Day 12: Hiking in the REDwoods!

Girls Hiking

When you look up....

Brett with his girls!

All of us on the hike!

We had hoped to get up early and go tide pooling in Crescent City, but the girls were simply too tired! Norah didn't wake up until 8:00 and believe me, SHE NEEDED THE SLEEP! We would have had to be on the road by 7:00 in order to get to the best tide pool locations, so we'll have to do that on another coast trip! We started the day with a hike on a 1 mile loop near our campground called The Simpson Reed Loop. It was AMAZING! At times the size and beauty was completely overwhelming. No picture can grasp the beautiful sights we saw on this trip, so I am only showing you a glimpse at God's great creation with the pictures above!

Our truck passing through.....

Family photo at the Tour thru Tree!

We then drove further South on HWY 101. Had we known we were only 3 miles from this yesterday we would have done it then! The girls REALLY wanted to drive through a tree, so we made the 30 minute trek South again so we could experience driving through a redwood! It was VERY cool and a little nerve wracking, as we didn't think we would actually fit through! A family from Iowa was there and we took turns taking pictures for each other, which was GREAT! It was well worth the $5.00 it costs and certainly a great memory!

All the girls on the beach trail.

Brett and I!

We then stopped at another trail head to do some hiking by the beach. It was a beautiful location and we hiked about 3/4 of a mile to a look-out point and then headed back. You might notice the girls have garbage bags with them.....they were collecting trash to earn their Redwood Junior Ranger Badge! We were certainly impressed with how little litter there was....but the girls were hoping for more =)!

The girls walking.....

All us girls in the woods!

Our final hike for the day was down a gravel road where there were several trail heads. We had a difficult time understanding the map, but thought we found the right trail. It looked to be about 1 mile total, but we now think it was maybe 1 mile to where the actual loop started! The girls were real troopers and once we got a little over 1 mile in we determined it would be in EVERYONE'S best interest to turn back and call it a day! We again saw beautiful green foliage and more amazing redwood clusters, roots, burls, and streams. Back at camp the girls finished more assignments and earned their jr ranger badge!!!

The girls swimming in the Smith River

The view!

The girls with their friends in the "hot tub"!

Now it's just a MUD BATH!!!!

We decided to then hike down to the river for some swimming and refreshing. It was beautiful. The girls swam, Brett and I waded, and the sun was out. We stayed for about 2 hours. The girls made friends and together carved a "hot tub" in the bank, which they later called "sand chairs"! Such imaginations!

We are sad to say goodbye to this beautiful scenery, but VERY ready to head home and sleep in our own beds soon!!!!