November 18, 2013 Prairie Creek Redwood State Park, California

We passed over the border to California in a rain storm today. Heavy rain predicted for the next couple days.

Welcome to rainy California. We are staying in Klamath, Ca. On the bridge over the river they have these golden bears. They were painted gray, but the city decided to liven them up and paint them gold. The highway department thought it was vandals, so they repainted them gray. When they found out it was the city, they repainted them gold.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park has the largest herd of wild Roosevelt Elk. And a bear.

The car fording a stream to get to Fern Canyon. The canyon is in a cliff on the ocean. There is a campground right on the beach down here, primitive back country one. Herds of elk hang out in the meadows around it.  Looks very nice. No way the bus would get down the dirt road to get there.  John with his pants rolled up for stream crossings in Fern Canyon. It has 50 foot walls in a narrow canyon with 5 kinds of ferns on them. They are wet and green from seeps all year round.

Fern Canyon, Prairie  Creek Redwoods State Park.

6 Johns are standing in front of this giant redwood. It is 304 feet tall, 21.6 feet in diameter, 68 feet in circumference, 1500 years old. They have named it Big Tree. Seems kind of silly to name one tree big tree in a redwood forest.

John took this shot of me in front of it with my pink coat fluorescing.