Redwood National Park -- Tall Trees Trail and Fern Canyon

Redwood National Park 顾名思义当然都是大片大片的红杉林了。说是国家森林公园，其实是有很多个州立森林公园组成的。不过这里毕竟还是有着曾是世界上最高的树以及最大的树。“The tall tree”坐落在“Tall Trees Trail”的尽头，只是“Tall Trees Trail”是要许可证才可以进去参观的。许可证一天只发50张，我们生怕去得晚许可证被领光，因此早上8点半就赶到了information center，结果发现information center九点才开门。我们只能随性转悠着以消耗时光并等待工作人员的到来。山林面海而生，迎着海风，波涛声阵阵入耳。清晨的红杉林裹在从海上漂来的雾气之中，犹如青纱半遮着的美丽女子的脸庞，似隐似现，十分迷人。我正静静欣赏着这一片美景时，忽听同伴叫到门开了，原来工作人员已打开了大门，我们也顺利拿到了许可证，成为当天第一个踏入“Tall Trees Trail”的游客。“The Tall Tree”是一棵曾被誉为世界上最高的大树，它高达386 feet有500多年树龄。不过Tall trees trail上到处都是差不多那么高大的树，所以要想一眼看出这棵“The Tall Tree“，that's mission impossible了，只能乖乖的顺着trail去找有牌子的树了。我们hiking了两个多mile后终于找到了这棵大树，好好地瞻仰一下。这可真是literally上的瞻仰啊，我脖子都快仰断了，可惜还是看不见树顶。

Tall trees


Redwood National Park is actually composed of several state parks. It once had the world's tallest tree -- "The Tall Tree”.” The Tall tree" locates at the end of the "Tall Trees Trail", which requires a permit to hiking on. There is only 50 permits distributed everyday, we are afraid that we won't be able to get one, so we got to the information center at 8:30 am. Unfortunately the information center doesn't open until 9am. We had to wonder around the beach for half an hour. Redwood NP is right by the beach. In the early morning, when the fog comes from the ocean, the redwood trees are all covered in the milky fog, like a pretty young girl's face hidden behind a semi-transparent silk veil, very beautiful. While we were enjoying the amazing scenery, the gate of the information center was opened. We got our permit and became the first hikers of the day. Every tree along the tall tree trails is extremely tall, it's impossible for us to tell which one is taller from another. Finally we saw a sign and found the "The Tall Tree". "The Tall Tree" is over 500 years old now and it's about 386 feet high. Since it's so tall that I can't even see the top of it even though I raised my head so much that my neck felt very sore after the tour.

Redwood NP除了“The Tall Tree”之外，还有“The Big Tree"。“The Big Tree"非常粗壮，也有300多英尺高，1500多年树龄，可谓是“The Tall Tree”的老始祖了。站在这些高大粗壮的红杉树旁，人类显得真是渺小啊！Redwood 里的景观，大到宏伟，小到细致，都非常美丽。Redwood national park的driveway两旁，经常能看到这样漂亮的粉色的花，我当时是学习了一下这花的名字的，可是我一向对记名字不在行，而这花的名字又巨长，现在我只记得是有一串d在名字里，叫什么...d.d...d.的东东了。虽然我笨得记不住花的名字，不过我还记得这花也算是redwood NP的标志之一吧，在redwood的明信片和冰箱贴上到处可见，所以我强烈要求停车站在路旁也假模假释的照了几张。（后经查询，知道这花学名是rhododendron。）

Rhododendron with Redwood Trees


Besides "The Tall Tree", there is also "The Big Tree" in the redwood NP. "The big tree" is like a grand-grand-parent of "The tall tree", it is over 1500 year old now and more than 300 feet high. Human being seems so insignificant when you stand next to a redwood tree. There are all kinds of plants and creatures in the forest. Along the driveway, this kind of beautiful pink flowers can be spotted everywhere. It's also a signature of redwood NP.

Prairie Creek State Park里的Fern Cayon也是一个hiking的好去处。因为我们到的前一天晚上刚下过大雨，canyon里的小溪暴涨，trail的大部分都淹没在溪水里，因此很多hiker都望水止步了，我们则是跃跃欲试。看看周围不多涉水而过的游客，涉水姿势各种各样，极有意思。孩子们是不管不顾，径直跳入溪水中，裤子，鞋子，袜子全部湿透，也不怕刺骨冰冷的溪水，就那样趟水而过。也由当地的hiker，有备而来，穿着高邦的雨鞋，踏水而过。还有年轻的情侣，男孩子穿着专门适于涉水的hiking shoes，女孩子则由男孩子抱在怀里，毫不湿鞋而过，这也是我们看到的最为浪漫的过溪水的方法了。而我们则是仗着有water repellent的hiking boots，小心翼翼的踩在水中的小石块或横倒的树枝上而过，这样的过河是很需要平衡技巧的，好在通行的W带着一根hiking stick，我们一次次靠着它帮助掌握平衡渡过了溪水。

Fern Canyon


The fern canyon trail in Prairie Creek State is also a good hiking place. It was raining hard the night before we went there. The creek was overflowing and most of the trail was flushed. Many hikers just stopped by the creek, but we decided to give it a try. There are all kinds of ways that people wade through the creek. Kids just jump into the water without any consideration about their clothes, pants, shoes being wet. They don't even care about the freezing low temperature of the water. Local hikers must have seen the forecast; they fully prepared with knee high rain boots. There is also a young couple, the boy was wearing the special hiking shoes especially for wading, and the girl was just carried by the boy and went through without even touch the water -- the most romantic wading style, making us all jealous of her. For us, fortunately, W brought a walking stick with him. So we just relied on our water repellent hiking boots and poor balancing skill, one step at a time, carefully crossed the creek with the help of the stick and the rocks and tree braches in the creek.

Redwood 里的气候变化很快，天一伙儿放晴一伙儿下雨，我们到的第一天晚上正兴高采烈的在camping site吃火锅，天上就开始下起了雨，而且越下越大，冒着冷雨就着红酒吃着热腾腾的火锅倒是别有一番情趣。晚上我也趁机作了一把名副其实的car camping。不过好在我设备齐全，有air bed，还自备了被子枕头，听着雨水敲在车上叮叮咚咚的声音，再加上hiking一天后的疲惫和酒后微微buzz的感觉，很是香甜的在车里睡了一觉。

Unknown named pink flower


Weather changes fairly quick in the redwood. First night when we were having hotpot at the camping site, it suddenly started to rain. It rained harder and harder, so I had a literally car camping that night. With air mattress, blanket and pillow, it's as comfortable as sleeping at home. With the "Ding Ding" sound from the raindrop on the car roof, the tiredness from hiking for the whole day, the buzz from all the red wine I drank with the hotpot, I had a very sound sleep that night.

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