The Woods of Red

I was feeling the need to take a few days away from this place that I've called home for the past two plus months, so I took a drive southward to the Redwoods National Park. Of all the places I've been on this adventure, this one definitely had the least amount of "activities" and tourist-y attractions, which is why it was so damned appealing. I basically drove 4 hours to camp, walk and stare at gigantic trees. And it was amazing. At this point, I will warn you that this is going to be a loooooong entry.

The first few hours of the drive down there were nothing spectacular. Lots of loud music, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and coffee...oh so much coffee... You start to get a little antsy when you have too much caffeine and all you see are the same trees you've been seeing for the past few months. Cedar, cedar, doug fir, cedar, doug fir, ce- WHOA!

And then all of a sudden you see a really huge tree and you pull the camera out as fast as possible and take a picture of one even though you know it's going to turn out like shit because it's just that awesome. I don't know why, but I struggle for words to describe the feeling, and pictures can only scarcely grasp the scale of these things.

I paused briefly to take some pictures and scope out possible camping locations. A friend recommended this area, but it just didn't feel "right." This whole weekend was full of me feeling out and finding spots and things that felt good. This wasn't one of them, but it looked cool.

I kept on driving to the coast, which was not on my nonexistent agenda, but I'm glad I did. Somehow, I always find my way to the beach even if I don't mean to. Is that a sign? Anyway...

It was a really unique driving experience. In a span of just a few miles I was at sea level amid some of the densest fog I think I've ever seen, but just as quickly I was a hundred feet up a mountain that provided this amazing view of said fog blanketing the ocean at sunset:

If not for those trees in the foreground, I could have told you I was flying, and you would have believed me. I kind of felt like I was flying. Awesome, awesome stuff.

It was starting to get dark rapidly and I still hadn't found a place to camp, so I backtracked to the beach I had passed on the way down to the overlook because I saw some people there that looked like they might know something. They did, but nothing I wanted to pursue (paying $35 to pitch a tent for a few hours? Pshhh).

I found my way to a small county campground and pitched a tent in the dark, which is always an adventure. Due in large part to me being awesome, it worked. Of course, other than the redwood stump and the tree on the other side of the driveway, I didn't have any idea what the surrounding area really looked like until the next morning. A pleasant surprise:

Within this small park, there was still some exploring to do, so I did and found this nice little stream:

And I had a little fun, too:

I guess if your idea of fun is being eaten by a fallen tree...

I ventured out and drove into a tree. Amazing that I survived to write this blog post, right?

I'm not really a fan of cutting through the trees for the sake of creating a tourist attraction, but I didn't pay to get in and I did meet a nice Canadian family (they're all nice. I love Canadians) who were more than happy to take my picture. They also did not hesitate to denigrate my choice of hockey team, but I guess nobody's perfect.

I continued on my way in search of, well, whatever I could find. I found a big tree. No really. That's what it's called:

And for comparison's sake:

Crazy big branch up there on the left. I think it was actually another tree that sprouted in the same root system hundreds of years ago, and as the bigger tree continued to grow, it became a branch. I think, but I'm not sure. Anyway, take a closer look:

Oh, I found this neat little guy near there too:

I hiked around for a while, then stumbled into a tiny town called Orick:

It was a strange place, but the people were nice, and I didn't die from the tuna sandwich I bought at the cafe. There wasn't much else to do there, so I went back into the forest. I think it was around 3 at this point, and when I went back in there, I noticed how dark it was already inside the forest (ya know, because of all the big 'ol trees). Eerily beautiful in so many ways, but it made taking decent pictures a real challenge.

Even though this looks much like a dirt bank, this is actually a fallen redwood with other trees and plants growing on top of it:

I originally took this next picture because in one small grove, there were four different ages of redwood in a relatively confined space:

BUT upon further examination, I saw faces in the two big trees. By the way, I was totally sober at this point.

After looking at this picture again, I'm now noticing all kinds of crazy colors on the trees. Again, I'm completely sober.

The underside of a fallen redwood looks like an explosion:

Check out this curvy outgrowth:

I wish I had some rollerblades with me at the time...

There were several recently downed trees (hopefully due to natural causes), but none showed the destructive power of these giants quite like this one:

Which took out several other trees in the process, creating lots of free firewood:

I'm just kidding. Leave no trace (which means take everything).

I went back to my camping spot for the night, with no set plan for the next day. I woke up and felt beachy yet again, so I decided to take the coastal route back to Oregon (rather than heading further south into California, which also crossed my mind) and damn, was it beautiful:

I took my time and many more pictures and eventually decided to camp out on the beach, meaning my ol' boy has now been on a beach at the Atlantic and Pacific. What a happy car:

Not a bad sunset either. Let me tell you, sleeping there was not warm, but at least it was clear, starry and moony. Is that a word? Waking up there was strangely beautiful, too. As an East coaster, I'm used to the sun coming up over the water. Instead, my car was shrouded in darkness behind the dunes while the ocean shimmered in sunlight (and of course, I didn't take a picture. I remember, though).

I'm not sure how to end this post. I've gotta go build some more things today. If you've read this far, thank you, I hope you enjoyed the "slideshow," have a wonderful day and until next time, cheers!