Camping among the Redwoods

We took advantage of Daddy's summer break to go camping for four nights in Redwood National Forest. Those trees are truly amazing! The girls and I had prepped for the trip by reading several books about redwoods, and they were really excited about seeing them in person! Our campsite itself was full of fun things: a massive redwood stump to climb, a couple of snails (3 inches long with beautiful shells!) and banana slugs (6 inches long! Goose made it a dead leaves and dirt sandwich to eat), millipedes (so much fun to play with--Monkey convinced one to climb aboard a stick and carried it around for a long time), ferns, blackberry bushes (sadly, no berries yet), blue jays (I think: large, blue, and after our food), and of course, the usual collection of rocks and sticks that get pulled into elaborate pretend play (for example, they used their "magic wands" to invent a "latinmus"--a vehicle that can fly, drive, or swim and has TARDIS-like bigger-on-the-inside technology--out of the stump).

They declared themselves "Queens of the Redwood Forest."

Campsite cooking is always part of the adventure. This time around we figured out our new camp stove (successfully), experimented with cooking in a cast iron skillet over the fire (epic failure on all three tries), and played around with cooking things on skewers (scrumptious success--Bug in particular has mastered the art of perfectly cooking a Pillsbury crescent roll over the fire). Other fireside entertainment included reading from The Pink Fairy Book--we read Andersen's "Snow Queen," and the girls noted that it had almost nothing in common with Frozen, which was supposedly inspired by the story.

This sign appeared partway down the trail.
The girls posed with it on the return trip.

Of course, we didn't just hang out at the campsite! Our first adventure was tackling Damnation Creek Trail, a 4-mile round trip of narrow paths and steep inclines that follows the route the Yurok Indians took to get from their village through the old growth redwoods to the ocean to collect shellfish. It's an absolutely gorgeous hike, and the girls had a great time examining the plants and climbing around the redwoods. A number of these survived a forest fire that left "caves" in their trunks--many of which were big enough for all of us to clamber into! Partway down we passed a warning sign about the steep, strenuous trail ahead, but there's no stopping this crew! The girls reminisced about the time we hiked down into the Grand Canyon in the snow and ice, and noted that in comparison this trail was "easy peasy"!

We spent quite a bit of time at the beach itself. Bug commented that it was really obvious why the Yuroks came here! The rocks sticking up from the surf were completely covered in shellfish! The girls did a lot of peering into tidal pools, scrambling around the rocks, and using water to draw on the rocks before we headed back to the trailhead. Goose was a real trooper! She wore us all out on the hike back up--even Daddy gave up on keeping up with her, and let Bug and Goose race ahead to meet us at the car.

We made it to the ocean!

"Oh, look! A cliff! Let's climb it!"

The next day we toured the Redwood National

Bug's fort seats two inside with "benches"
outside for more.

Forest Visitor Center in the morning. We watched the intro video, looked at exhibits about the redwoods and their ecosystems as well as the local American Indian tribes, and explored a beach full of driftwood. Bug, our budding architect, saw a beach full of possibilities! She scoped out a site and enlisted her sisters help to collect driftwood and build a fort where the bases of two trees created a corner.

That afternoon we took the girls kayaking in Stone Lagoon. We rented two 2-seater kayaks--Bug and I took one and Daddy, Monkey, and Goose took the other (Goose is too little to paddle, but the kayaks have a mini-seat for a child passenger). We had a great time, and Monkey and Bug were awesome paddlers! We think we paddled for about a mile and a half. We kept a sharp eye out for the river otters and elk that had been spotted recently, but sadly we didn't see any. We did pass by a well-populated nesting area along the shore--it sounded like hundreds of baby birds were up in the trees begging for food! We made a rest stop in a little cove and did a bit of exploring up a trail before venturing back into the incredibly muddy landing area to get back in the water (much to the amusement of a group of picnickers). Next we stopped at the strip of beach separating the lagoon from the ocean for a longer rest. Well, a rest from paddling anyway--the girls had great fun frolicking in the water and looking for agates and other pretty rocks (we came home with several). We decided to race back to the rental place. Daddy and Monkey won by a pretty big margin (as expected), but we had fun and it gave Bug a good chance to practice losing gracefully.

We didn't actually take our camera in the kayaks, but this is Stone Lagoon. Gorgeous!

The next day we headed out for another hike--a shorter loop this time (2.75 miles) that passed by

(Oops. Forgot my camera.
Here's the 10-foot falls
courtesy of  alltrails.com)

Trillium Falls. On the way, we stopped roadside with a bunch of other tourists to catch a glimpse of a herd of Roosevelt Elk (the species, nearly extinct 100 years ago, can now be spotted frequently in the park). Goose and I (and sometimes Bug) decided to take this trail slowly and examine the wildlife along the way. She was particularly fascinated by baby ferns, clover that are purple on the underside, and the intricate root structures of the old upturned redwoods. The falls themselves were gorgeous, and the girls loved practicing their agility by bounding around on the rocks below the falls. On our way back to the campsite we stopped by a WWII radar station on the coast. It was disguised as a farmhouse and barn and was used to spot enemy aircraft and submarines. The equipment has been long removed of course, but we were amused by the fake doors (they would "open" to cinder block walls) and fake dormer windows on the roof (you can see through the window that there's no room behind it, just roof shingles).

We stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge on our
way home. It's our second visit to the bridge,
and once again almost completely shrouded in fog.

So, here's what I love about home schooling: On this vacation to the redwoods, we covered the following subjects: physical education (hiking, kayaking), life skills/home ec (raise a tent, build a fire, cook, what to do if you're lost in the woods, etc.), science (biology, geology, physics, environmental stewardship), history (WWII, American Indian), and literature ("The Snow Queen"). I feel like I may have missed some things, but that gives you the basic idea--the learning never stops!