Long Winded Tales of Our Summer Vacation to California - Part 5

Disclaimer: Marci did a great job summarizing the highlights of the second half of our summer vacation to California. I'm going to spend a "few" words talking about some of the other stuff we saw and experienced that didn't make the "highlight reel" (essentially, show off some of the other pictures I took). If you haven't read her account of the trip, I'd suggest reading it first.

Day 8: Jurassic Park and Elk on the beach.

This was our last day to spend in the redwoods. We headed back down to Prairie Creek Redwood State Park where we were going to hike the most diverse hike of our trip.

We started at sea level in Fern Canyon, which was featured in scenes of Jurassic Park 2, and then headed up into the mountains along the James Irvine Trail. From there we took the Clintonia Trail across the ridge and joined the Miners Ridge Trail. That rail took us back down the mountains towards the coast. Once we reached the coast we hopped on the the Coastal Trail and were on our final leg of the hike.

Entrance to Fern Caynon

Fern Caynon and the 40 foot walls of Fern

In previous three days of hiking, we saw one or maybe two banana slugs. However, we saw 20-30 during our hike on this day. Not sure why this trail was so populated, but it was fun spotting them every two to three minutes.

No idea how he got up there

Hiking along the coast was fun, but very difficult. First of all, there really isn't a trail, you are literally just hiking up the coastline. Secondly, as we were now out of the forest, we could see for quite a distance which was also not typical for the hikes we'd been on. Between the sand, the suddenly bright sun (after being in the dimly lit forest), and not being able to discern how far we'd traveled or how far we needed to go, it felt like we were going nowhere. However, we were in no hurry and the scenery was beautiful, so we just kept onward.

Marci hiking on the Coastal Trail

This guy didn't fair so well

Eventually we came long a herd of Elk grazing not more than 100 yards from the ocean, which was strange to me as I'm use to seeing elk in the rocky mountains (just a few more feet above sea level than these). We watched them for a while before continuing our hike. Not but 5 minutes later we were back in the car.

Elk by the beach

Elk on the beach!

That night we packed up our stuff to head home the next day and managed to catch yet another stunning sunset.

Super Long Exposure of the Sunset

Day 9: Road Trip Birthday

The last day of our trip also happened to be my birthday, and in typical birthday fashion I spent it traveling. We drove 6 hours to the airport, flew 2 hours to phoenix where our flight home to Austin was delayed, but we eventually made it just in time to get a decent night of rest for work the next day.

The trip was awesome and as with most vacations I go on, I was reluctant to leave and would gladly return. It was great to spend nine days with my wonderful wife Marci and I'm very thankful that she puts up with me. 

Other Random Comments:

• I had previously mentioned how difficult it was to capture the size of these trees. This picture, a composite made of 84 different pictures, is the best picture I know of to show just how huge they are.
  
• You might be wondering what the giant Paul Bunyan was all about. Well, across the street from our lodging (Motel Trees) was this tourist attraction called "Trees of Mystery" and that is where Paul and his Ox were at. The crazy thing about the statue is that during the day, there is a guy hidden somewhere with a microphone and he is the voice of Paul Bunyan. Kids and Adults would walk up to Paul and shout a comment and/or question at him, and he would answer. The dialog was pretty hilarious as the voice of Paul was very creative and quick on his feet.
  
• Banana Slugs? Gross! The Banana slugs are crucial to the redwood eco system as they eat just about any plant other than the redwoods themselves and leave behind vital nutrients for the forest soil. Fun Fact, The Banana Slug, more specifically "Sammy the Slug",  is the Mascot of UC Santa Cruz.