Bigfoot and Little Bear: A Walk in the Redwoods

“To sustain an environment suitable for man, we must fight on a thousand battlegrounds. Despite all of our wealth and knowledge, we cannot create a redwood forest, a wild river, or a gleaming seashore. But we can keep these we have.” — Lyndon B. Johnson, February 23, 1966

We have been here in this (literal) neck of the woods so long (nearly ten years) that sometimes we take for granted our majestic surroundings. Some of these coastal redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens) are more than 1000 years old, which really puts time into perspective (this year has felt loooong), and continues to be humbling. 

When the rain stopped this weekend, we drove south an hour (a direction I don't think we've really done in close to a year) to Humboldt Redwoods State Park (near the famous "Avenue of the Redwoods") to hike among some of the spectacular groves of coastal redwood trees near the Eel River. We saw a coyote (our first in the wild) on the roadside on the way down.

We were trying to get to the Bull Creek Flats trail, but ended up staying on the Rockefeller Loop, because the kids had such fun spending time walking on (and in) the trees.

Iver has been very into reading about "Bigfoot" lately, and I think we convinced him that some of these hollowed areas of the trunks ("fire cavities" or "goosepens") were Sasquatches' nighttime shelters (in fact, our area of the Redwoods is really close to the start of the Bigfoot Scenic Byway, Hwy 96 out of Willow Creek).

The kids enjoyed wading and tossing stones into the Eel River's south fork.

Niall pretended to be "eaten" by this wood's Lion Head.

We had packed a picnic lunch and ate at the riverside on a sandbar near Founders' Grove. This is a good potential summertime swimming spot as, slightly inland, it tends to be warmer than where we are on the coast.

The kids enjoyed "fishing."

Some raptors (hawks?) circling

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” — John Muir

“A grove of giant redwoods or sequoias should be kept just as we keep a great and beautiful cathedral.” — Theodore Roosevelt

Fitting quotes as we wrap up Presidents' Week.  May we all do everything in our power to save and appreciate these beautiful trees.