Last Day of 2016 Road Trip! Redwoods National Park

For the last day of 2016, the weather was supposed to be beautiful, which was a definite departure from the lines of (much welcomed!) storms that had been hitting Northern California.  So of course I was dying to get in the car and GO SOMEPLACE!  Sorry for yelling, but I was.  

I had originally planned to go to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could get some shots of a bald eagle, but I called up and spoke with a really nice ranger there who told me the best time would be in late February or early March when temps were a little warmer and there were more food sources around for the eagles.  

He explained that due to the drought, there was way less water and ice for the eagles to gather around so they are more spread out and harder to see.  Apparently eagles prefer to gather around iceholes in frozen lakes and eat the fish the come to the surface.  No water+warmer temps = less fish and ice.

So I decided to head toward the coast and Redwood National Park for another item on my bucket list.  But, this is a 6-7 hour drive, so I knew I would not be able to do very many of the amazing assortment of activities that the parks have to offer, but I have been wanting to see the resident elk herd with their winter antlers and do a few other things I thought I might have time to do. 

I got up early and left at 4 a.m. on my journey. I wanted to leave earlier, but didn't happen. :(  So much stress lately!  Anyway, after a mostly uneventful journey (spoiled only by extreme sleepiness), I arrived in Eureka.  I stopped for about an hour at the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and then continued on to the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center.

It is a beautiful visitor center with lots of information and set right on a gorgeous driftwood beach.  

I love this legend!  lol  I approve wholeheartedly. 

I spent some time in the center and bought a few items, including a National Park passport, which I'm going to try to utilize this year to to motivate me to plan better and visit more parks. The very nice ranger gave me some advice as to what I might be able to do on my abbreviated visit.  Unfortunately, the weather conditions had closed two of the roads I had wanted to take, so that limited me as well as my time limitations that were already pretty tight. 

But fortunately, the main thing I wanted to do was still completely on the table:  find the elk herd!  

You see, one thing I remember from my childhood was visiting the "Elk Meadow" in the Redwoods with my dad and family on one of our trips.  I actually believed that the elk were literally kept in a big meadow with a wood fence around it so that visitors would always be able to see them.  I can assure you that is not the case as I found out on this trip. 

So the ranger told me the most likely places to find the elk and off I set. Success!! Just off Highway 101 on Davison Road was a pretty large herd.

There was one bull elk that was pretty intimidating!  There is a small parking area on each side of Davison Road just after you turn off of Highway 101 and he was standing just before it.  There were people pulling up in their cars and stopping pretty close to him and he was just staring them down!  I had to take my turn.  I parked in the parking area just above where he was standing and got out of my car.

His big, antlered head turned immediately in my direction!  Knowing that these guys can move pretty fast and not wanting to be his pincushion, I decided it's okay to be a chicken! and kept the hood of my car between us.  

Roosevelt elk are so magnificent! Even this hipster elk with his cool bangs!

After spending quite awhile admiring this big herd, I headed on down the road to the actual elk meadow that I remember from my childhood.  Except there were only four elk in the meadow on this day.  And the fence that I remember as being at least 6 feet tall!? Is really only about 3 feet tall and doesn't even enclose the whole meadow!  Oh the perspective of a child.  lol

I was taking various opportunities to test out the inexpensive 500mm lens I got for Christmas.  This is at 300mm (no cropping)...

 ...and the same elk at 500mm (no tripod, so not bad!)

And again...three elk at 300mm...

And only one could fit in the 500mm lens photo!

Cool!

After this, I decided to head to the mouth of the Klamath River for a quick hike as the ranger said there were often bald eagle sightings there.  I headed up the mountain to the overlook first.  

  

And headed off on the little path around the hill by the Pacific on one side and down to towards the Klamath on the other.

I only hiked for a little while because I spotted something.  I couldn't exactly tell what it was because, like an idiot, I had worn the wrong contacts (bifocals instead of at least one distance), but I knew it was something special.  

At first I thought it might be a Kestral due to it's tawny coloring and small size.  But no!  It turned out to be my first ever OWL!!  

I literally RAN back up the hillside trail until I got - huffing and puffing - to the top so I could see if I might be able to find a better vantage to capture the cute little owl's face.  I thought I might have a heart attack, but, thankfully, I did not.

Unfortunately, I couldn't really get a better shot or angle, but I thought this one looked cool with the ocean below. 

And still to the side, and a little bit blurry as it's farther away, but what a cool backdrop the trees and bushes turned out to be!

After that, I drove back down to the hill to see how close I could get to the actual river.  Not close while staying in my car.  But close enough to get some cool shots!

I also saw a couple water fowl that are fairly rare for me.

Western Grebe

Common Merganser

Not the greatest pictures, but I was happy just to record them.  I decided I just had time to make it to one grove of redwoods before I had to head back home.  I couldn't leave without seeing some actual trees!  I headed south on Highway 101 towards the Lady Bird Johnson grove.  

But I couldn't resist a very quick detour to see if the elk herd was still there.  I feel so blessed to have seen them all!  Because when I went back, they had moved much farther away from the road and back into the trees; there were only about 10 visible where before there had been 30 - 40 at least! 

I couldn't resist taking this photo of a cute elk butt.  
I know I'm weird.  lol

I made it to the Lady Bird Johnson grove, which is at the top of a steep, windy road.  My poor old car was not happy.

But I was glad to give it a rest while I meandered through the trees for a little bit. 

One thing I love about the redwood groves is the undergrowth.  In the LBJ grove, I found beautiful clovers and moss in addition to the beautiful trees.

Yes, that is purple clover growing on the tree stump.  So pretty!

There is a very cool bridge that leads over the road and into the grove itself, which I headed over. 

And one last shot of the view looking up a tall Redwood tree.  

After I left, I was trying to hightail it home, but I had to make an abrupt stop in the town of Orick because Highway 101 was blocked by about 7 very large elk that were crossing the road!

I was soooo tempted to grab my camera, but I had already zipped it up tight in the backpack to stop myself from wanting to stop and take photos on my way home.  

It was incredible, because the largest bull elk, with a big rack, crossed just in front of my car and from that close perspective, it really sunk in how big and tall these guys are!  

Very cool day.  

But definitely not a day trip.  I will be going back in late spring/early summer to spend at least a couple days.  I hope to see some elk babies, the fern valley, and more when I go!  Off to start planning!  TTFN!

xoxo

Nikon D3300