Giant Redwood of a Day

Klamath to Shasta-Trinity National Forest, CA (9/30):

So Brad and I have both felt blargh-y today, but for no particular reason. I think part of it is that our last few national parks have been less hike-y and we've spent too many of the last few nights in hotels. But after our relaxing stays, we found accommodations in a delightful national forest.

We left the lovely Heaven Tree Campsite early in the morning, heading out over highways. Our main accomplishment of the day may have been not being pulled over for speeding (not that we were going that fast, but there were lots of radar cops especially sitting around passing lanes which really is not fair), but we also made it to the iconic Highway 101 following along the Pacific Ocean and through the Pacific Redwood forest. So we saw a number of ridiculous, incredible trees, including the aptly named "Big Tree", and we wandered about in the forest for a bit and got a little lost until we found our way back.

And THEN!!! So right near one of the visitors' center is this crazy prairie space where elk tend to hang out. We were pretty psyched, because in our lost wanderings earlier, we'd known these elk were here and were thus hoping to get closer to them in our car. And so we got within a few feet, which was nice because all the national parks talk a lot about elk and how there are lots of them around, but we've yet to really get close to them. But these were pretty close, especially this one that was 2-3 feet away, so we hung out with him for a bit with his giant antlers, but he wasn't really into us. As we were leaving, I gave him a little wave, and he definitely charged our car. Luckily Brad slammed the gas and everything was ok, but I lost some sympathy for the elk herd.
-M

And the elk lost sympathy for us, though one would think that national park wildlife would at least be taught simple human hand gestures by the rangers, and thus not mistake an innocuous wave for aggression. Also, increasingly we're running into highways reduced to one lane, thanks to stimulus dollars for road improvement. Obama better have this shit cleaned up by the midterms.
-B