I'm starting to get the hang of this "vacation" thing...

(Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them)

Well, a couple of more days with nothing on the schedule, a guy could get used to this... Oh well, it will soon be back to reality. But not yet.

In case you were wondering, I am not attempting to take pictures of the trees, it just doesn't translate with a small sensor camera and I already have many attempts from earlier trips. Unless of course, someone wants to buy me this for Christmas. Yeah, I didn't think so...

Yesterday I greeted the sunrise with my sea lion buddies in the harbor. These guys are nice enough to me, but they can be cantankerous with each other.













I then took a drive out to the Lake Earl wildlife refuge but it was very foggy and the visibility was not good. I did see kingfisher, red tail hawks, western grebe, egerts, blue herons, cormorants, pelicans, and the lake was covered with waterfowl but it was too foggy for identification. I also saw some unidentified mammal scamper across the road, I believe it was a coyote but I only got a glimpse, as well as deer and a few elk.

After that I headed up into the Jedidiah Smith state park via Howland Hill road. No matter how many times I drive this road I am still awed by the scenery. I did a very short hike on the Mill Creek trail as a foot bridge is washed out 1/2 of a mile in. There were wood planks stacked next to the washout so it is being repaired, a good thing as this is a nice hike. Then I did the Boy
Scout Tree trail, or as much as my damn legs would let me. I probably did about half of the trail which is good as there is a bit of climbing and my legs betray me on anything uphill. It is absolutely silent and I sat on a hospitable log for over an hour as a wood pecker worked in the trees above me, it is incredible to just sit in absolute silence amidst such beauty. I then went to Stout Grove and had a nice leisurely walk. Didn't see another person on any of the trails. I love the off season!

The tide was +8.5 feet in the morning and -1.5 feet when I returned to Crescent City at about 5 PM.












It was another nice sunset as well


























Another beautiful morning today, I slept in a little and just missed the sunrise. I got my coffee at Dutch Brothers (the only decent coffee in town) and headed south to the Prairie Creek park. I stopped on the way at the Wilson Creek inlet for breakfast, it was just me, an oyster catcher and a few seagulls. Not a bad spot for breakfast...














I did the Prairie Creek trail as it is level (3 miles and back), and then had lunch at La Hacienda in the thriving metropolis of Orick (population 630), also home to the Hawg Wild biker bar. Lunch at La Hacienda is a tradition, it goes without saying I have never been to Hawg Wild...

After lunch I did the Lady Bird Johnson grove hike, this is a wonderful, higher elevation hike. I did run across some mushrooms on a downed redwood.













I ran across these guys taking a break in a clearing on the way back down to Highway 101, didn't see any signs of the harem anywhere. If you look closely you will see the guy on the left has lost one of his antlers.