mt. marcy: Land of Redwoods

Land of Redwoods

1 Comments Published by Mt. Marcy on Sunday, October 21, 2012 at 11:09 AM.

The next few days are personal days. We spent Friday night in Crescent City, CA. Saturday we made our way 300 miles south to Santa Rosa. Along our route to Santa Rosa, we explored the California redwoods and giant sequoias in state and national parks.

We hiked several forest trails, climbed over driftwood on the oceans, and stopped at every historical marker, vantage site, and point of interest sign. Sometime after stop five, I realized that I’ve become my dear mother.

Here are a few highlights and tidbits from our redwood adventure:

We came up with a new phrase: “bat” means “big a** tree.”

We saw dozens of different types of mushrooms.
The fir trees next to the ocean create an important barrier against salt in the ocean breezes. If the fir trees were not there, the redwoods couldn’t survive
The redwoods are the tall ones, the giant sequoias are the really giant ones
Redwoods were around back in the time of dinosaurs. The grow to be 2000 years. The sequoias grow to be 3500 years.

We saw 20 elk in a field. Jane recognized and respected the size difference.

While noting to each other the large size of a particular banana slug was, Jane came over and unbeknownst to her stepped on it.

Jane continues to be the best dog in the world. She is a true family member and this trip wouldn’t be as fun without her. She hikes like a champ and loves making new friends. She’s always eager to get back in the car for a ride. Great Danes are known to be couch potatoes, but since she loves the car so, we like to say she is a backseat potato. When we go into a restaurant, she patiently waits for us in the car. When we drive, she often rests her heavy head on our shoulders, not to miss a beat.