Redwoods

tldr; Ents everywhere.

After Fort Bragg, we continued north to the Redwoods. We spent a couple of nights at an Airbnb in a tiny town, a perfect jumping off spot to explore the nearby forest. (P.S. if you notice that some of the photos in the last post and in the next couple are infinitely better than the usual, it’s all thanks to Courtney!)

After work one day, Choi and I went to Avenue of the Giants with the idea of going for a run in the forest. Our run quickly turned into more of a hike as we stopped every few steps to point out jurassic park-esque ferns, massive roots from fallen trees, an owl flying overhead, and, of course, all of the many enormous trees all around us. We followed tiny trails leading us around and even along the tops of some of the fallen trees, scrambled on top of huge trunks, and hid inside of hollow trees holding tight by their roots despite their empty trunks.

After working from the airbnb for a couple of days, the quiet forest frequently shattered by a very vocal rooster next door, we kept going up north to get closer to Redwoods National Park, where we planned to spend our weekend. We stayed at an RV park in Klamath, a tiny town just north of Redwoods National and State Parks. The RV park was nice enough as a jumping off place for the weekend but was a bit noisy, with tons of kids and dogs running around all day and night. Again, Courtney stayed in our tent guest room while we slept in the van.

Our first morning, we drove off to the Fern Canyon, a really popular area of the Redwoods Parks. We left early to avoid the crowds and followed a long winding, dusty, rocky road until we arrived near the misty coast. We took off on our hike which led us to an incredibly green canyon with a little creek and cliff sides completely covered in vertical mossy ferns. It looked like something out of fairy land.

After Fern Canyon, we walked out to the coast, where dark gray sand covered colorful, smooth pebbles buried a few inches beneath. We laid out on the beach, watching some nearby people fishing catch fish after fish and families fly kites.

We all napped a bit in the sand and then hopped back in the car to check out nearby Crescent City. Courtney and I mostly wanted to visit because of its name, which is the same of a favorite book of ours I had just finished on the trip, secretly hoping we’d find some of our favorite characters wandering through the streets. No luck on that front, but it was fun to get to visit and walk along the beaches of one of the northernmost cities in California, just 20 miles from the Oregon border.

On our drive back, we stumbled upon the most magical sight. Trees packed together just off the road created little holes where light from the setting sun streamed through, creating incredibly bright beams of light shooting at us as we drove by. We pulled over as quick as we could and Courtney, being the amazingly talented photographer that she is, captured some beautiful photos.