December 4, 2018 Ukiah, California

Mid 50's, cloudy and a bit windy.

We went to Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve an old growth, never been logged redwood grove. It is way out of the way and we only saw one other person, and only in the parking lot. The trail followed Montgomery creek  through 5 groves.

Lichen on one of the trees, skinny, lush Montgomery creek, and mossy logs. John at the bottom of a huge tree. There was a forest fire here 5 years ago. The redwoods don't burn, their bark is fire resistant. The forest floor repopulated starting with ferns and is completely recovered  now.  

Two species of ferns grow to 5 and half feet tall here.  A couple of huge tree trunks, both of these trees are still living.  

A couple more burned trunks, trees still alive. Mushrooms, roots and redwood needles in a small pond, a rough skinned newt, it's underside and feet are orange to warn predators that it is toxic. Some steps and a style over the fence at the hot spring. 

This bridge is built on a huge dead redwood. In the wet season this are is a marsh. John is near the end of the bridge photographing this ancient tree. John inside another fire damaged tree.  

This area are the tallest , largest trees in the park, some of the tallest in the world. The world record tallest tree was here, but the wind topped it and it is shorter now. John at a pond by tangled roots and an uprooted redwood.  

A couple of roots from fallen redwoods. Redwood roots across the trail.  

We also went to Vichy Springs today.The historic plaque at the springs. The resort was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously operating hot springs resorts in California. These are  naturally carbonated champagne baths. The water is fizzy and  covers your body in a layer of bubbles.  We were the only ones there, we had private springs. These cement tubs were built in 1860. The colors are mineral deposits. You remove the pipe from the head end and place is as a plug at the foot end and water bubbles into the tub, flowing through and out a high drain hole. You just lay in them a fizz. John is in the third one down. My tub full and flowing.  

There are also indoor tubs. And some Beauty springs that come from a different spring with more boron and are excellent for your skin. John in one of the indoor beauty springs getting beautiful and laying in the outdoor fizzy spring. Very relaxing. The rest of the resort has been remodeled and modernized. 

November 30-December 3, 2018 Arcata to Benbow to Ukiah, California

Foggy this am, then it cleared up, nice and sunny, now it is pouring rain.

Fingers of fog near the Klamath River at Klamath, California this morning. The path for the road through Prairie Creek State Park is dictated by where the huge trees are.  

We stopped at Big Tree. It is huge. 286 feet high, 23.7 feet in diameter, 74.5 feet circumference and estimated at 1500 years old. But there are tons of trees as big and bigger there. Very humbling. Fall colors and moss hanging over the road.  

Sunny skies in Arcata at the Mad River Rapids RV park. We got a great place right under a street light. We are here to resupply, Costco run etc. Spent the day shopping.  Vampire Penguin?? The bus is named the Penguin and Penguin is John's mother's nickname. Had to stop and see the place. It is a shaved ice and ice cream place. Big penguin on the wall, Vampire Penguin t-shirts.

This pile of trees is blocks long and many more rows behind it at a sawmill in Eureka, California. Today we drove south to Benbow. We took the scenic route through the Avenue of the Giants-more redwoods. It was very scenic. A deep dark forest  with rain and fog. 

The Avenue of the Giants took twice as long as the highway. The road was very narrow and the huge redwoods right next to the edge of the road. Many of them had vehicle damage to the road side. It was worth the drive for the scenery. The RV parked at the Benbow RV park in Benbow, California. it rained the whole way down and was sunny when we got here. As soon as we got set up it started to rain again.  It  also has a golf course and historic hotel. It is supposed to get down to 30 degrees tonight. Brrrr. Time to head south. 

Sunset tonight between rain storms. I started a new masterpiece. I found this necklace in a thrift store and the basket will have it in it. Not sure how yet, but the basket will tell me what it wants. 

We went to the thrift store today. We are looking for our costumes for the fruit cake festival. It has a celestial theme this year. John found this great dress that has blinking lights on it, but it was too small so we are still looking. We are visiting my friend from college Kay. She is the head librarian at the library here in the town of Garberville.  

Beautiful oak tree with moss and fall leaves in Kay's yard. Kay and I at her house. 

Today we drove to Ukiah, California through the redwoods, past the one log house- a house in one redwood log. The bus at the RV park at the Ukiah fairgrounds. Xmas lights at the campground.  

Went to goodwill here to look for more celestial costumes parts for the fruit cake festival. Found some star/moon items. We had dinner at the Ukiah Brewing Co in in downtown Ukiah. The beer was average, but the organic food was wonderful. 

The new masterpiece is coming along. The beads are from a necklace I got at a thrift store. 

November 28-29, 2018 Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park to Cresent City , California

High 50's, cloudy and foggy.

The sun came out through the fog for a bit today as we drove into the redwoods. Nice light on the road. We hiked the Zigzag trails, west ridge trail and Prairie Creek trail loop today. 4 miles. The bridge going over Prairie Creek with mossy trees.  

John on the zigzag trail. It is called that for the switch backs, but this section was zig zaggy too. A redwood stump. I counted 150 years of rings on it. They can live to 2,000 years. Tiny ferns and mushrooms. 

We hiked up to the ridge above the valley and still were not anywhere near the tops of the redwoods. They are smaller higher up from the wind and less moisture. Some kind of fungus that look like chocolate syrup over vanilla ice cream, the green shamrocks are red on the back, in memory of  Carl and Sophie Rothschild and and all other victims of nazism and another painted in one, dedicated to all kind friends. Red fungus, green shamrocks on redwoods. 

The huge trees are in the bottomlands. This is a huge stump a tree rooted on top and all the roots coming down around the old stump.

Tiny mushrooms, red berries, big mushrooms and fall ferns. Big ferns, bracken ferns and tiny white mushroom.  

Looking back up at the ridge and fog in the trees. Mossy trees. 

 We drove back along the coastal road. It was almost dark and the fog was creeping up the cliffs.  Today was cloudy, foggy, rainy and windy. We started out going into Klamath which is on the Yurok indian reservation. We stopped at the casino. I lost $5 and gave up.

In Crescent City we stopped at both breweries. John at Sea Quake Brewery with his IPA and parmesan sweet potato fries and at Port O' Pints with his Red IPA. 

On the way back we saw this slit of a sunset happening so we stopped to watch. John taking photos. 

Looking north on the coast with tendrils of thick fog in the trees. The sunset progressed nicely. 

The sunset climaxed with this. Worth the stop to see.