Among Giants: Redwood National Park

We drove south from rainy Portland only to encounter: more rain!  The decision we made to continue south along the Oregon coastline seemed more and more ridiculous as we crawled along the winding road in the rain for days.  Reaching the Pacific was a milestone for us, and the coastline surely was beautiful, but the weather was taking its toll on us.  The constant rain, aside from just being generally depressing, kept us mostly confined to the camper even though we were camping in some beautiful parks.  It was lowering our gas mileage.  The pop-out tent in the Cub, which had withstood rain just fine previously, got saturated from the constant downpour and was leaking.  The mattress was wet, our pillows were wet, and we got dripped on every so often at night sleeping.  Our mood was not good!

Still along the coast, we crossed into California toward Redwood National Park, hoping desperately that rain would not spoil our visit there. It was raining on our way in, but miraculously the rain stopped and the sun began to filter down through the trees as we got out to admire some of the enormous redwoods in the park. 

Encouraged by the change in weather and in awe at the place we were in, we began asking for recommendations on good hikes in the area.  We got word of a good day hike in the southern area of the park and headed there.  We couldn't help stopping every few minutes or so, though, to check out the groves of the biggest trees we had ever seen!  Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world.  We felt tiny next to these giants.

 

 

By the time we arrived at the trailhead for our 10-mile hike it was already 3:30 in the afternoon.  Sunset time: 6:20.  Do we forgo the hike? Of course not!! We grabbed our headlamps and set out. The hike was incredible. The huge trees, the ferns, and the mist all made it seem like we were walking through a fantasy world.  We spent so much time looking WAY up to the tops of the trees, we started feeling dizzy!

Standing under the roots of a redwood

 

We reached Fern Canyon, where, supposedly, they shot some scenes of Jurassic Park, though we didn't recognize the area as being part of the movie.  We realized that we had 5 miles to go to get back to the car, and it was already 5:30.  We'd better pick up the pace - no more posing for photos with big trees!

Fern Canyon - part of Jurassic Park??

 Well those headlamps came in handy after all...we ended up walking the last couple miles in the dark.  Even in the dark, the forest was charming - we left elated after a day of no rain and arguably the most beautiful hike we've ever done.