Wild about wildlife!

We're always on the lookout for anything to do with nature. The Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge was the perfect place for an afternoon walk. The refuge is located just south of the town of Eureka. We spotted the sign as we traveled south to the Avenue of the Giants, another California Redwood forest.

This refuge is located on an estuary, where ocean meets river water. It's one of the most important stopovers along the Pacific Flyway.

Rolling fog can be seen in the distance as we head out over the bridge to the Shorebird Loop Trail.

As we passed through a grassland area, 2 white egrets become apprehensive, and soon both of them are in flight.
Farther into our walk we came across another egret near the rocks. No smile from him, though. He was quite stoic.
A few minutes later, he was off too. That was okay with me, since I got a nice picture of him in flight.
Along the interpretive trail were benches. Don sat down and took a moment to figure exactly where we were on the trail as I busied myself with picture taking.
As we got closer to Long Pond, it became much cooler and foggier! When we started out, it was warm, but by the time we got to this spot, I was glad I had brought along my jacket.

This is a view looking out in the bay area.....also very foggy! We heard other people talking, but couldn't see them until about 10 minutes later, when it lifted a bit.

This rusty piece of metal was once used by the Jupiter dredge. It was used from the 1930's to the 1970's to dredge the salt marshes, creating a system of dikes and transforming the area into pasture. Unfortunately, this reduced the bay's estuary by 40%.
Look closely for the deer in the photo. Between the fog and the varied brown grasses, he was almost impossible to spot. If he had remained still, I would have never, ever seen him!
Turning around another corner in the loop, we scared another egret. He promptly took flight and disappeared into the fog.
The fog rolled back (again) and across the ditch was this deer. Actually, there were two deer, a buck and a doe, but the buck was farther into the grass. I bet he was telling her, "You go out and check to see if those people are still there. I'm right behind you."
There were still plenty of wildflowers along the trail.
This is a winter home for thousands of migratory geese, ducks, swans and shorebirds. Over 200 different species of birds have been identified using this as either a stopover or a permanent home.
The lone egret doesn't seem to mind that he is outnumbered by the flock of Canadian geese. After he landed in their midst, the geese slowly turned their backs and walked away from him. I've never heard of "bird shunning" before, have you? The poor egret just didn't fit in.
We saw this one as we headed back towards the visitor center. He was still, and didn't move a muscle as I walked farther ahead to get a better shot (or should I have said picture?) .
As I turned around and started to walk away, he took off in flight and then landed farther out in the marsh.
Don is ahead of me as we near the visitor center. This is one place that I could visit on a weekly basis if I lived close by. Each week would bring new discoveries! The ranger at the Visitor Center said we had just missed a man who comes out here each day, armed only with a camera. They had a book full of his photographs, showing the diversity of the birds and animals that can be seen here. All you need is patience and a camera. You'll have "no egrets" about going here!

Eureka! We got here!

As we traveled down Highway 101 from Oregon, we came across some very curvy and narrow roads. The picture is lousy, since it was taken from inside the truck, but at least you can see the warning sign. They weren't kidding, either! We took all of these blind corners slowly, sometimes even slower than the posted speed limit.

Besides the blind corners and narrow roads, you have to be constantly on the lookout for people on bikes. This highway is a favorite for the bicyclists working their way down the coast. There isn't much road to share when you have a logging truck coming at you and a biker on the road beside you.

Eureka! We finally got to the KOA. Where at? In Eureka, California of course! In case you are wondering, the picture on the back of the trailer is the Superstition Mountains.
We got into the KOA, set everything up, and I did 3 loads of wash. At home, I don't mind it, but on the road I HATE doing laundry. I really want a Laundry Fairy to pick up my dirty wash at one point, and drop them off, clean, at our next stop. It was a chore that had to be done. The laundry baskets were f-u-l-l. I bet in 2050 someone will have invented disposable clothes, and no longer will travelers have to contend with this sort of thing.

Laundry done, we ate an early dinner, and went off to explore! We headed north, towards Patrick's Point, since that is a place that had seals and sea lions. It was a beautiful, sunny day, quite different from when we left Harris Beach that morning. Then it was drizzling, and Don wasn't looking forward to driving in rain or fog, or both.
Well, we didn't quite make it to Patrick's Point since it was in a California state campground. The charge for day use was $8.50 and we weren't going to pay that just to take a few pictures. I guess you could call us "cheap". I prefer to call it "frugal". There are so many other ways to spend that money. Like on laundry, for instance. That $8.50 would be almost enough for another 3 loads of wash! So, we turned around and headed back south towards Trinidad.

We stopped at a viewpoint near Patrick's Point. Although I could hear a lot of seals barking, I sure couldn't see them. I had to be content with capturing some more photos of the magnificent waves from on top of the cliff.
Mist hovers over the rocks and cliffs after the waves crash.
We made our way to the quaint town of Trinidad and were surprised to see the memorial lighthouse overlooking the bay area. The cold wind hit me as I got out of the truck to take pictures.
Don and I continued to travel south, trying to locate a nice beach so I could get closer to the rocks and ocean.
Almost made it. The cute, narrow lane lined with stately Pampas Grass got progressively narrower. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? That type of thing has happened to us a lot these past 3 days. When it became mostly a one lane road with a very steep drop off on MY side, it was time to turn around!
P.S. I have figured out some "beachisms" as I call them:

1. Don't "coast" through life.

2. Don't make "waves".

3. Don't give in to "pier" pressure.

4. "Shore" up your life with God's word.

Follow your folly!

New Belgium Brewery has a slogan of "Follow your Folly". Actually, it means to follow your sense of spirit or fun, even if the end result is not desirable.

Well, our sense of adventure led us to an unexpected place yesterday afternoon, and we had to laugh at ourselves. This was not something we programmed into our Garmin, "Waltzing Matilda".

We were driving down Hwy. 101, looking for access to the coastline and came upon a sign that said "detour".

Actually, it said "101 bike detour".

We both thought the detour would take us farther west. It led us down a narrow paved road that became even narrower. Hmm....more like a wide bike path!

And then we could go no further! Hence the sign that says this was a hiking/horse and biking trail. Definitely not meant for trucks.....or cars either.
As long as we were here, we decided to at least walk up on the bridge. Might as well, we sure couldn't drive any further!
I took this picture of Don as he went back down to the truck. It gives a nice view of the small country lane (or should I say bike path?) that we drove down!
We managed to turn around the truck. The road/path was just big enough to get through with the other truck parked by the fence. It belonged to the farmer who was repairing one of his fences.

He gave us a strange look as we passed by. I wonder why?
We were the only ones here. Except for the farmer, one person on a bike and
one lonely cow.
The second to last cow can be seen heading back up the to the barn. He must have been smarter than us. At least he knew where he was!
We gave up hunting for the ocean at this point and just went back to the RV park. Even though we had misplaced our sense of direction, we still had our sense of humor. Not too many people search for a beach and wind up by a field of cows!

California Redwoods

The Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park was close enough for a day trip from Harris State Beach Park. This was something we wanted to see, but definitely not with a trailer behind us! In fact, one of the rangers at the visitor center suggested a road to us that wasn't so great, even with just the truck. It went from a two lane, paved road, to a one lane paved road and then down to a gravelly, washboard road that had room for only one vehicle at a time (unless you both were in Smart Cars). After about 5 miles, we turned around and went a completely different way.

This park protects 10,000 acres of primeval redwood groves and is located at the confluence of the Smith River and Mill Creek. Winter can bring 100 inches of rain. Let's see....that is about 13 years worth of rain for our house in Avondale!

The old growth redwoods that follow the fog are so tall here that I can hardly get all of the tree into my picture. They can grow to over 350 feet.
Don checked out a huge burl that joined together these tree trunks.
He had me stand by the tree trunk so you can actually get an idea of how huge these redwoods are. Either that, or I have really shrunk!
As we walked through the woods, leaves and pine needles showered down on us. They appeared as tiny specks of light on my picture. We had parked the truck near the entrance so we could walk through the woods and get a much better appreciation of this exquisite forest.
This tree trunk caught both Don's attention and mine. Doesn't it look like an eel is sticking out its head and is ready to bite?
We came across across the roots of a huge, fallen tree. It was massive.
From the other side, ferns and moss had taken root and were growing on the downed trunk.
The California redwood groves were saved by a group on concerned citizens back in 1900. As we walked around, we could see the names of several memorial groves, purchased in honor of their loved ones. Now, 111 years later, I am thankful for their vision, which let me walk peacefully through the ferns and tree canopy for a couple of hours.

Beach Banter

Beaches, beaches and more beaches! Oregon beaches are particularly unique, with the huge jagged rocks jutting out of the ocean. When I think I've captured some great images of waves splashing against the rocks, I see another huge wave approaching...and with it the chance to get an ever better picture!

One downside on the coast is the fog, so thick at times it obscures most of the awesome views. When we arrived at Harris Beach on Friday morning, it was thick as pea soup. The sea gull that sat on the post directly in front of our truck seemed impervious to the damp and cold that surrounded him (and us).

The view from the day area at Harris Beach shows rocks wrapped in the blanket of coastal fog.
Later on, the fog lifted a bit. We could actually see farther out into the ocean.
Day two saw us driving north 10 miles up Highway 101. This was the part where we saw about 15 minutes of sunshine! I was lucky enough to get about 5 pictures of the coastline before the sun disappeared.
By the time we got to Whalehead Beach, gray skies loomed over us. This could easily be a black and white picture if it weren't for the yellow of the wild dill weeds lining the pathway down to the beach. The smell from the dill was quite strong as I walked past them.
Wish this picture could be bigger on this post. Then you could actually tell there were birds flying around the rocky cliffs. They aren't spots on the camera lens!
Here is a close up of the lacy flowers of the dill weed. It reminds me of how some 4th of July fireworks shoot out from the middle and then blossom out.
Wild blackberry blossoms frame the rocks in the background.
On Sunday we were blessed with an afternoon of sunshine! I was so glad the weather forecaster was wrong. It was supposed to rain all day Sunday and Monday. The guy near the waves actually had a tripod all set up and I assume he was busily snapping away with his camera.
We climbed up a hill and over a bunch of rocks to reach this tidepool in Harris Beach. I had to keep an eye on the incoming waves, since they were overflowing the rocks nearby. I was on the "hunt" for tidal creatures!
And I found one! A sea cucumber! It was tricky trying to bend over on the slippery rocks to get a close up of him (her?) and not getting blindsided by an incoming wave.
I found a niche behind a large rock where I could sit down and capture waves from different angles.
This is what I saw if I did a half turn on the huge rock that I had perched myself on. The tidal pool where I found my cute cumber is at the bottom right corner.
Monday evening was the last chance for an evening sunset beach picture. Not a lot of color in the sky, but at least it was clear.
Here is Monday evening, looking north....
and the same view on Friday afternoon. Quite a difference, huh?!