Fort Bragg to Trinidad

4/27

Fort Bragg to Trinidad

I won’t say we got a late start today, but it was afternoon by the time we left Fort Bragg. We spent the morning buying Shawna some new waterproof shoes (that she probably won’t wear anyway…but nonetheless…) as well as a nice warm jacket. We were going to try to get out of California, but that soon proved to be not possible because the end of Highway 1 was very steep and windy. One of our first stops was the Ten Mile State Marine Reserve, a nice beach with dogs and families playing and houses on the cliff. After taking a few pictures and getting nice and cold, we went on up the road. By up, I mean, up a mountain, tight turns and switchbacks, steep mountainsides and cliffs. We said goodbye to Highway 1 at Leggitt where it dead ends into the 101. Before we turned north, however, we made a quick 5 dollar stop at the Drive-Thru Tree. This 6x6 foot hole had been carved in this 300 foot tree in the 1930’s. Since the park was full of people, we got our postcards and got out!

 

Avenue of Giants

Once on Highway 101, we were able to move much faster, four lanes of open road gives confidence. We made several turnoffs to visit the redwoods we were flying by. One such detour was on the Avenue of Giants, highway 254, which meanders around through massive groves of redwoods. These trees are nigh impossible to photograph, even if I had a wider angle lens for my camera. The sheer scale is mind boggling. This is one of those places you truly have to see to believe. After saying goodbye to the toothpicks and Lincoln logs, we had lunch in Miranda at the Avenue Café.

Smile now, Cry later

Since we already were feeling behind for the day, we moved on toward Eureka. Surprisingly, no jokes were made about the name of the city… When we arrived there, we realized that we didn’t want to stay there, it was too crowded and after being in the country for awhile, the last thing we wanted to deal with was people. At about 6pm, we made it to a small town north of Eureka called Trinidad. Trinidad is a typical small northern California town, perched on cliffs overlooking the ocean with a small bay for fishing boats. Our bed for the night was Trinidad Inn, a small 15 room motel in the middle of the forest.

Our photographic adventures took us to the Luffenholtz Point Overlook at sunset. As the sun sets, a large glowing orb in the western sky, it highlights the high outcroppings and islands. These islands used to be the main coastline a long time ago, but water, wind and rain eroded all the soft rock away leaving only these remnants, like silent sentinels of an ancient time. One day, I think, the place where we stood will be like that, and it will look as untouched by humans as the day it was birthed from the earth.