Redwoods

Peter E.

March 25, 2010 - 6:53 PM

Three nights, three hundred miles, three hundred foot trees, and a sixty foot tall lumberjack later I'm back in Corvallis. I've spent the last four days unplugged and in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. My girlfriend Melissa and I backpacked through the woods to the Pacific Ocean enjoying the beautiful scenery.

We followed the 4.5 mile Miners Ridge trail that winds through towering redwood groves to Gold Bluffs Beach. The beach was home to part of the gold boom in the 1850s when gold was discovered in sand deposits that flowed from streams into the ocean. There is no longer evidence of the miners' camp, but there is plentiful views of gold hued bluffs, towering trees, and sea stacks jutting out of the ocean. It was absolutely serene.

Melissa and I spent two nights at the Miners Ridge camp, and we spent our days exploring the coast and lounging on the beach. I had been to the Redwoods once previously, but I didn't really understand that the National Park actually includes the coast, I thought it was more inland. It was incredible to emerge from the canopy of several hundred foot giants onto a beautiful sandy beach with the deep blue of the ocean meeting a cloudless blue sky. I can't imagine what it was like for the first people to make that trek through the forest to realize that they'd reached the end of a continent. Even for me, with a map and knowledge of where I was headed, it was spectacular. There's something incredibly powerful about hiking towards the coast from a trail head that's in a a deep, luscious forest, to the edge of the continent. There was a sense of accomplishment and completeness to realize that I hiked as far as there is to go.

At long last, we made our way towards the car on a misty, foggy morning. The upper canopy locked in fog that hung above the moist ground, giving the tall trunks a peaceful serenity. It was a great way to end the trip. Heading back into civilization, we drove past 60 foot statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox at "Trees of Mystery" along Highway 101. We snapped some pictures of the ridiculous tourist trap and continued north back home.