Majestic Redwoods
Backpacking through Majestic Redwoods
My last spring break before graduating college in May 2010, seven friends and myself decided to take a spring break trip to The National Redwood Park to explore the Redwood Coast in Northern California for 3 days. We decided to do the 6 hour plus drive rather than fly (mostly to save money but also to bond and form cherish memories forever).
Our first stop was to hike through the Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This easy hike went through an impressive grove of Redwoods and is simple breathtaking and highly recommended. Lying on the ground and looking up into the canopies of these giants is something and had me starting to think about their history and legacy.
The next day we hiked the trail from the parking lot at the end of Enderts Beach Road down to the shore. BE CAREFUL though because the low tidal wave tend to bring pools of water that are filled with starfish. We decided to wait for the sunset and played some touch football. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because the sunset was spectacular and quite a sight to behold.
On our last day before heading back we got up extremely early, 6am (I hate waking early especially during spring break) and headed to the furthermost southern part known as Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park,which has numerous hiking trails originating from the Visitor Center. We decide to embark on the 6 mile hike and took the James Irvine. The hike goes through a mature forest before meeting up the trail going through Fern Canyon right before reaching the coast. Fern Canyon is a definite must see. Ferns were growing on the steep walls of the canyon. The water was low enough that we were able to keep our feet dry, thanks to the logs laid across the stream in narrow regions.
Exiting the canyon at the coast, we made our way across the grass covered sand to the ocean. Looking back, the views were stunning in the light fog and we saw seals playing in the surf. On the hike back through Fern Canyon and Gold Bluffs Beach we saw elk and deers running around wild. Before this encounter I had never seen a deer before in my life and decide to go chase after them but gave up hopeless when they started running away.
Finally at about 5:30pm we got back to the Visitor Center, got in our van and headed back to start the final few weeks of college (but not without making a pit stop at Burgerville).
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