Some Redwood pictures

Earlier today someone put up a diary on the Redwood parks of California. It was gone in a blur amidst the Palin bashing so I thought that I would share some of my shots from the region. A little respite from the bickering.
The Redwood State and National parks are home to some of the tallest species in the world.


Diverse dense growth from Mill Creek State Park

The view above Cresent City

The Big Lagoon State Park near Orek shows some of the diversity of the park system.

The parks are home to the largest herd of Roosevelt elk in the nation the Davidson herd.

Patrick’s Point State Park offers a great Vantage for whale watching above Trinadad.

The Avenue of the Giants near Garberville.

The Vanduzen river and Grizzly Creek Park. Location for the filming of the Ewoks of Star Wars fame.

Tall trees and beautiful beaches abound. In the network of state count and national parks. Most parks have hiker biker campgrounds that accommodate ride or walkup campers. If you must come in a car I recommend a reservation.

A Dawn Redwood, once thought extinct this one is near Phillipsville on the Avenue of the Giants.

You can see more at the following locations.
My Live spaces page.
My photo bucket stream
My Flikr page

Some Elk Bulls

The first Video from the trip to Crescent City. Two hundred miles round trip it wore my ass out but the scenery was great and the wildlife cooperated as this vid testifies to. The roadkill report showed it to be a bad week for rocky raccoon. Twelve of them one so bloated it must have been five times normal size. A few deer a sparrow sized bird one domestic cat round out the carnage. On the live front I did much better. Whales two gray and one humpback out at Patrick's point two sea lions and some brown pelicans while I was waiting on the whales. A redtailed hawk a few buzzards and an angry jay. The California Jay was pissed about something as he was scolding me while I had lunch. The pictures will be up at photo bucket in the next few days but I am sore and worn out from the ride so a recovery day is needed before I get everything up.

Redwood trip report

I returned from the camping trip up the coast. The weather was a little damp but the scenery was unbelievable. I need to work on my conditioning before tackling the mountains again. I traveled 125 miles in 4 days of riding. I made 34.4 miles each of the first 3 days with the short day coming when I arrived home.
That was odd the way it worked out but ran into a few problems with a trail that wasn't maintained. I wasted half a day trying to reach a campsite out at Ossagon Creek. There was blow down all along the trail and I thought what the hell I’ll be a good guy and clear some but eventually got to a section that needed a chainsaw, which I did not have. I had portaged twice already and gave up and turned around after tweaking my ankle. By the time I got back to the paved road I was whipped so I went down hill to Prairie Creek.
Let me back up a bit, on day one I was up early and after a few packing modifications I was off. Took a while getting used to the weight again but made it out to Clam Beach by lunchtime. Then it was all uphill for a while to Westhaven and Camel Rock. I shot some vids and pictures along the way and ended up at Big Lagoon for the night. That was one of the things TV taught me wrong. From watching Giligan’s Island as a kid I did not know the thing that made it a lagoon was the sandbar. They always just paddle out on their rafts or whatever. Speaking of Bad TV from the 60’s seems more than just Bob Denver was 420 friendly. Dawn Wells got busted for pot possession; we have some useless laws for a free country. It was the camp host at one end of the campground and I at the other in what felt like the middle of nowhere. I sleep well in the true dark and quiet, a few hours after sundown the silence is clarifying. I would have slept well under any circumstances, as I was exhausted.
Along with the trail problems I also had a few tech problems. My tape recorder gave up the ghost, it was 15 years old but damn it pissed me off. The sleeping bag cover sweats so it was a total waste however I did get good at guying the tent to avoid condensation and the rain bothered me not a bit when I was inside. Since I was not going as far I decided not to rest day 3 and rode back to Clam Beach another 34 miles.
For the next trip I will be cutting the weight and looking for something a little less mountainous but I need more conditioning. This trip the wildlife I saw elk at the little red school house some mule deer and a falcon. I did not get photos of the Sandhill Crane or the Egrets. The chainsaw carvings were a little more exotic. The road kill report was pretty light a gopher 2 birds a field mouse and a skunk.

A quick flick

Here is a little taste from my trip will write more tommorow but I am a bit tired at the moment.