Boy Scout Tree Trail - Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and Stout Grove - Crescent City, CA - 8/21/16

Boy Scout Tree Trail -  Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and Stout Grove - Crescent City, CA - 8/21/16

We found the cool ... Coastal California Cool ... Dropping from temperatures in the high 90s in valleys near Mt. Shasta to the mid-50s as we arrived at the KOA Redwoods/Crescent City.  It was a long drive under the shadow of Mt. Shasta and through the twists and turns of the road through Lake Shasta country. There was a wide earthen fringe along the banks of Lake Shasta indicating very low water levels.  The California (and western) drought is severe.  It remains a puzzle as to what forces led Governor Jerry Brown to lift the state-wide water emergency declaration ... Perhaps the regional water authorities are in better shape to manage the drought, but the state is definitely under environmental stress due to drought.

We started the day with a trip to the Redwoods National Park Visitor's Center in Crescent City and found that this is the only national park in the nation that is jointly managed with a state park system ... Hence the correct name is the Redwoods National and State Park and is comprised of Redwoods National Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  The historic range for the old-growth coast redwood forest canopy was approximately 2,000,000 acres when logging began in 1850.  Today, just five percent of the forest remains.  Redwood National and State Parks preserves over 35 percent of all remaining, protected old-growth coast redwood forests in California.  Unlike other national parks, this national park does not have a focal point ... Instead it is managed as a conservation zone running down the coastal mountains from Crescent City in the north along Highway 101 as far south as Trinidad.

We took a walk along the beach walkway and jetty out from the shoreline in Crescent City and found ourselves in the midst of the Crescent City Triathlon ... Cheering runners as we walked along.  We were able to see the Battery Point Lighthouse (at low tide ... Cut off from land at high tide).

And then took off on the Howland Hill Road through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  The road was one lane, dirt road through towering old-growth redwoods.  We stopped and hiked the 5.6 mile Boy Scout Tree Trail to Fern Falls.  I must admit that the Fern Falls were not much, nor was there any water running in most of the rivulets through the forest.  The magic was the enormity of the redwoods, quiet of the forest cushioned environment and the other worldly feeling of walking through the fern covered valleys housing these gigantic trees.  We continue to run into a significant number of international visitors seeking the same treasures that we've come to experience.

Further along the Howland Hill Road was the Stout Grove, a .5 mile loop trail that meanders among colossal redwoods thriving in the soils of the Smith River floodplain.  The flood waters have inhibited the growth of understory trees and plants revealing the full stature of the 300 foot coast redwoods.  The grove is a gift from the wife of a forest baron ... Who, of course, made their fortune cutting down these magnificent trees ... A gift yes, but an enormous cost to a forest ecosystem.

By this time, we were done for the day ... And still had grocery shopping to accomplish.  We tried desperately to find a place for dinner, but were thwarted by few restaurants open on Sunday and those that were had crowds out the door.  Alas, more home-cooking in Bambi (we're running a bit low on creative ideas ... Particularly after a long day of walking/hiking).  A cold beer solves most problems ...