The trail begins with a climb through an exceptional grove of big redwoods, with lots of variety in the size, texture, and colors of the trees. Almost all of the large trees are redwoods, with only a few Douglas-Firs mixed in.
The dense understory includes the tallest huckleberry shrubs I’ve ever seen, with heights of about 15 feet. There are also lots of rhododendron trees, but I’ve never seen more than a few in bloom at any given time.
The trail goes over a ridge and descends through an even more scenic redwood grove. When it’s enveloped in fog and the rhododendrons are in bloom, this is one of the most photogenic upland redwood groves anywhere. The understory mostly disappears and the woods become very open, with a brilliant green groundcover of ferns. There are a lot of huge trees, which is kind of unusual; normally only lowland areas get enough water to support trees this big. The redwoods are arrow-straight and tall with elegantly fluted trunks, giving the forest a very stately, orderly look. The trees are a very light grey on the side that faces the ocean and a very dark brown on the inland side, so the forest looks dramatically different depending on which direction you look.
The trail crosses a deep gully and emerges onto a blufftop where the ocean finally comes into view. The final descent is on a precarious stairway crudely carved into the rock. At the bottom is a tiny cove with a very narrow, rocky beach.
If the tide is unusually low there may be tidepools, but if it’s high the beach may completely disappear. You might be able to walk a little ways up and down the beach, although people who wander past the choke points about 100 yards to the north and south have been trapped by the incoming tide.
What a gloriously described narrative about this region only a few of us have visited! The picture is due the same quote you used of a person standing at the shore's edge!
January 21st, 2024
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