Daily Archives: May 15, 2010
Elk and Deer, Yes – Whales, No…
We started off our last day in Klamath, CA with breakfast at the Klamath River Cafe just like yesterday.
I had the eggs, bacon, and 3 pancakes. The pancakes were so large that I could only eat one.
After breakfast we stopped by the Post Office to mail off some packages, but since it was Saturday, it was closed. In small towns, apparently, the PO doesn’t open at all on Saturdays.
Then it was on to the Tour-Thru Tree, one of several drive-thru redwood trees in the area. This tree is still alive and still growing.
I remember driving thru a Sequoia when my family came out west on vacation back in 1964 when I was 15. When I checked it out this time, I found that it collapsed in 1969 due to heavy snowfall. The only remaining drive-thru trees are now all Redwoods.
Next, heading up the road to the Trees of Mystery place that we had seen the day before, we encountered another of the many of these signs we had seen. What’s kind of scary is that this road is about 300 feet about sea level. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when a 300 foot tsunami come through.
A few miles down the road we arrived at Trees of Mystery and got parked.
We bought our tickets and headed up the 1/2 mile trail to the beginning of the Sky Trail gondola ride.
This is the Family Tree, twelve trees growing out of one trunk.
This tree has a hollowed-out passageway underneath it.
This is Fallen Giant, a 320 foot tree that fell about 500 years ago.
More tall trees than you can imagine.
The Cathedral Tree, a ring of 9 trees, is often used for weddings and other ceremonies.
This is the Brotherhood Tree, 297 feet tall and 19 feet in diameter.
After a pretty steep climb, we reached the beginning of the Sky Trail and headed up the side of the mountain. 
Getting to the top, we found a family of chipmunks living underneath the Sky Trail upper terminal. I think this was Jan’s favorite part. They were running everywhere.
The view from the top was really something.
Then it was time for the ride back down. I had to search Jan to be sure she wasn’t smuggling any chipmunks back down.
Starting the trail back down we saw the Towering Inferno, a tree that was stuck by lightning in December 1995. It was originally over 250 feet tall and about 1200 years old. It burned for several days and this husk is all that’s left.
The bottom part of the trail was thru the Trail of Tall Tales, consisting of large scale carvings telling stories of Paul Bunyan and his friends.
Back in the parking lot we checked out the large statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.
Funny, but I always thought Babe was a girl.
Jan thinks he’s a guy !
Leaving Trees of Mystery we headed down the road and out to Requa Point to do some whale watching. The brochures said we could see whales off the point here from mid-April thru May.
How many did we see?
None.
But we did find this plaque. When I first read it, I thought the human food they were referring to was US.
Leaving Requa Point we headed south about 95 miles to drive the Avenue of the Giants. This is a 31 mile stretch of old US 101 that threads thru some really tall trees.
Next we headed about about 25 miles further south and made the misinformed decision to make the 21 mile drive out to Shelter Cove where we were absolutely, positively guaranteed to see whales. What we didn’t know that this 21 mile drive would be the steepest, twistyest drive we’ve encountered since we drove up Mt Washington in New Hampshire last year. The 21 miles took us almost an hour and a half.
Of course it would all be worth it when we saw the whales.
NOT!
We saw some beautiful scenery, but nary a whale was in sight.
And, of course, we still had the 21 mile, hour and a half, drive back.
And then, of course, the 120 mile drive back home.
Coming back from Shelter Cove, we did see a lot of deer feeding along the road.
Getting into Eureka about 6:30 pm we stopped at a Marie Callender’s for dinner, and a couple of pieces of pie to take home with us.
Coming thru Trinidad, (no, not that one) we encountered what we had seen on a local billboard. The largest herd of Roosevelt Elk in the world crossing the road in front of us.
This YouTube video shows what it looked like.
Finally, about 8:30 pm we got back home after a long day, and over 250 miles.
Tomorrow we travel about 160 miles north to Coos Bay, OR for a couple of days.
More then…
