Posted by Karen on 28-May-2010
(Click photo for all 94 photos)
I arrived in Eureka last night and settled in at the Redwood Acres Fairground for the long weekend. Today I headed north towards Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and along the way I stopped in McKinleyville for a geocache at the World’s Largest Totem Pole and boy is it tall! Just before the park I spotted a herd of Roosevelt Elk resting in a field and I’m glad I stopped to view them because they certainly weren’t at the designated viewing area on Davison Road in the park (maybe they didn’t get the memo about where to be, hmm). Davison Road took me to Gold Bluff’s Beach and finally to Fern Canyon. Fern Canyon is where parts of Jurassic Park 2, The Lost World were filmed and yes, it does all look very pre-historic. Fern Canyon is just that, a tall narrow canyon will lots of ferns growing up the canyon walls. At this time of year, the creek flowing through the canyon is still flowing pretty good and after about 5 minutes I gave up any notion of being able to dodge the water and resigned my self to just having wet feet, but it’s worth it. At the trail head, I met another solo hiker with a camera named Christina and so we headed off together to walk the canyon. The canyon is only about 1/3 of a mile long, but it’s a very cool walk. At the end of the canyon, I looped around to another (dry) trail and made my way back to the SUV. At the parking lot, there were a couple of Roosevelt Elk grazing and you realize that they really are big animals when you’re semi-close to them. On the way back to the trailer, I stopped and enjoyed a bit of the sunset in Trinidad at the memorial lighthouse.
Posted by Karen on 05-Jan-2010
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We have been socked in by fog for days and days now and everything is just a dreary gray. So, after going to Roseville to look at a trailer, I just kept driving right on out of town, just trying so desperately to get out of the fog for a bit. Finally, just past Auburn at 2,000 feet elevation… I’m out of the fog and free from the bleak gray for a few hours (hurray!). I explored a few side roads off the freeway and then found Yankee Jims Road, which is a nice 13 mile stretch of graded dirt road that takes you to Foresthill and that sounded like a nice way to spend some time out of the fog, so away I went. I only encountered a couple of other trucks, so it was just a nice pretty drive along the canyon and across the old 1930s Colfax-Foresthill suspension bridge. I stopped and enjoyed a waterfall along the way and then returned back to the grayness of the valley.
Posted by Karen on 22-May-2009
(Click photo for all 92 photos)
I drove to Patrick’s Point State Park last night and set up camp for a long weekend on the north coast. After a lazy morning, I put on my new hiking shoes and took a stroll along the Rim Trail that follows the rim of the coast. I don’t know why, but every time I visit the north coast I am blown away by how many varieties of wildflowers there are. The trail, like the campground, is very protected from the ocean wind by the thick vegetation and humongous ferns and makes for a pleasant hike. Along the trail, there are some short steep trails that lead down to the ocean. Of course a couple of hundred steps down, means a couple of hundred steps back up! Using these spurs, I checked out Rocky Point, Patrick’s Point, Wedding Rock and Mussel Rock. I decided to just view Agate Beach from the rim. Weddings really do happen at Wedding Rock; while there I met a guy who was checking it out because he was attending a wedding there tomorrow at noon (he wasn’t thrilled.. LOL).
GPS Stats: • Odometer: 3.04 miles • Total Time: 3:13 • Moving Time: 1:19 • Moving Average: 2.3 mph • Overall Average: 0.9 mph
