B & D's USA Hideout: Redwood National and State Parks, CA

Imagine if redwood trees could communicate. What would these giants have to say? Are they aware of all there surroundings? From their fingers made of pine needles touching the sun to their roots so deep and dark under ground, I think they would have quite the story to tell. I often wonder what it would be like to be a living inanimate being or an animal that only knows how to survive because of instincts. Sometimes I think it is odd that humans can only communicate with other humans. What sets us so far apart from all other living creatures? Yet, what makes us so close?

I have been looking forward to visiting the Redwood State and National Park for a long time. Brian and I camped at Jedediah Smith, which was a tight squeeze but we made it work. We finally were in an area that allowed campfires and didn't have electricity, water or sewer hookups. All of those amenities are nice but it is nice to "rough it" in the camper every once in a while. The weather was nice and fall like, cool evenings and warm days. Since the weather was so nice it was hard to believe that the state park rangers had already removed the summer footbridge that crossed the river to the hiking trails. I suppose rules are rules and summer is summer. But we wanted to walk amongst the big pines, so we waded across Smith River to the other side. The water was inevitably deeper than first expected but also surprisingly nice. We hiked along Mill Creek and back again for a 7 or so mile loop. We were wet but content. We met some good as well as strange people in the park. A mother and son duo we encountered were very nice. The mother was a free spirited vagabond telling us about her next adventure she'd like to take and her son, an aspiring young man looking to join the Coast Guard. We also met a caravan of unsettling people who were selling firewood illegally out of the back of their truck. These people truly made me feel unsafe. Luckily, they were not staying in the campground overnight.

The next day we went into town to explore Crescent City. We wound up at the Battery Point Lighthouse and in perfect timing. You can only access the lighthouse at low tide, seeing as there is no road, bridge or other means of getting there except tip toeing over the slippery rocks through the window of the tide. We also happened to meet the current lighthouse keeper as we were making our way across. She sprung a conversation with me about my camera and somehow continued on until she was giving us a private tour of the lighthouse. The lighthouse on Battery Point is manned by various caretakers year round, month by month. She gave us a lovely tour and history of the beautiful old structure. This lighthouse's sequence of flashes is 3.5 seconds on 26.5 seconds off. Brian even volunteered to clean the lighthouse windows for the keepers. After that we completed a few other errands and then headed back to the campground to spend our last night in California. As much as we loved it and still have so much more to see in this state, we say a toast to California, an old college salute, 'It's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun'. On to Oregon.