The Traveling Widower

Tag: nature

  • A Walk in the Woods (with really big trees)

    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park

    This post is really different – I’m plagiarizing from one of my favorite humor authors (Bill Bryson) instead of from some rock song. If I think about it, I might find some lyrics which fit, but the book was a perfect match. Bryson’s book (A Walk in the Woods) was about his multi-year attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, partnered with a very peculiar, clueless friend. I recall when I first read the book, I was flying somewhere, and laughing like a madman. Jan was quietly telling people seated around us that she did not know me. Robert Redford made a movie out of the book, which was probably his worst directing and acting effort. I was a big fan of most everything he did, but this one was awful.  But that’s not what this post is about.

    Now that I’m finally free from that miserable virus (woo hoo), I needed to get out of the house for a hike. I’m leaving for Colorado in a week, and I needed to get back in shape for the couple of outdoor activities I have planned. During my ‘Cave-A-Week’ mission this past summer, I had heard about a little known state park, Calaveras Big Trees, which has two groves of giant Sequoia trees, and had planned to visit when I traveled to Murphy’s for Mercer Caverns. That would have necessitated an overnight stay, which would have been fun (wineries, nice restaurants, great ice cream) but I did not feel like doing that for some reason, so I passed on the opportunity. But, the weather is still warm, the skies clear, and I’ve got nothing exciting planned this week. Today was the day.

    I’ve now done this 2+ hour drive quite a few times, but have never gone past Murphy’s. The highway (Route 4) turns into a winding mountain road – fun to drive, and you go through Arnold, another cute (and small) town. Some nice looking restaurants and bars. Some other time. I love this area.

    I had read (and heard) a lot of good things about the park – nice visitor center, really great docents and rangers and easy trails. They were all correct. The visitor center has a nice shop and a small museum, with a lot of interesting information on the history of the big trees and the wildlife – river otters, bears, occasional mountain lions, and lots of birds. Oh my. There are two main groves of the Sequoia trees – the Northern Grove starts at the visitor center so there was no sense in driving any further. I strapped on my Forest Gump anti-foot-flopping brace, and headed off on the trail. I brought the Sony A7 along, but only to play around with – this seemed like the pefect hike to try out my new Pixel phone. 

    This trail is well suited for just about anybody – even wheel chairs. And for that reason (maybe some others), the hikers were mostly old. My age. Maybe it was senior discount day or something like that. (I should have asked). No bicycles or dogs allowed. Nice. Just a lot of happy, friendly people.

    So what do you see on a trail in the Big Trees State Park? I’ll give you a second. Give up?  Big trees of course. Really BIG trees. The Sequoias are scattered throughout the primarily Redwood forest, and they really stand out. The trail meanders through the groves, with markers (27 of them) at each point of interest (you get a very detailed map of the trail, with descriptions for each of the markers). But most everything is pretty obvious – huge upright trees, huge fallen trees, some burned stumps. Right from the start, there is this enormous stump – shaved down like a dance floor. Part of the tree that stood there is next to it. 

    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park

    There are quite a few other downed giants – very strange looking. And one giant has a hollow center which you can walk (more like a crab walk) through it. No, it does not count as another cave. 

    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park

    But mostly what you see are the majestic giants. 

    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park
    Sequoia tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park

    All told, I probably walked about 2 miles or so. It was just a perfect day – not too warm, lots of shade. Does not get too much better than that except for some biting bugs.  There is lots more to see in the park – there was a nice overlook trail which I hiked for a bit, but there were no old folks on it (dirt trail), and I’m sticking with the rule – NO SOLO HIKING. There is another grove of Sequoias (Southern Grove…clever) and more trails to the Stanislaus river, but I had enough. Besides, I had ice cream on my mind. Jo Ma’s, on Main Street in Murphy’s. A perfect end to a great day.

    Ice Cream at Jo Ma’s Ice Cream in Murphy’s CA

    I really like that place. Yum.

    This park is a good alternative to Sequoia National Park, if all you want to see are the big trees. Not as far from civilization (easy to get to) and you can see the trees without driving around.
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calaveras_Big_Trees_State_Park

    And then you are a short drive from Murphy’s, with lots of wineries and my favorite ice cream shop

  • A Day in Petersburg – Banana Slugs, Bogs and a harbor cruise

    After five days of photographing from bouncing Zodiacs or the windy front-deck of the Quest (our ship), it was nice to pull into dry land for a day. Petersburg is a small fishing town, established by an entrepreneurial Norwegian who started a fishing business in a spot that reminded him of home, and then invited all his friends and family to emigrate there. It’s a remote town, on an island that is accessible by boat or plane. It does have an airport that can handle a 737, and Air Alaska flies a milk-run here twice a day. It’s a really cute town in an incredibly beautiful place. At any rate, we docked here, and we all had multiple options for off-ship adventures – 3 or 4 different hikes, a bicycle ride around town and a Zodiac cruise thru the harbor. With a sore knee, and a variety of aches and pains from sleeping in an uncomfortable bed for 5 nights, I opted for 2 relatively short hikes, with the possibility of swapping the afternoon one for a Zodiac ride around the harbor. 

    I did spend some time in the morning discussing the cavitation problem with my cabin neighbors – they were equally as pissed and exhausted from lack of sleep. The general consensus was that we should have been informed beforehand, and maybe should be offered something like a credit we can apply to another trip. I’m not holding my breath for that. The photo above shows me pointing to my luxury cabin portholes on the steerage level. It is a very nice cabin, as long as you are hard of hearing. 

    We had local guides leading all the hikes – ours was a young woman who grew up in the town. Her graduating class size was 30. In grade school, you have a mandatory survival skills class, where you learn to forage in the woods in case you get stranded. Seriously. They take the entire class out to the woods, and grade them on how they find food, make fire, and make a shelter, and survive for 2 days. The students have to stay until they pass (just kidding). Funny, we were never taught these skills growing up in Brooklyn. She had a lot of great stories about living in a small, remote community. It’s a really different life style. 

    We ran out of luck in terms of weather to some degree (another unintended pun) – cool and foggy, but at least it was not raining and it cleared up later in the day. The hike was more interesting than I thought it would be – the land around here is very boggy – they do get lots of rain. There are large areas that are mostly tree-less, but covered with a lot of low, interesting plants including some carnivorous ones.

    They eat bugs, not people. And you don’t want to go wandering through these areas unless you want to sink down in muck. The trail meandered through the bogs into some really beautiful dense forests. Also filled with strange plants, some of which you definitely do not want to touch- many nasty thorns, worse than rose bushes. I would not suggest bushwhacking around here. There was not much else to see since once we reached the view point the distant mountains (border with British Columbia) and the Frederick Sound were socked in with fog. But there was a nice metal bench, made by a local artist. Too wet to sit on but nice to look at.

    Metal bench near Petersburg Alaska

    I did find a few things to photograph, including the first banana slug that I’ve seen in the wild. Woo hoo.I really liked the moss covered, rotting tree stump as well.

    Banana Slug

    My knee held up OK on this hike, but I decided not to push my luck, and did swap out a second hike for the Zodiac tour of the harbor. That turned out well – I never knew much about commercial fishing boats, and we learned a lot from our boat driver (who was from the area). Now I know what a purse net is, and how it works. Important information for living in Sacramento. We also cruised through an extremely large flock of gulls (3 types) which hang around the fish processing plant, and checked out a rotting, abandoned fishing boat, and went by the processing plant where they suck out salmon from the boats. Quite the adventure.

    Sunken fishing trawler in Petersburg harbor
    Fishing trawler in Petersburg Alaska
    Fish processing plant in Petersburg Alaska

    It was nice having a “light” day for a change. I wish I had spent some time in the town – there were a few interesting shops and a good restaurant or two. There was one shop run by a local Native American that sold unique t-shirts which the crew wore for dinner that night. Cute, but I have a draw full of interesting t-shirts at home. My favorite is a custom one I had made commemorating my Half-Dome hike with a line for a Terminator movie – Old But Not Obsolete.

    There are gobs of whales in the channel year round, with over 200 during the summer. and there is a lot more to see in the area – glaciers, bears, moose. It might be worth another visit on my own in the future. This would classify as an off the beaten path adventure.

    One more location to go – a day in a fjord with another glacier. And then we disembark in Juneau on Sunday and fly back to my boring life in California. But it will be good to get home – I miss my bed and shower. Plus my hummingbirds have probably emptied the feeders by now. They are probably pecking at the windows.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petersburg,_Alaska