Memoirs from Redwood Forest

We drove down Oregon coast and crossed the Californian borderline by nightfall. The roads were dark and seldom passed us, bar a logging truck every now and then. Fruits and plants weren't allowed across the border, we were checked. We moved on quickly. We drove through winding roads, our headlights lighting up red giants as we drove. By 11pm, we finally arrived at crescent city, a small coastal town in northern California. In the dead of night, the town was foggy and desolate. Not a soul to be seen. We found somewhere to park the van and slept.

Upon the light of day, crescent city looked like every other small coastal town we'd passed. There was a Walmart, a Denny's and a gas station. The skies were grey and the air chilled. Rob and I found ourselves craving warm food, so we grabbed a table at Denny's, had a coffee and scoffed down an omelette for two, each. Once we had food in our belly and warmed ourselves, we made our way down the redwood highway towards the redwood national and state parks. The sky had cleared, as we drove, we watched the fog and clouds hang to the summits of trees, blanketing the green tops white. The sun beat on as we drove down the highway. We finally stopped at a visitor centre close to the woodland entrance. We stopped to learn about John Muir, the trees, the ancient communities that lived among them and made incredible baskets and tools from their debris.

We decided to head to the tall trees grove trailhead, with

the thought they if there were going to be any tall redwoods, this would be the trail for it. we got out the car and began the 4.5 hike. The hike took us through thick, old growth. Sunlight glistened in, illuminating ferns and moisture sitting on the moss sparkled in the morning sun. We walked for a while, listening to the river run all the, walking among the giants. A few people passed, but for the most part we felt like we had the place to ourselves. The woods had a feeling of enchantment to them, magic filled the air. We finished the trail around lunchtime and decided to jump back into the car, we had alot of miles to cover yet. We continued down the redwood highway for a few hours, close descended once more and the fogbanks rolled in from the Pacific. I'd never seen fog move like this, unified, solid, making it's way across the sea, over the trees and stretching out for miles.

We eventually needed to stop, we pulled over at a quiet lake opposite a black sand beach. The lake sat silent and otherworldly, silhouettes of reeds poked out of the still water and disappeared into the fog. After a short walk around the lake, we made our way to the beach. Fog stretched the distance of the beach, the white fog disappearing into the black sand. Waves crashed loudly on the shoreline, and the only other sign of life were albatross flocks flying low in the sky. We walked, took photos and flew out drone. After a short while, we had our fill of photos and jumped back into the van and made our way back down the highway. We continued to drive for what felt like a lifetime, trees flew by, as if they were green skyscrapers standing proud on the sides of the roads. The clouds and fog lifted by mid to late afternoon, the sun glistened once more. The further south we drove, the more browns filled the forests, signs of fall beginning to touch the tree lines. A river ran to the right of the road, carving its way down a mountain side. To the left, tall trees, sequoias, maples and everything in between. I began to consider the saying, "America the beautiful".