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We followed Route
1 from Eureka and stopped at the Visitor Center of the Redwood
National Park, to decide which parts of the park to visit. We agreed
to first go to the nearby Ladybird Johnson Grove, where giant Redwood
trees grow in abundance.
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The trees are
massive and some of the largest in the USA.
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Brilliant blue
skies and trees everywhere!
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We then moved on
to our second place of the day to visit. This was to Fern Canyon in
nearby Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. This involved an 8 mile
trip (16 miles return) along an unpaved track, which was not that
easy a drive in our hire car. We drove through forest for 6 miles to
the beach, then 2 miles along a coast "road". It was along
the latter part of the road we spied this elk, grazing in the
brushwood alongside the road.
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Fern Canyon was
somewhat unusual, being a slot canyon with bright green ferns growing
along the sides and up to the top. A stream trickled through the
canyon, fed by water permeating through the rocks, somewhat similar
to Zion Canyon in Utah.
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At the beach area
of Prairie
Creek Redwoods State Park there were hundreds of dead logs, probably
Redwoods, just lying there from a previous era.
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Back on
Route 1, another misty day prevented us from viewing the sea. There
was a wall of dark fog, which sat to the west. either on the
coastline or half a mile off the coast and it was going nowhere.
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The road sometimes
rose above the fog, causing unreal images. We stayed overnight at
Bandon in Oregon.
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