Travels with Liz (& Laura)

. Travels with Liz (& Laura!)

We had planned to travel to Oregon, but at the last minute we decided to stay at Mendocino, and we plan to do “tourist” explorations many of which we have not done before. So many interesting and fun activities or places exist within an hour (or even two hours) of the property, and yet we never seem to get there. So, we decided we would to see as many things as we were comfortable doing in Laura’s week off.

They arrived on Saturday, and we decided not to go out to dinner on their first night. Rather, we barbecued steaks—fillet mignon!--nearly running out of propane, on the porch in the chill fog. Little did we know what was ahead for us!

But, as we barbecued, we visited and caught up on this and that. Laura and I sat outside with our wine, overseeing the BBQ, while Liz made the salad. The wild rice percolated away in the rice maker, and the table was already set and waiting. Tillie was fed, although she seemed to forget that detail as the steaks cooked.

The day had been drizzly gray, but one could ignore that with the cheery companionship, plus I had started a fire in the wood stove because I knew Laura the Lizard would be cold. Dinner was delicious, the company was good, and the evening was relaxing.

On Sunday we awoke to a sparkling bright day—sun at dawn with no trace of fog. The schedule for the day was to go to Montgomery Woods between Comptche and Ukiah on Orr Springs Road, followed by dinner at Little River Inn--not too shabby.

You head east from Comptche and the road narrows as you slowly lose the center yellow line.  The smooth fresh resurfaced paving gives way to a pothole patchwork where even the patches have been patched.  Homes become infrequent, and gravel ranch drives wind away from the road, disappearing into forests or over hills.

About thirty miles inland from Highway 1 is Montgomery Woods, a state park with a stand of old growth redwood, once home to the tallest tree in the world (but that tree was nudged out by a taller tree in Humboldt County). The trailhead is undergoing renovation, and will have a better restroom and visitor display area in the near future.  Orange plastic fencing and frames for concrete pours are all around, but you quickly leave these traces of civilization behind as you embark on the trail.

The walk to the grove starts with a short 0.3 mile segment which is uphill, fairly steeply, following a creek. Then you top a rise, and find yourself on a narrow alluvial flat with rich soils deposited by the stream.  Here, lush ferns spread across the flat, intermixed with a dense carpet of sorrel.  Other than the cascading fall of the creek, it is quiet in the forest.  The trail along the flat follows the creek as we wander upstream through large old growth trees, most clearly showing burn marks from the 2008 lightning wildfires.  The elevation gain is quite small along the flat, and we wandered through exquisite groves of redwoods.  Because of the burn, the regenerative power of the redwood is in abundant view--green tall leafy rewood sprouts are thick about the base of many trees.

Tan oak on one side of the ravine above the flats were badly burned, but new vegetation is coming back in.  Some trees look like they fell after the fire, some shattering, some not.  One large tree over the path seemed to need a hand from Liz as she played the role of Atlas.

A boardwalk takes you along one area, and on the east side of the creek (on the return), you more closely follow the stream.  Plenty of water skippers and frogs were evident, as Laura examined each pool.

We decided to find a log and spread out our simple lunch for a brief respite.  After a great lunch of crackers and cheese, we continued, often exploring on a trail that would ultimately peter out or become too difficult to traverse due to the down trees.  But the main trail is easily passable all the way around the loop. 

Besides the lush and diverse vegetation of the area, we also saw plenty of flowers (and many more would be blooming in the spring) as well as insects and other invertebrates.  An intricate spider web shaped like a magical hat caught our eye at one spot.

Eventually we found ourselves on the downhill grade leading back to the trailhead--weary but satisfied with the wonderul walk we had, exploring the many facets of an old growth redwood forest.

Tomorrow, we plan to hike along Jug Handle Creek, up the Ecological Staircase.