Redwoods of Northern California's Coast

"Trees are sanctuaries", wrote a famous poet of the 20th Century. 

"When we have learned to listen to trees… that is home. That is happiness.”

And the reason these trees in the Redwood National and State Parks keep growing for centuries . . .

. . . is because they drink-in the foggy misty coast of northern California.

Mornings have been foggy along the coast. 

The fog is so thick, I can feel droplets of water landing on my skin. 

Ferns (photo below) love the fog too.

Crescent City Harbor (photo below) of northwestern California's coast is home port for numerous commercial fishing vessels. 

The misty fog was swirling around, dancing with the wind. Those are brown pelicans swimming in the harbor.

     Temps remain in the low 50's almost the entire morning. Even the elk are hunkered-down to warm their bellies during the long cool mornings. I watched an elk get down on its belly, and it was difficult! They have to bend their front legs and lean back slowly and shift their weight forward, then backwards, like camels.

     Between 1 and 2 PM the fog lifts. Below photo is the beach littered with huge pieces of driftwood at Crescent City, California. It's about 5 PM when I took this shot.

About 6 PM the historic Battery Point Light is looking good.

About 8 PM the sky is wonderful.

Then the curtain begins to fall.

    The next day as I traveled further south from Crescent City on "The Redwood Highway" (Route 101), there were numerous road repairs being made. The mountainous cliffs along the coastline often collapse (landslides). The engineering that goes into rebuilding supports for building new roadways amazes me.

     About every ten miles or so, we all wait our turn to proceed on one-lane while the other lane is being rebuilt. A California State Parks' ranger told me the unusual rainy stormy winter of 2016-17 was exceptionally devastating, and millions of dollars have been allocated toward rebuilding these coastal roads. 

     There's a folksy-ness to the little towns along the northern California coast. Crescent City, Klamath, Trinidad, McKinleyville, and Eureka all have neighborhoods of cute little cottages. See the pink and lime fence slats?

Pink and lime seem to be a favored color-combo.

There's a few Victorian mansions, too.

Yes, I'm enjoying California's northern coast :) Probably has something to do with the calming nature of those huge trees.