Ants Among Giants

South of the harbor at Crescent City, people watch for gray whales as they migrate the 11,000 miles back and forth from the cold Arctic waters to breeding grounds around Baja, California. Our day started at Crescent Beach Overlook, but without binoculars we could only marvel at the rugged beauty of the cliffs. We didn't see any whales.

"There's no way they will ever widen Route #101," said Andy, as we drove south. He was right. Redwoods lined the road on both sides.

At Wilson Creek pullout, a young couple walked two dogs on the beach. "Oh look, Sarah," said the man, "Connecticut!" They were playing Collect License Plates, she explained, and after driving from Washington D.C. were only missing Connecticut, Rhode Island and Kentucky.

We hiked the one-mile Yurok Trail Loop through swamp oaks and along spruce-covered ledges. Everywhere ferns and blackberries grew in abundance. At one turn a deer stepped out of the underbrush. A sign on the picnic table at the entrance warned against feeding the wildlife, particularly bears. We didn't see any, but any self-respecting bear wouldn't need to come all the way to the coast for blackberries... not with so many dogs on the beaches.

Trees of Mystery, a tourist attraction on the grandest scale, featured an incredible Indian Museum free at the back of the store. I could have browsed for hours.

At Klamath River Overlook we met three Yurok Indians who lived on the reservation. "The problem here is no jobs," said the older man. The girl told me she had returned here for the peace and beauty. She and her mother collected fern stems and spruce tree roots that stay black as they dry out for the reservation women to weave baskets. I had marveled at the tiny weave of the Yurok baskets at the museum. She also said the government allowed the tribe to spread fishing nets a hundred yards out from the mouth of the Klamath River to catch the salmon for food. Otherwise, there isn't much future for these friendly people.

Later we found two male elk grazing at Elk Prairie Visitor Center, heads down, ignoring all the photographers poised for special shots. When a dachshund in a car from Saskatchewan yapped, the grazing elk lifted their heads, alert for danger. Cameras snapped madly for ten seconds before the animals went back to their meal.

We hiked into the Merriman Grove of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park along the Ah-Pah Trail and another mile or so at Big Tree Wayside. The Big Tree is an awesome sight--at least 1,500 years old, 287 feet tall and 63 feet in circumference. An early settler before the 1920's wanted to cut it down and make a dance floor on top of the stump. Luckily, some locals objected and the move to preserve the giants began.
We followed one-lane dirt trails along a forest road to Gold Bluffs Beach, twisting among the giants, and to Lady Bird Johnson Grove, created in 1968 and dedicated in 1969. I felt like an ant in the bottom of a box of giant fireplace matches. There was tremendous controversy when these areas were set aside, but thank goodness for the foresight and wisdom of someone like the First Lady, who championed a cause to respect and protect that which is irreplaceable.

"See it for yourself," Andy asked me to include in the blog records. "No picture does it justice. How could anyone damage such marvels of nature!"