Long Winded Tales of Our Summer Vacation to California - Part 4

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 7: Titans

This is the day I had been anticipating our whole trip.

This was the day we were going to find the Grove of Titans.

Let me back up a little bit. When I was researching and planning our trip I found this amazing website called http://www.redwoodhikes.com/. It had detailed descriptions and ratings for all the trails in the Redwood Park system.

Jackpot!

As I was reading the description for one of the trails, I came across this intriguing piece of text:

"The trail offers some glimpses of huge but distant redwoods, reminders that the Grove of Titans lies somewhere in the woods off to your right. This storied grove, whose exact location has not been disclosed, contains the largest, third-largest, and sixth-largest redwoods by volume."

I had to find it. I had to find it. There was no way we were going to travel 2200 miles and not find these trees. I have no idea how many hours I spent scouring the internet for information. I read countless people's travel blogs detailing their attempts, both successes and failures, at finding these trees. No matter the outcome, the trend was to not disclose anything that gave away the location of the trees, only hints, and really bad hints at that. Eventually, my crazy brain had an idea of how I could find the GPS coordinates of the trees, and sure enough, a few minutes later I had GPS coordinates for three of the trees in the grove. Armed with that information, I was more than confident we would find the Grove. After all, I HAD to find the grove.

Back to that in a little bit.

Before we embarked on our quest to find the Titans, our primary goal for the day was to hike the 5 mile Boy Scout Tree Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. This was the most highly rated trail in all of the redwood park system and we were not going to miss out on it, even if it did postpone our tree hunt. We got there early, which required an awesome drive up the mountain along the Howland Hill Road, and set forth down the trail.

The descriptions did not exaggerate the majesty of this trail. One person had described the morning light shining through the tree canopy towering 200 feet above your head as being "Cathedral", and I would whole heartily agree.

We eventually made it to the Fern Falls at the end of the trail, found a nice place to watch the falls and ate lunch. After our short rest, we headed back down the trail to our car.

It's hard to explain what it's like hiking through a forest of trees that are taller than a football field, wider than a car, and so old that many were standing when Jesus was walking this earth. For starters, you feel out of place. Then you stare up at the tree tops and fail to grasp just how tall they are. You feel like you begin to understand just how large and magnificent they are and then you keep hiking. You turn a corner of the trail and see a different side of the same tree and realize you were not even close. I couldn't help but think:

"We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!" (1 Corinthains 13:9-12, The Message)

and

"When he [Jesus] came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” "I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”(Luke 19:37-40, English Standard Version)

None of my pictures do this hike justice. My words do not do His creation justice. Our hike down this trail to the Fern falls and back was by far my favorite part of our trip. I look forward to hiking it again.

After we finished the hike, we drove to a nearby cheese factory and sampled some (all, yum!) of their deliciously fresh made cheese. We were now ready to find the Titans!

The hike down the trail to where we were to diverge from the beaten path was a blur. Partially because it was comparatively bland to the previous hiking we had done that day and partially because I was focused on the hunt. We eventually got the spot where my investigation told me to head westward from our trail in order to find the Titans. Sure enough, within minutes we were standing in the grove of Titans. We were there not but a minute or two when another group of people wandered into the grove. We swapped stories of how we heard about the grove and how we went about finding it. Our time was limited as the sun was setting, so we didn't spend too much time trying to track down all the titans. The few we saw were incredible and the rest will be there for the next visit.

We got back to the car, headed to the beach to catch another gorgeous sunset, and once again laid our heads to rest at the Motel Trees with the ever vigilant Paul Bunyan watching over us.

Up Next... Our last hike in California

Summer Excursion Part 2: ...and Hiking Boots

After staying in Westport, California, we headed north and spent the rest of our vacation in the beautiful redwood forests.










Along the drive we took a few scenic detours.  The first was a drive through tree park.  I think the name speaks for itself (it's a tourist trap, but you have to do it - along with the cheesy gift shop).










Then, instead of following the main highway, we took a longer segment called the Avenue of the Giants.  It was lined on both sides by large redwoods.  At the time we thought they were huge, until we got further into the old growth areas and saw some of the true giants.  But is was still a beautiful drive.  That day we also hiked a few short trails just to get warmed up.

During our stay, we occupied a lovely little hotel nestled in between the Redwood National Park and the state parks, or in other words, the middle of nowhere (in a nice, secluded, away from distractions of the world kind of way).  Directly across from our hotel was a tourist attraction called the Trees of Mystery.

Besides having a gift shop, trails, and a gondola ride through the trees, it is also home to Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.  During the day, Paul is voiced by a hidden person and talks with the children who come to harass him.

Along with the national park, we also visited the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Our first full day in the redwoods, we visited the National Park Visitor's Center to get a better idea of which trails we wanted to make sure to hike (and procure a mug to add to our cabinet, which we do on each vacation, even though the cabinet is already overflowing).

The Visitor's Center was right on the beach, so we sat out on the sand to eat lunch.

After lunch, we hiked about a 3 mile trail, along which we saw lots of trees (of course), frogs, snails, and finally a banana slug.  I am not putting a picture, because, well it's a slug, but the name is pretty descriptive - if you are curious, you can google it.  :-)

I won't bore you with all the different trails we hiked (however, Ben assures me that he will), but we went about 6-7 miles each day, and each trail was spectacular in its own way.  At the end of one was a waterfall that Ben got some amazing photos of.

Another included a section called Fern Canyon, which was where part of the Jurasic Park series was filmed.













Off of one of the trails (actually, in a location undisclosed to the public), we were able to find the "Grove of Titans," which is home to the largest redwoods currently known - thanks to Ben and his nerdy ways.

Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted in the evenings after hiking.  But we were able to relax and just enjoy the surroundings, like the breathtaking sunsets.

This part of our trip really did feel like an escape.  Being surrounded by 2000 year old giants makes you feel almost as if you have been transported back in time, and forget the fast paced, technology filled world outside.

And there is nothing like the extraordinary beauty and grandeur of nature to make you contemplate the majesty and glory of God, understood through his creation.  I wish the photos (although they are wonderful) could convey how spectacular it was.



P.S. - In case anyone is interested, below is a picture of one of my favorite souvenirs.  I found them in a sock store on Pier 39 in San Francisco.