NO SUR
Originally, Christy and I
had planned to spend the next few days in Big Sur, on
the
Unfortunately, the day
before we left for
By Sunday, the town of
We took the highway to
It was a dramatic spot. The beach is nestled between a pair of
cliffs. Just offshore is an impressive
sea stack with a natural bridge carved through it. We had a picnic lunch there, while watching
the surf crash against the cliffs. It
would’ve been a great place to waste away the day, if it had been a little
warmer. However, the sun was a bit
obscured by haze from nearby forest fires.
On top of that, it was pretty windy.
After eating, I decided to explore, while Christy chose to relax on the
beach.
I followed the coast north,
below a line of cliffs. By pure luck, we
had arrived right at low tide. Thanks to
our exquisite timing, there were dozens of exposed tide pools. I explored many of them, and spotted crabs,
oysters, starfish, anemone, and mussels.
As I explored, I noticed that the tide was beginning to come back
in. I knew I was in danger of getting
stranded, or worse, as the water rose. I
hurried back to where Christy was waiting, and we returned to the campground.
At headquarters, we had our
choice of campsites in several campgrounds.
Big
After setting up camp, we
drove back to headquarters, where we picked up a bundle of firewood for the
rather ambitious price of $10. Then, we
did a short hike on a nature trail. This
wasn’t your typical nature trail though, as it wound its way among the largest
Redwoods in the park. There were many
impressive trees, including the thickest, known as The Father of the Forest,
and the tallest, which is The Mother of the
After our walk, we returned
to camp, where we grilled steaks and potatoes for dinner. Red wine and amber beer accompanied the meal
nicely, and we enjoyed a small fire.
Then there was a competitive game of scrabble (Christy won), before we
headed to bed. I slept great, despite
being awakened in the middle of the night by coyotes howling nearby.
JELLYFISH
“My brain is just a jellyfish, swimming in the ocean
of my head”
From
“Jellyfish”, by The String Cheese Incident
We were up at 6:45 the next
morning, as we had a big day planned. We
feasted on breakfast burritos before leaving camp and heading back to
We spent nearly 7 hours in
the aquarium. Prior to arriving, we were
both mainly looking forward to seeing the Sea Otters. Once inside, we headed there first. The Otters, and their trainers, put on a show
that drew quite a crowd. It was fun to
watch the Otters ham it up for the spectators as they did tricks and played
with toys. At one point, an Otter
treaded water in front of our window and pressed his face up against the
glass. Hysterical!
We loitered there for a
while, before moving on to the Jellyfish exhibits. Although I’d been most eager to see the
Otters, the Jellyfish stole the show. We
saw an endless variety of Jellyfish, in all sizes, shapes, and colors. There were neon pink Jellyfish, and
transparent white ones. There were
colonies of large Jellyfish, and small individuals that would glow in the
dark. Prior to my visit there, my
knowledge of Jellyfish was limited to understanding that you didn’t want to
swim with them. What I hadn’t realized
was how beautiful they could be.
Originally I hadn’t planned
on bringing my camera. To me, taking
photos in an aquarium seemed too much like pictures from the zoo. That feeling lasted right up to the first Jellyfish
exhibit. Once I saw them, I knew I had
to at least attempt some photos. Taking
pictures in an aquarium is tricky – I was shooting through glass that wasn’t
always clean, but did reflect light. In
fact, the lighting varied from mediocre to awful, but that didn’t stop me. Against all odds, I came out of there with a
few cool photos.
We didn’t spend the rest of
the day with the Jellyfish (although I could have). We visited some river otters, and saw some
sharks. We explored some artificial tide
pools, and I saw penguins for the first time.
We took in a few lectures and a couple of movies. At one point, we wandered outside, to see
By 5pm though, we were worn
out. Before we left
I met Christy back at the
car, and she mentioned that during the run, she passed a girl that had been her
assistant cross country coach at the school where she teaches. Apparently she had joined the Air Force after
quitting teaching. She was stationed in
the area, and was on a training run of her own when Christy passed her. It was the second bizarre coincidence to
occur in 3 days. Since these things
usually come in threes, we could only wonder what would be next.
We returned to the
campground a bit before dark. That
night, we grilled chicken breasts, and enjoyed mac-n-cheese. I challenged Christy to a Scrabble rematch,
and won this one. I slept great again,
as we were serenaded by an owl throughout the night.
REDWOODS
We got up at 6:45 again the
next morning. This time, we feasted on
blueberry pancakes and bacon.
Afterwards, I set off on a hike.
Christy decided to save the hiking for later in the trip, as she spent
the morning running errands and relaxing at camp.
For my hike, I selected the
Sunset Trail / Skyline Trail loop. I
began from our campsite at 8:30, following the road through the campground down
to the bathrooms. From there, I walked a
path parallel to the main road, which connected with the nature trail. The nature trail brought me to park
headquarters, where I picked up the Skyline to Sea Trail. The Skyline to Sea Trail is a major pathway,
as it runs from the crest of the mountains all the way to the beach.
I followed it briefly,
before reaching the Sunset Trail. This
path is less-traveled, but offered easy walking, despite a few gentle ups and
downs. Along the way, I passed a series
of impressive Redwood groves. Some of
the groves were named, and were marked with signs. The groves were magnificent, while the
forested areas in between were merely pleasant.
After a couple of miles, I crossed West Waddell Creek on a bridge. Shortly beyond, I reached a junction with the
Timms Creek Trail.
Here, I had a decision to make.
I was tempted to continue
ahead to Waddell Creek. According to my
map, that route would take me past several waterfalls. However, it would also add a few miles to my
hike. Since I needed to be back by
mid-day, it probably wasn’t a good idea.
Plus, there was only a trickle of water in West Waddell Creek. Waddell Creek didn’t look any bigger on the
map, and I suspected that the “waterfalls” would be rather disappointing at
this time of year.
I took the shorter route on
the Timms Creek Trail. I have no idea what the name Timms Creek refers to.
The map doesn’t show a Timms Creek. The trail actually runs near West Waddell
Creek for part of its length. I suppose Timms Creek might be a tributary, but if it is, it was dry
when I was there. Despite this, the Timms Creek Trail may have been the best part of the
hike. While the trees along the Sunset
Trail were nice, here they were spectacular.
Plus, the trail didn’t appear to be heavily used. In fact, I didn’t see anyone along either the
Sunset or Timms Creek Trails.
Eventually I joined the
Skyline to Sea Trail, which is heavily traveled. I headed upstream along
I think you can learn a lot
about a person by the choice they would make in this situation. What does an “alternate trail” imply? A harder, less-traveled
route? Maybe. My guess was that the main trail followed the
obvious route, but the alternate developed because there was something really
cool to see on the other side of the creek.
Based on that philosophy, I decided to go that way, knowing that I might
regret it.
The alternate route was more
rugged, and less-traveled. It wasn’t
until I was near the end that I was rewarded.
There, I passed through the most incredible Redwood grove of the
hike. The trees there absolutely towered
over me. I couldn’t believe that I
would’ve missed them if I’d simply stayed on the main trail.
Once back on the main trail,
I endured a fairly significant climb out of the valley. Along the way, I passed several groups of
hikers. At the top of the hill, I
encountered a large group of teenagers on a backpacking trip. From there, I took a series of trails
directly back to the campground. I
arrived at our campsite at 12:30, only to find it deserted. Where was Christy? I found a note. Apparently “check out” was at noon, not 2pm,
as I had believed. Oops. The note stated that she would be waiting for
me at the bathhouse.
I walked back down to the
rest rooms, and found Christy waiting for me in the rental car. Apparently, a ranger had arrived right at noon,
and told her she had to vacate the campsite immediately, or receive a $250
fine. I laughed out loud at that! The State of
I took a quick shower (25
cents for 2 minutes) and jumped in the car.
We headed out, and I ate lunch while Christy drove fast on a winding,
mountain road. We went back over the
mountains, and dropped back down to
Bob had flown in from
We left
The scenery along the drive
was nice, but the best part was that we were able to take it in. There wasn’t any smoke lingering in the
valley or the high country. Apparently
the wind had shifted at some point during the last few days. We could only hope it would stay that way!
The
After dinner, we returned to
the campground and settled in for the night.
We were all exhausted from our travels, and we had big plans for the
next day. We planned to visit
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