Big Trees

California has some big trees. Here is one of the trees we saw in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. A six mile hike turned into 12 miles and ended with us walking on highway 199.   This was because the seasonal bridge over the river to the grove and trails was taken down that day, as it was the first day of fall. Did they warn us? Yes. Did we listen? No. Did we grossly underestimate the distance we would have to walk back to camp? Yes.

Prairie Creek Redwoods was the next stop to see more big trees. As the sign informed us, there was a big tree. We saw elk that we were not supposed to approach as well as Fern Canyon (as seen in Jurassic Park).

We got a lumberjack lunch at Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka to give us the energy needed to stare at the big trees driving along the Avenue of the Giants. Following the windy roads through hills and along the coast, we stopped in Mendocino for the night.

On the way to Berkeley, we stopped at Yorkville Cellars. They offered a tasting challenge where you need to identify the five red wines based on the tasting notes. We failed. 0 for 5. The wine was nice though so we left with two bottles.

In Berkeley, there were no big trees, but big chores to do. We spent a good amount of time on resume/job application activities, but did manage to fit some entertainment in and caught up with old friends, Justin and Colleen from our Angola days. Other activities included walking around, eating and a day in San Francisco.

From there we went to Yosemite with the rest of the world population. Beautiful park but not exactly a secret escape into nature. Missing big trees, we headed to Kings Canyon to see General Grant, the third stoutest tree in the world. Not settling for bronze, our next stop was General Sherman in Sequoia National Park. The world’s largest tree! Our tree post is complete!