overlook. We don't know what it overlooks, because once again we were above a complete and total fog. It was once again as if we were looking out of a airplane down onto a total cloud cover. There were a few hills that rose above the fog, but that was it.

The next stop was in an area that wasn't foggy. We spent a few hours at the Trees of Mystery, an area where we could walk through the forest, until we came to a tram, which took us to the top of a mountain, above the trees, like a ski lift. We chose to walk a mile long trail back down the hill. It was probably the steepest trail we have ever walked, with ropes tied to the trees to help us hold onto something, as we descended a steep, steep trail. At the bottom there were some outdoor redwood carvings, and an indoor Indian museum. We had lunch at the cafe, and headed south to the visitor center at the south end of the Prairie Creek State Park and National Forest. We got a national park stamp in our passport book, and headed through the park on a dirt road through the forest and to a campground right on the beach. We could see in the forest just fine, but of course, couldn't see the ocean because of the fog. The beach was called Gold Bluff Beach, probably named after the sandstone cliffs above us as we drove. We drove on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, through the forest, back to the campground, which was fogged in heavily, when we got home at about six o'clock.

We went up on this outlook  where we should be able to view sea lions, gray whales and possibly osprey - and this is what we saw!!!  A thick layer of fog below us and bright blue sky above us!  

This statue carved out of redwood is called "End of the trail"

These are ferns that are growing up in the branches of a big redwood

Mike took this picture to show how tall the tree is - 297 feet tall!

Looking up at the trees

This is called the Cathedral Group - they are 9 redwoods that grew side by side.  People have their weddings here!

On the walkway, surrounded by redwoods

This is how wide.......

and this is how tall!  I couldn't get a shot of it all the way up

The tram that took us up to the top of the mountain

At the top

Steep?  Straight up and down is more like it!

This picture DOES NOT show you how steep the trail really is!

Sitting on a stump left over from long ago logging.  Logging was stopped here in the early 1950's

These carvings were all done with chain saws.

Can you see Digger's dog face?

I'm posed here because I just LOVE snakes! NOT!!!!

Bigfoot is a big thing around here.

Big squirrels for big trees!

On our way down the road, we saw a big herd of elk and this was the bull of the herd!

Driving down the bumpy road to Gold Bluff Beach

And of course there was fog

Yeah, 101 can get very windy