The Redwoods & The Coast

We took a short walk amongst the Sequoias while we were at Yosemite, but our main encounter with these magnificent trees was at Big Basin Redwood Park. Some of the Redwoods are as old as 3,000 years, with base diameters of 60 feet. We had the amazing experience of standing inside a living tree - the "chimney tree" has been hollowed out by naturally occurring fires which have burned away the central core of the tree and yet it still lives on. We stood in the middle & were able to look up to the sky through the "chimney" flue.

We would have liked to follow the 10 mile "skyline to the sea" trail from the Park to the coast, but didn't really have the time so we drove down from the mountains (only 1000 feet this time) to the coast to see the Elephant Seals that heave themselves onto the beach at Ano Nuevo State Park. They are impressive beasts! We were also enchanted with the flocks of Pelicans diving for food just off the beach. It was a beautiful Californian winter's day - warm sunshine & a moderate breeze. The sea mists duly rolled in as we drove north along the Pacific Highway to Pacifica, our penultimate stopover before we had to face up to true winter weather in Scotland.