The only redeeming feature of Mendocino was the food. When we woke up for breakfast, there was a nice selection of fruit, bagels, ham, cheese, biscuits, and the soft boiled eggs we “ordered” the night before. Everything was very good, so we left Mendocino on a good note. The PCH was starting to open up a little bit and was a very nice drive. Then we got a phone call. It was the B&B we stayed at in Mendocino and we had taken the room keys with us. I was so used to not worrying about returning key cards to hotels I didn’t even think about it, but these were actual keys. We had all ready driven about 30 minutes, but had to turn around to return the keys. This was a major buzz-kill. Just when we thought we had escaped the clutches of Mendocino it pulled us right back in. We went back, returned the keys, and now left Mendocino for good.
I was really enjoying the drive along the coast, then we turned inland and entered the land of redwoods. The road was very windy, and was deep in the redwood forest. The trees did not look as big as I had pictured them as we were driving by. But I assumed it was just tough to get a good idea. After a few hours of driving we ended up at Redwood National Park. Within 10 minutes of being in the park we saw a herd of ~15 Roosevelt elk. JJ had been waiting to see some significant wildlife the whole trip and he missed a ton of elk by 2 days. We stopped at the Visitor Center and got some pretty interesting info on the park. There was a display of the different wildlife in the park and on animal that caught my eye was the banana slug. My buddy, Ryan, went to UC Santa Cruz and the mascot is a banana slug. I was really hoping to see one of them on the trail.
We went to our campsite to set up and get everything ready. Since we still had plenty of daylight, we decided to do a short hike. Even though this was a short hike, it was very impressive. Words can't really describe these trees, but they were some of the more fascinating specimens I have ever seen. To think that these giants were living things, just blew my mind. The width of the trunks is really the best way to appreciate the size of them. Looking up at the top of the tree, you get no idea of how far they even go. We came upon "Big Tree" which has the largest circumference in the park. Looking at it, I couldn't help but give it a hug. Yes, I am a tree-hugger. We saw a wedding finishing up and then taking their pictures in the forest. I would have liked to see how those shots came out. Even though the sun wasn't really out, the bold colors of the forest were just mesmerizing. The ferns were so green, and the way they contrasted to the reddish-brown of the trees was awesome. We did get to see some banana slugs on the trail, and they were pretty gross.
We got back to camp and had a nice campfire that night. It was Mom's first experience with dehydrated food and she was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. She had the Beef Stroganoff, which is one of my favorites. It was starting to get pretty cold, but it was only supposed to get about 12 degrees colder from the high for the day. In addition to that, I was shocked that the average high is 65 for August and 54 for January. I guess being that close to the coast really controls the temperature. Time for bed under the canopy of the largest trees in the world; I like to call them my friends. ULTRA day 16/39: COMPLETE.
JM
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