BIG tiny World Travel

We took Day 3 at a much slower pace than Day 2, and we were fortunately much drier.  We had plenty of ground to cover, but we had a magnificent gem – and something that’s been on my bucket list for some time – ahead of us: the California redwoods.

Foggy morning

We began the day leisurely enough, exploring the foggy Cape Sebastian.  Aaron indulged me as I placed him around the beach from spot to spot.  My (loyal) little photo subject…

The fog lent an eerie mood to the scene, but it wasn’t unlike other beaches we had visited along the Oregon coast.

Among giants

Continuing south, we crossed into California and soon found ourselves surrounded by giants.

Massive red trunks erupted from the ground and towered overhead.  Ancient sentinels of the earth, they stood guard as we passed like ants at their feet.

We saw signs for the tourist-trap path where we could drive through one of these enormous trunks, but we voted against it.  We aren’t really fond of crowds, and there was a fee.  Besides, it seemed almost sacrilegious to endorse carving a hole in one of these beautiful trees – simply for our amusement – by partaking.

Instead, we preferred to walk among them.

The Boy Scout Tree Trail

Amidst the many trails in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, we gravitated toward one of the quieter ones: the Boy Scout Tree Trail.  It has since become more popular, but we didn’t find it too crowded, and it was an incredible hike.

Right out the gate, we were shocked with the sheer scale of the trees.  We have large trees in the Pacific Northwest, but nothing can compare to these titans.  The colors of the bark, the rich moisture of the air, the quiet relaxed atmosphere all around us – it was utterly rejuvenating, and I couldn’t drink it in deep enough.  I could spend a lifetime among those trees.

We hiked around trees; we hiked through split trunks; we hiked under fallen towers.  The whole place was awe-inspiring.

The trees slowly diminished as we progressed, but the beauty never wavered.

We came to the trail’s namesake, and this tree was gigantic! (like all the others)  There’s nothing like the tallest organisms in the world to make a short person feel even smaller.

We wouldn’t turn around there; we had to see the trail to its end.  We reached the simple Fern Falls, the watery reward for our trouble.

Moving on

We took a few snapshots before turning around and heading back out of the forest.  The way back was just as beautiful as the way in, and I was sad to leave.  Fortunately, we still had plenty of beautiful road ahead of us, so my mood would not be dampened.

We stopped for the night in Eureka, enjoying another evening beach frolic at the Trinidad State Beach.  Another day done; another day closer to San Francisco!

Next up – Road Trip: Mendocino and Reaching San Francisco – Day 4

Have you ever taken a road trip?  What kinds of stops did you include?