May 16 We rolled into Crescent City, CA the night of May 15th, and I hurried out to photograph the last rays of sunlight going through the Redwoods.
It was a beautiful orange, and I got to enjoy a beautiful scene. (I did have to hurry the process since I'm not sure I parked in a fully legal spot.)
The next morning was a lovely start to our trip down the coast. We traveled through Redwood Highway, Route 101. We stopped at the Lady Bird Johnson Grove; we didn't get to see too much of it since we were dragging our feet through the forest and ended up deciding to hit the road before the 2 mile trail was finished. In our defense, we still had 6 hours of driving to do until we arrived in San Francisco.
The view from our motel was wonderful. Apparently, motels are establishments in which you enter the room entirely from the exterior and hotels are where you enter from within a structure. Some people might say that that is interesting... Some might say that it is not. I bet you're bored of it too.
We decided to take the Park Ranger's advice and traveled through the Avenue of the Giants, a short 25 miles that was filled with some of the tallest trees and largest trees I've ever seen. It was a beautiful, visual feast.
I was shocked to see how fire had ravaged the area has been by forest fire. I had no idea that it could wipe out such large portions of a national park. You can see in the tree below.. The tree still managed to live, despite the burning flames and the inner charring. You go, redwood tree!
Seriously... how beautiful of a view was the coastal highway?
The Redwoods were a stunning expression of nature's incredible and daunting prowess. And I loved every minute of it.