Our hikes through tall trees began today at Lady Bird Johnson Trail in the Redwood National Forest. It was cool and foggy today. Perfect weather for growing Redwood trees.
Redwood trees are not as large in diameter as the Sequoias we have seen. However, they are much taller and grow closer together. The effect is very different.
Redwoods can also survive fire damage. They are different from Sequoias in the amount of underbrush. These woods felt much more like a rain forest because of the thick plant life surrounding us.
The combination of taller trees growing in close proximity to each other served to increase the appearance of their height.
After we finished the Lady Bird Johnson Trail, we drove to Trillium Falls. We saw a downed Redwood that showed they have a large root system, too.
The hike to the waterfall was uphill, but not too long. There was a small, interesting waterfall at the top of the hike.
Unlike other places further south, California was damp and foggy near the ocean. The trees and plants grow thick and large here. There were ferns everywhere.
The focus of this hike was the Trillium Falls. The presence of Redwoods was still very obvious along the trail.
After seeing so many flowers and plants surviving in drier conditions, it was refreshing to see flowers thriving in a better environment.
Our next stop was at a visitor center. We saw some elk very close to the visitor center.
Our next hike was the Ah Pah Trail. It takes you along the course of an old logging road that was reclaimed as part of a project to return the Redwood Forest to a more natural state.
The project appeared to be successful. It was difficult to imagine a road on the terrain we saw. The biggest evidence was the more open feel because the trees were not as tall as some other areas we had seen. If you look closely, you can see someone at the base of the trees in this picture.
Not all of the trees in the area had been cut down for lumber. Here is one tree that survived, and another that was ready to fall down from some previous damage. Perhaps the surviving tree was spared because it was too difficult to cut down because of its leaning neighbor.
This was the end of the Ah Pah trail. Notice the smaller trees and the more open feel of the area.
In the open areas, the prevalence of ferns was even more dramatic.
After our two hikes, we drove to a third hike. The hike was about a half mile hike down a steep trail to an overlook of the ocean and the Klamath River. We decided the view from 400 feet up was much better than from 200 feet up. So we enjoyed a great view of the Pacific Ocean and the Klamath River without the hike.
This is the mouth of the Klamath River where it meets the Pacific Ocean.
Here you can see a wider view of the coast and the bay.
This is a shot of the rocky coast and the downhill climb we decided to skip.
We agreed that the ocean view was better at the top of the hill than half way down the hill.
