Day 3: Into the Fog

Much better start today.  I can't really express with words the feeling I get every day that we've been walking around these trees, but it is breathtaking.  Today, we were able to get a special access permit to the Tall Trees Grove up Bald Hills Road.  This is a grove that, prior to 2006, was the home to the world's tallest trees.  As they are a major attraction, they restrict access to only 50 visitors a day to prevent the complete trampling and destruction of these beautiful trees.  The restriction is well worth it: this grove of redwoods is absolutely stunning.

Of all of the places I have had the chance to travel to, many have been beautiful and spectacular, but very few have left me in utter awe and silence.  The Tall Trees Trail weaves its way through a mixed forest down a 600 ft. decline over a mile and a half to the Tall Trees Grove, a stand of redwoods as incredible as they are wondrous.  The traditional redwoods dominated the path and the actual trail, but there was a beautiful section of trail around the back end that was entirely unexpected.  Laying in the lowland between multiple hills, moisture from the fog clouds that rolled through often collected here, creating an incredibly moist, lush environment.  The trees around this back section were coated head to toe in moss; all sides were covered in a soft, green blanket of growth.  Not only that, but the moss-covered wonders also held various species of ferns on its branches.  They had plenty of moisture and moss in which to live and take root, so they all got along really well.  But indeed, it had to be one the most stunning things I've ever seen.

On our climb out of this enchanting landscape, we noticed that the air was becoming more humid.  While it had been a bit drier than the day before, today was still pretty humid and cool.  It wasn't until we reached the  trail head again and were driving back out down the road that we saw an overlook shot through some trees and witnessed and ocean of fog rolling through the hills.  After driving a bit further to the Redwood Creek Overlook, we witnessed one of the coolest sights:  A thick fog was rolling off of the Pacific over the hills and covering the landscape.

This shot was taken just as the sun had gone down in the late evening.  Crazy, isn't it?  Here is photo of the same area just that afternoon before the fog came in.

Anyway, that's it for me.  I think I'm going to try uploading all of my pictures to my Facebook account tomorrow, then linking the album over here.  By doing this, I figure anyone who wants to see more of my shots of these redwoods can do so.  That sounds pretty good, wouldn't you say?  Anyway, that's it for today.  More happening tomorrow, so see ya for now!

Here is the link to my photos for today: Day 3 photos