A Day in Muir Woods

For the last few days of our Crater Lake trip we had planned on coming down the California coast, staying in Bodega Bay and visiting the Muir Woods National Monument.  But the hair raising drive from 101 to the coast had so completely shaken me, that we decided it was best to just drive on home.


On Friday we decided to drive from home to Muir Woods by car. It's just north of San Francisco, about two hours from us, but we have never been there. 

Muir Woods is the place where people who are visiting the city from other parts of the country go to see the redwoods. 


There are other places, Redwood National Park (up north) and Yosemite National Park are two others.  Each is a very special place.  Muir  has some very beautiful old growth groves.




I was surprised by how many people were there on a non-holiday Friday.  The parking lots were full, and we ended up parking along the road over a mile away from the visitor's entrance center.


Most of the people seemed to stay in an area near the entrance. There is a nice "civilized" two mile loop trail with boardwalks, wide level paths, and informative signs.  The guide that was given to us at the entrance didn't have much information about other trails, but I had done a little research and printed a trail map that included a larger area before we went.  Based on it, we were able to find our way to a much-less-traveled loop of trails.  Including the walk back to the car, my pedometer measured our hike at 7.4 miles.

The first trail we took was called "Ocean View" but we decided it should have been called the "Root Trail".


From Craig (sign of the day from the visitor center at Muir Woods National Monument): "Due to fire prevention, the Ocean View Trail no longer has a view of the ocean."










Part of our route took us along the edge of a fairly busy road because the linking trails within the park were closed. (No photos. Imagine walking the white line at the edge of a curvy highway with very narrow shoulders.)
  

Once back into the forest we were delighted by its beauty. After crossing many bridges, Craig said we should have been counting them because there were so many. Some were new, and some had been there for a long, long time.

One thing I like about the trails in National Parks/Monuments is the little helping elements here and there.  Such as these stairs in the middle of the forest!

Many of the large trees had hollowed out centers from past fires.

Craig enjoyed exploring them.  I had to laugh at him because before he went into a tree, he poked a stick in and asked: "Is anyone in there?"  I guess they looked like good places for bears or sleeping raccoons.




Muir Woods National Monument is a good place for hiking, once you get away from the crowded central area.  The trees may be more impressive at Redwoods National Park, but it's so much farther away from civilization that the two sites come out about even.

On the way to the park ...

Driving down Highway 1, on my way to Wilder Ranch State Park, I saw the sign for the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.


I had read about it on the web.  It is the University of California, Santa Cruz, working marine science lab. It's not big and flashy like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it had something I have wanted to see: A skeleton of a blue whale.


 Since I like bones almost more than flowers, I decided to go there instead of the park. 


 I guess that is one advantage of doing something on your own.  You don't have to make cooperative decisions. If Craig had been along I'm sure he would have liked seeing the whale too.

 Skeletons are nature's sculptural constructions. 

When I was a day-camp volunteer my camp name was "Bones." 


In the 70's, before the animal heads,  I  explored many different types of natural materials. 


 I experimented with cleaning chicken bones and reassembling them in new ways.  I wish I had a picture or two of those to share! I made up whole new animals!


Back to the Seymour Center:

Years ago, this blue whale washed up on a beach nearby.  The scientists brought the partially cleaned body to the center, and buried it.
Ten years later it was dug  up and reassembled.

They also had a gray whale skeleton on display.


  It was much smaller.

After looking at the displays inside the visitor center I went for a short walk outside on the cliffs overlooking the Ocean.  It was very windy and a bit cold, but quite beautiful.

Looking at the cliff face reminds me of how tentative many things in nature are.  Those rocks might stay exactly as they are for hundreds of years, or they might fall down into the sea tomorrow.

There were lots of these yellow flowers blooming.   I think they are Lupine.  If you look on the left side of the flower there is a big fat black bumble bee.

He kept moving around and I must have taken six pictures, but this is the one showing his red leg spot.


When I got home I read about bumble bees.  I think the red spot may be her pollen basket. I'm gong to work on my wildlife photography this summer.   I really have to start carrying the big hunking camera.


There are so many interesting place to see right here in my own back yard.  Places I have never gone to unless we had visitors from out of town.  


I needed to see a whale skeleton today.  So I did.


This will be my summer to open my eyes, and SEE the Bay area.  I am so lucky to live here.

Got Out and Took a Walk

I had a very pleasant day today.

Levonne and I met up for a light lunch and a walk on the beach.

I think it was good for both of us.
Along with some real fresh air, we got in some good "friend talk."

Both of us brought cameras along, and both discovered the batteries
in our cameras were to low to use.

So here's a picture, that I pulled off the Web, of the cement boat we walked over to see at the Sea Cliff Beach in Capitola CA.

It was a perfect day for a walk with a friend.

I should do more of this.
I live in such a scenic area.
 No need to travel far to find great walks.

New resolution:  One day per week taking a long local hike!

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill or trail.

2 miles Thursday April 14

3 miles on the beach on Friday

Total walked = 328 miles  

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Pretty, Plus Painting Progress

I took some time this afternoon to take the picture out of my camera and file or discard what was there. I ooh these in the last few days. I find I  reach for the camera more often now that I blog.

 I like to see pictures in blogs, and usually they say more than a lot of words could.

There are many flowering fruit trees,  wild and in orchards, blossoming right now.

I have always just taken them for granted.  This year I am seeing them!

Another sunset from the deck. 

 Although the color in this one is not a vivid as in some of the others I shot that night, I liked the way the bare branches are silhouetted against the sky.

  (That tree in the center is about 150 feet tall!)

And last weekend's painting progress:

Craig did the cut in trim painting I couldn't quite reach from my 8' step ladder, and

painted the  part of the stair well to the downstairs that could only be reached with the extension ladder.  I painted the lower part on Wednesday.

AND ...  I have started walking again.  I let myself be lazy for awhile!

Exercise Goal:
1000 miles on the treadmill, 

1.5 miles Wednesday

2 miles Thursday

Total walked = 314.5 miles  

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

First Daffodil

On Monday, when I was taking some trash out to the cans, I notice this, my first daffodil of the season.

It reminded me to take a moment and enjoy the beauty that is all around me.

Every year, for the first ten years we were living here, I planted at least 100 daffodils.  Most came back up for several years, so I figured at one point I must have had at least 1000.

Then we had a few very dry years and I was too busy in fall to plant.  They began to die off, and now many of the places I had planted are no longer blooming.

  In a few places they continue to come up and do well.  I enjoy seeing them each spring.

I walk to remind myself that I will reach my goal only by taking one step at a time.

Exercise Goal:  1000 miles on the treadmill, 

2.5 miles Friday

2.5 miles Monday

2.5 miles Tuesday

Total walked = 307.5 miles  Aiming for 500 miles by end of March 2011

Someday I will be hiking 1000 miles in National Parks!

Arches National Park, Utah