A herd of elk – right on Hwy 101

We were driving down Hwy 101 to see the Redwoods and around a bend there was a herd of elk, just grazing along the side of the road.  We pulled over to get some pictures (so did several other cars) just as they started to cross the highway.  Here are some pictures we got:

 

 

Coastal Redwoods

While in Klamath we drove through an area containing very large coastal redwoods.  First, a drive down the Newton Drury Scenic Parkway where we saw several incredibly large trees right on the roadway.  Then, a drive to the Lady Bird Johnson grove, for a mile hike through a beautiful forest of ferns and more really, really large trees.

There aren’t really words to describe the size and majesty of these ancient, huge trees.  I did write a haiku (click here to see it).  Here are pictures we took:

Seals, sea lions, pelicans and salmon – the mouth of the Klamath River

We’re in Klamath this week and not too far from the beach where the mouth of the Klamath River empties into the ocean.  We drove to a beach where there were lots of cars parked along the road and walked out to the waters edge (over 1/2 mile in the sand, that was a workout!) and were astounded to see that people were not swimming or surfing…they were all salmon fishing.  Probably a hundred people lined up along the shore of the river – every few minutes one would get a bite and pull in a 20-30 pound salmon!  They were HUGE!  The best part was the sea lions, seals, pelicans and seagulls right at the mouth in the surf – the seals, pelicans and sea lions were also fishing for salmon and steelhead trout and the seagulls were fighting over the guts whenever someone caught a fish.  Many of the fishermen were from the local Yurok tribe and they would gut the fish right on the beach and toss the guts to the birds and bury the fish in the sand to keep it from spoiling in the sun.  We learned that the salmon were heading upstream but the river is too warm this time of year so they would head back.  There were also two Fish and Game people at the entrance to where people were parked, and they would measure the fish (many were 35-40 inches long!) and scrape some scales and write down the person’s zip code that caught it.  No checking of licenses.  I asked what the scales were for and was told salmon scales have age rings just like trees, so they are able to determine the age of the salmon that are caught.

Interesting!

On Meditating

Still the body,

Clear the mind

and be at peace with all the universe.

We drove through some beautiful coastal forests yesterday and I put on my headsets to listen to some “new age” music that I love.  Even though I was looking around at the forest and keeping half an eye on the road I felt I was drifting into a meditative state and this one just popped into my mind.

 

A drive up the coast to see the coastline (too foggy) and to visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory

The weather report said that today would be partly cloudy, which we took to mean party sunny, so we took a chance and drove up the coast to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, 50 miles to the north of us.  We drove up Hwy 101 to get there early and avoid the crowds we heard about, and drove back along the coast to see the sights.

The cheese factory was interesting, although there wasn’t a guided tour and the self-guided tour was quite short.  The highlight was the samples of different cheese that were free and the ice cream which wasn’t free but was really good!

Our drive down the coast didn’t work out too well due to the fog.  Also, the road through one area that we wanted to see was closed and we had to take a detour that wasn’t right on the coast.  It was way too foggy to see much of anything!  Here are a few pictures: