Avenue of the Giants

Day 17 Photo Album

September 19, 2009

The day began with a perfectly still Clear Lake morning. The light is beautiful and the air clear and warm.

I followed Highway 29, 20, and 101 through very little traffic and beautiful landscape. The land unfolds and folds up again and again; widening with sparse trees and dried grasses, closing with spikey, thick forests along winding roads. The lanes on the highways do the same thing: first a two lane road, then a divided road, then back again.

There are many places to pull over along the whole stretch from Lakeport to Eureka. This is a great pleasure if you feel like stopping or letting traffic by. Freedom.

After an hour or so I found myself being offered the choice to parallel 101 through the Avenue of the Giants. It is a winding road through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park with many stopping places to walk on trails or camp or just pull over. I made it to the middle of the forest before taking my walk and eating my lunch under the trees. They are truly magnificent. It is very dark in the forest and the flash on the camera wants to come on, so I let it. You really have to bend your head back to see the tops. Sitting on a bench helps.

One of the funniest things I noticed is that they produce the tiniest pine cones, just about the size of a thumbnail. They also hail feathery bits they don’t need anymore. As I sat there, I got hit by a variety of odds and ends from above.

It is a very interesting experience. I’m not especially a forest type. I prefer open spaces and light. Yet I did enjoy the solemnity of the forest. A bit more light would suit me, but it might take away some of the mystery.

As I came out of the forest I encountered heavy clouds and much cooler weather, about 65 degrees near Eureka. The landscape changes very quickly to completely flattened out coast. I’ll reserve any opinion about Eureka until tomorrow as I only passed it on the highway and was unimpressed.

In order to see the actual Pacific Ocean I had to go north about 10 miles to McKinleyville. It was sunset and I spotted some interesting rock formations in the water a bit north. I’ll investigate those tomorrow.

A strange feeling has settled on me as I reached the other end of the continent. I’m finally at the end. I did it. I drove all the way across the country. An evening of reflection, perhaps even a day of reflection seems to be in order. I’m relaxed, happy, comfortable, have no desire to go home, and have no particular affinity with this location.

Every place I’ve been through is uniquely itself. California’s vineyards may look like Tuscany in pictures, but there’s not a shred of that feeling in real life. California is just California. Now I’ll spend some time finding out how that changes as I go south down the coast to Monterey.