Day 22

I woke up early this morning and decided to hike the Elk Prairie trail before the kids woke up. The sun was up but not many other people in the campground were. The woods were so quiet that my footsteps echoed and made me sound like a giant walking on the trail!







As I exited the woods and entered the prairie I looked around for our bachelor three that were usually in the meadow by our campground. About every 100 feet I rose higher and looked across for antlers but didn't see any. Just as I was about to approach the road I noticed not three but eight elk right in the middle of my trail. I kept moving forward until I was about 100 yards away and noticed a small deer just off my trail too. She stared at me, otherwise motionless, as I walked past.

One of the elk stepped up onto the road so I took a picture then backed up to watch them and the deer for awhile. My trail went right next to them up into the woods so I was pretty much out of luck. One by one they started to walk down the road. Well, all except for our bachelor three so I gave up. I just turned around and went back to our site. By now it was almost 7a.m. so I decided to wake the kids up with hot chocolate and bagel egg sandwiches.

They weren't thrilled at first but finally dragged themselves out of their tents to join me. Our plan today was to drive north to Grammie's campground to pick her up and explore that end of the park.
We were ready to go early so we decided to do one of the scenic drives along the coast. Unfortunately the fog was heavy this morning so there was only one viewpoint where we could even see the water.

When we left I reminded Brayden about the WWII radar spot on our drive but it was camoflauged so well as a small barn that I forgot to even look for it. I remember passing it now though thinking how remote to live out there!

Our next stop was a place Grammie told the kids about with a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe. There was a guy hidden away that would talk to people as they walked up. He told the kids to sit on his boot and made fun of them while I took a picture.








Once we had Gramme with us we first stopped at the Houchi Visitors Center to check out the movie, displays, and programs. It was the same movie we'd see a few days before so while Grammie watched we created Redwood haikus on the wall.

Grammie wanted to do one of the recommended scenic drives which just happened to have a recommended hike I wanted to do so we drove to Stout Grove next. This scenic drive prohibited RVs and trailers and we could see why within just a mile or so. The road was unpaved, washed out, and very narrow. 

There were loads of people on the trail and we could see why! This grove of redwood trees was spring fed which inhibited the growth of much of the understory. It was amazing to see the trees standing alone and experience their full height! See Grammie and my little people down there?!

The kids played on all the downed trees while we walked the trail. My climbers can make their own playground anywhere!

This tree must be one of the biggest in the grove with the special deck around it so we made sure to take a picture here too.  I know these trees aren't the biggest we'll see but they are just massive!

We made it back in mostly one piece to Crescent City to mail postcards and resupply. If the Walmart my GPS found didn't have a produce section again at least we could find a grocery store! Ryan volunteered to mail all the postcards for us. She caught the giggles as she mailed the huge stack one by one. 

We dropped Grammie back off with Lola and decided next to drive through one of the trees. I wasn't sure we'd be able to with our cargo top deal but we had plenty of room to spare.  Laney volunteered to take this photo op!

I left the kids in the meadow so I could make dinner in peace. Laney was our photographer again for this too! Brayden lost our last frisbee so he bought this one to replace it. I'd say it's a hit!

Since there wasn't a program this night I told the kids we would be hiking the Elk Prairie trail I'd tried to hike in the morning. We enjoyed the creek, the prairie and the woods the whole time talking about our next few days and trying not to wish them away talking about our house when we get back home.

We made a fire when we got back and the kids talked and talked like they'd been separated for a few days or something. It's lovely to sit back and listen to them because after awhile they forget I'm there and I get a glimpse into who they are without me around. We ended the night excitedly talking about packing up in the morning and making it to Oregon!

Day 21

The past three nights have been the absolute best sleep for all of us so far! We snuggle down under a bunch of layers each night and wake up toasty warm until we decide to leave our sleeping bags.

I took a walk back to the prairie this morning to check out the elk. There was a thick layer of fog across the prairie that attempted to camoflauge them. Whatever is blooming right now is enough to keep their heads down through all kinds of noises. I'm not sure they looked up the entire time I was standing there!

After writing about the past two days I started some hot chocolate for all of us. I have no idea what the temperature was but I did know I would be voted best mom if I had it ready when they woke up. Laney voted it perfect and reminded me we still had a few marshmallows leftover the throw in them. It was perfectly warm enough to warm our hands and bellies!

Cooking hashbrowns takes a long time with my little stove but it's so worth it to have a different hot meal than our regulars. Ryan and Brayden fought over the last of the pickles. It's definitely time for a grocery resupply. We're down to only grapes and apples now.

We were hoping to meet up with Grammie this morning as we hadn't seen her in a few days. She was staying about 20 minutes down the road from us this time but neither of us had cell phone reception at our sites. We exchanged some irregular texts and decided to meet up at our visitors center later in the morning. We headed to another visitors center to get the program information and maps for hiking. We immediately sat down for the movie first right inside.

We learned about the protection of the trees beginning at the start of the 19th century that didn't actually happen until the 1960s when the area became a National Park. All that time loggers were allowed to clear cut many areas of trees for the high demand for wood in the growing San Francisco and surrounding areas. Thankfully there was still some "old growth" forest left that we were going to be able to hike through to fully appreciate these trees.

Next we headed back to the Prairie Creek Visitors Center near our campground to learn a little more and meet Grammie. I took the opportunity to talk with a ranger about the not-to-miss things we need to do the next few days. Brayden found this half set of antlers sticking out of a tree on display. Apparently an elk got stuck in a tree and it eventually grew around him!

There were lots of hugs from Grammie and lots of licking from Lola when we finally met up. There was a program starting soon so we went to the meetup area for lunch first. Laney spotted the elusive (and gross!) banana slug on a tree nearby.

Our first stop on the program hike was a tree called "Big Tree". It is 286 feet tall and almost 24 feet in diameter. It used to be over 300 feet tall until a section on the ground next to us fell off during a storm. This picture is so deceiving - it is massive!

We walked around the Circle Trail stopping often to learn a little more about the trees, their history, and different plants and animals along the trail. It was interesting to learn the cones of these giants are only about the size of an olive.

Our guide Taylor is a student of wildlife biology so she was a wealth of information on everything around us. She even showed us a plant commonly called "Hiker's toilet paper" that was the softest leaf I've ever felt.

We talked about the entirely different ecology of the canopy of t
the trees as well. There is a salamander that lives it's entire life 300 feet in the air. It is born already able to breathe through it's skin and finds water in the fern thatches growing high in the trees. She said there are even microscopic shrimp living there!

After the program we headed to hike the Trillium Falls trail. This was a fantastic hike with a waterfall only about 1/3 of a mile from the start. We walked up countless switchbacks to almost be above some of the trees. We spotted so many trees devastated by fire but then could see the tree's clones taking their places. The ferns filled the forest floor making the area look like a lush filming location for Jurassic Park. This hike was close to a parking lot but shortly after we made it into the woods we felt miles deep into the forest.

We went back to the Prairie Creek Visitors Center next for a special ranger presentation. Earlier in the day Ryan noticed Lola would be able to become a "Bark Ranger" of Redwood. She took her oath just like all the ones the kids had taken over the years. Her oath was a little bit different with her promising to sniff and take her owner lots of places but she earned it!

We said goodbye to Grammie for the day and headed back to our campsite to cook dinner. The kids played games and played while I cooked, cleaned, and edited pictures from the day.

As the sun started to disappear we headed to the visitors center for a night walk program. We found our bachelor three hanging out in the campground as we were getting ready to go to our program.

The walk was exceptionally short but the information was excellent. My animal loving kids knew a lot of the facts about nocturnal animals but they weren't brave enough to share. We learned all about the flying squirrel, mountain lion, little brown bat, spotted owl, and and gray fox.

 We visited one of the trees we like then took the Redwood Access trail back to our campsite. The kids huddled to chat in the big tent while I sat on a bench by the prairie to upload the past few days of blog entries. It was dark by the time I stood up and scared a family of curious raccoons coming to check me out. I'm not sure who was spooked more!

Day 20

I have no idea what the temperature was this morning but I can definitely say it was colder than when we'd arrived. I wasn't about to cook oatmeal again two days in a row so I opted for pancakes and added hot chocolate to my grocery list. They only way the girls would come out of the tent was if I let them keep their sleeping bags. They both upzipped the bottom flap and joined up for breakfast.

I told them the few hikes available in the area and the girls decided on the pygmy forest - I'm thinking they were envisioning tiny little trees - so we packed up and headed that way. They trees were small - many topping out at Ryan's height. The hike was quick and we learned quite a bit along the way.

We were all amazed to learn about the Mendocino Cypress that is only in this local area. When outside of the pygmy forest it can grow 100 feet tall. In this forest there are trees that are only 2-3 feet tall and a quarter inch in diameter but they have 80 or more growth rings.

Our next stop was Mendocino Beach were we laughed at all the dogs enjoying the water. They were jumping, and fetching, and rolling like it was their best day ever! The view was not to shabby as well!

Our next stop was Fort Bragg where Brayden noticed a homemade ice cream shop. I'm not sure if there is every a bad time for ice cream because we haven't found it yet! I always love the local flavors too so I tried Hokey Pokey made of ice cream and honeycomb candy made by the candy store down the street. Brayden and Ryan tried Candy Store Floor with tons of bits of candy mixed in and Laney tried cookie dough with oodles of homemade cookie dough and chocolate chips mixed in. It was delicious and a perfect time for a snack but still not as good our Michigan ice cream. I'm not sure we'll find one that is!

They did decided on a new motto though!

Just on the other side of downtown is Glass Beach. According to everything I'd read this place was a dump site until the 50s. They would just back a truck up and dump stuff right into the ocean. I can't imagine the destruction this caused but I guess at least it wasn't a ton of chemicals like we use today. So over the years the glass and garbage was churned and softened in the ocean to return to the beach. There were colorful bits of glass all over! So the kids grabbed a few pieces each and even found me a few heart-shaped ones.

We decided to climb around the boulders away from all the people to enjoy the view and Ryan spotted this guy eating lunch. He dipped in and out of the water always returning to crunch something up and look for more. We were so focused on watching him we didn't even noticed the seal on the rock above him!

We climbed around and checked out all the little tide pools the ocean had left. This was the kids' first experience with the Pacific tides so I made sure they noticed how high the water got and to imagine if the tide came in while we were on the rocks how they might get back to land. It's something I hope we don't have to experience on this trip but I'd rather be prepared!

Ryan was thrilled to see our friendly otter fishing right below her rock. He looked up at her and never was seen again so I'm assuming she scared him like crazy! She thought it was the sweetest, cutest little creature on earth and she was so excited he was only 2 feet away from her!

My kids have always been climbers but probably Brayden the most. He loves to explore and take the tough ways to where he wants to go just to see if he can do it. Today he just wanted to go high.

We left Glass Beach and all the people to drive some of the most curvy roads I have experienced yet. We would be driving S-curves all along the cliffs and then dip into the forest long more curves to get around a cove. Over and over again. We emerged from the forest one time to this view and I had to stop. I've always been drawn to the water and I just wanted to stop and watch it at this spot. It's difficult to drive and still try to see all these views!

Little did I know this would be our last ocean view until just before our spot. We dipped into the forest and prairie for about 2 hours before emerging again at the Redwoods National Forest. It was time for dinner again by the time we arrived so we set up and Ryan cooked some veggie burgers. Laney and I ate 1, Brayden had 4, and Ryan had 2. Where do they put it all?

We noticed there was a program tonight so we hiked to the amphitheater. We were all in awe of the massive trees we were walking next to. There was one that was the size of two of my car at the base at least.

When we got to the amphitheater noone was there. There wasn't a ranger at check in so I assumed this was the spot but the sign was now gone. The kids decided to make up their own program while I texted Grammie to make plans to meet up. We were in another campground without cell service but I noticed there was wifi at the amphitheater. I've actually been very fortunate being able to update the blog at every site up until now. We are used to no service or wifi at the majority of our sites on trips in the past.

We decided to walk back on the road to see the elk in the prairie. We had spotted them sitting down on our hike but they were all now up and eating away. One even decided to cross the road and eat where we were walking. Needless to say we took a detour back to the trail the way we came.

We decided to have another game night beginning with Uno Flip then Brayden finally agreed to let us teach him the new Cataan dice game. Ryan killed us all with her strategic rolls and I came in last trying out a new agressive strategy that failed miserably. It was getting chilly so we retired to the tents to go to sleep. Brayden and Ryan were pretty grumpy so I was hoping sleep would do them good.