The Ferny Redwoods

We love the redwood forests so much, and Jedediah Smith State Park is our favorite of them! We have been missing this place since our last trip here in 2014! It really is the most beautiful, ancient forest. You feel like you have gone back to the time of the dinosaurs! 

We drove along Howland Hill Road when we first got to Crescent City, which is a beautiful drive along a narrow dirt road through the old-growth redwoods. Right along the road everything was grey and covered with dust from the cars, which was strange because it is usually so wet and green everywhere! And we were really sad when we got to the Millcreek trail, which we loved last time, and saw that it was closed for renovation! The beautiful, secret Grove of the Titans is not so secret anymore and the park rangers are building up a boardwalk to avoid people trampling everything as they go off-trail to find them. I suppose it's for the best, but we were so disappointed that we couldn't hike that beautiful trail!

But—we consoled ourselves as we talked about it that evening—there are many more beautiful places to hike in the redwoods, and maybe we would find somewhere we liked just as much!

We spent part of a morning seeing Stout Grove, which is the one place everyone goes at this park. It's beautiful and flat—more of a walk than a hike, and with lots of fallen trees to climb on, so it's a nice spot for little kids and babies.

Everyone always likes to go into these little tree-homes.

Even the sort of medium-sized redwoods are SO BIG!

Seb found another caterpillar for Gus. He was so pleased!

I like it how in the redwoods—and I guess by the ocean in general—the clouds are such a noticeable part of the weather. They're always lowering down and making mist, or clearing out suddenly and letting in sunshine you didn't even know was waiting above them. I can't decide if the forests are prettier in the mist or with sunlight coming through the trees! Luckily we had some of both.

(Here you can see that haze of cloud and sunshine taking turns up on the mountain. So pretty!)

One morning after hiking we had brunch at a diner up the canyon. Everyone ate SO MUCH I could believe it. Teddy had this huge bread bowl with sausage and gravy in it, and he was so pleased with it, and with himself. He ate the whole thing!!

Daisy ate this huge pizza-pancake (with quite a bit of "help" from everyone around her…)

And here is Abe, who would always rather have a hamburger than something breakfast-y, lovingly showing off what HE ate. Goodness! These children are like a flock of locusts!

I said that we hoped we would find another good trail to hike besides Millcreek, and you'll be pleased to know that we DID. We went on the Fern Falls/Boy Scout Tree trail, saying to ourselves that we could always turn back early if it was too long. 

There was one point about a mile in when the littlest kids were all complaining and dragging back, and Sam was so tired from carrying that HEAVY squishy Gus, and we nearly did give up then. But the trail was SO pretty, and I couldn't stand the idea of Sam (who loves redwoods THE MOST) missing it to take the kids back to the car, so we pressed on. And we were so glad we did! It turned out to be the best hike. Just amazing and beautiful all the way along. We were so impressed with the little ones for going SIX MILES without…well, not without complaint. But without TOO much complaint. Sebastian took turns carrying the Gus-backpack to give Sam a break. Teddy had a long, deep, wide-ranging philosophical conversation with Sam. I told Ziggy story after story (mostly about UPS men…and garbage truck men…and Amazon men) to keep him moving, and when I could NOT tell another story, Junie and Daisy took over. The big boys powered on ahead eventually, and finished an hour before us…and little Goldie stayed with them even though her legs are only half as big! So all the children acquitted themselves quite well, I thought.

Gus was fussing about being in the backpack (ungrateful child!) and Seb came up with the perfect solution: giving Gus a stick to hold. It cheered him up, all right!

With his stick, Gus could happily poke Seb as they walked along. And he did. Poor Seb!

Seb gave Gus a fern to hold in the other hand, which was better (because floppier). It was SO FUNNY to watch Gus just gleefully whapping away as long-suffering Seb carried him.

Seb also took Gus on every possible detour, up tree trunks and across gullies…it made me so nervous! But Seb is surefooted and they both survived it.

Boy Scout Tree. It's huge! Some lady told us, "It's called the Boy Scout Tree because it forks at the top…just like the Boy Scout Symbol." She held up the peace sign to demonstrate. Huh? (Sam said it's actually just because the trail was made by the Boy Scouts, haha).

Fern Falls! It wasn't MUCH of a waterfall. Just a trickle, really, in the summer. The pictures of it in winter were much more impressive. But I love waterfalls in any form!

Goldie, with so many ferns

These poor boys. Always up ahead waiting for the rest of us. They were very patient, but I think also relieved when we finally sent the car keys with them so they could just finish the hike and wait for us at the end!

Gussie finally fell asleep and slept through most of the hike back. Sweetie.

Junie, telling Zig a story, no doubt

A huge WALL of ferns!

Me with Zig (he is looking down and wearing his hood over his hat, if you're wondering where his face is.)

Sam and I loved this trail so much that we went back to hike it again early another morning. It was GREAT not to be holding anyone's hand (or carrying anyone in the backpack!). Daisy came with us and we brought the big camera. It was so beautiful!

We were fascinated with the variety of mosses and ferns everywhere. This stuff was soft and spongy like moss, but shaped like tiny ferns when you got up close to it!

So many parts of the trail were covered with twisty roots like this…you had to walk carefully!

So misty and mysterious!

I love plants growing on other plants.

This is my favorite view. Just looking off into the distance through a whole forest of those long tree trunks, with ferns everywhere underneath.