Not far out of camp on the Redwood Highway, we happened across a meadow where the signs suggested we should keep an eye out for wild Elk. Sure enough, we spotted a couple standing in the meadow and then noticed a whole lot more lying in the field. The herd, part of the area herd known as the Roosevelt Herd, was very close to roadside- say maybe 20 feet from the pull over. A bit later, we were headed into a portion of the Redwood Forest and again in a meadow on the edge of the forest, I spotted a family of black-tailed deer, a doe and two fawns still wearing their spots for camouflage. We found the small coastal village of Trinidad so we could fuel up and grab a bite to eat for lunch, and happened upon their Fresh Fish Festival. We had some shrimp and some true cod that were very fresh and very good. Why they were barbequing chicken on the pits I'm not sure, but they were nearly sold out of that too. In Orick be stopped to see some redwood carvings and woodworking shops and we were surprised to learn there how redwoods reproduce....when the tree is damaged or downed, the chemicals in the burl wood changes and begins to sprout. Seeds are useless unless a forest fire activates them. They had some burls growing in water tubs and I found that totally fascinating (look for that in the slide show). We also came across some black sand beaches in the foggy weather as we drove along unpaved, narrow, scenic coastal highways and collected some nifty little pieces of driftwood.
Slide show and some stills will share our day with you:
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