Northern California Coastal Redwoods: May 2021

Given the drought, we suspected that it was going to be a hot and smoky summer.  (Unfortunately, we were right.). So we headed for the redwoods to soak up the cool moist forest greenery.  Because the campgrounds were closed due to the pandemic, and there was no boondocking available, we stayed at Kamp Klamath, just north of Prairie Creek.

May 24:  We started our ride on the Newton Drury Parkway at the Prairie Creek State Park headquarters.  We had just missed rhododendron season, but there were still a few blossoms.  Note the albino spider just below the center:

The ride was very pleasant -- gently uphill heading north, gliding downhill on the way back, rolling through the ancient groves, stopping often:

May 25:  We hiked slowly along Brown Creek, with its lush fern understory:

It had just rained, and the trilliums were enjoying the moisture:

In the afternoon, we walked up Cal Barrel Road, to see whether it was suitable for bikes.  Parts of it were pretty steep, but there were plenty of old trees:

May 26:  We took the James Irvine trail through a dense old-growth forest from the park headquarters to Fern Canyon.  We chose to savor the lovely scenery, hiking slowly and stopping often, so we didn't get all the way to Fern Canyon this time.  The trail contours along the hills, which provides a good view down into the canyons:

Many of the sword ferns were unfurling:

We had never seen this flower before -- a ranger told us it was "false solomon's seal:"

The individual blossoms were very intricate:

May 27:  It was a rainy day, which (to us) is a rare treat.  We hiked the Prairie Creek trail in our ponchos:  

Our backpacks enjoyed a brief rest, while we enjoyed our peanut butter sandwiches on a moist bench overlooking the gurgling creek:

This banana slug (not quite ripe) was enjoying the rain, too:

May 28:  We intended to take our mountain bikes on the Coastal Trail, starting at Fern Canyon -- but we were stopped by deep mud.  The trail was buried by a mudslide:

We walked up Fern Canyon to celebrate our 43rd anniversary, with a backdrop of finger ferns. Unfortunately, we got our fingers reversed, so it looks like our 34th:

We tried once more and got it right:

We finished the afternoon with a ride on the Lost Man Creek trail:

May 29:  We headed south to Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  As was the case at Prairie Creek, we stayed at an RV park (Ancient Redwoods).  The Rainier cherries, planted between each campsite, were beautiful and tasty but a bit tart:

We spent the afternoon at the Rockefeller Grove:

May 30:  We took the Bull Creek Flats trail:

May 31:  We rode our bikes along Avenue of the Giants, from Mattole Road to Myers Flat and back:

June 1:  We biked along Mattole Road.  Here's a short video:

And here's a short video of the video: