A Couple of Walks among the Coastal Redwoods

Monique and I decided to visit some tall trees while we were traveling along the northern coast of California. The original plan involved getting up early in the morning after our stop in McKinleyville to visit Redwood National and State Park to hike to the "Tall Trees" grove in Redwood National Park, home of several trees that are more than 350 feet tall.

Unfortunately, Redwood National Park was closed due to a federal government shutdown engineered by bungling US House Republicans. Fortunately, it's Redwood National and State Park, a joint federal/state operation. Since California is not run by delusional Tea Partiers, the state portions of the joint park were all still open.

And they were lovely!

We started at the Prairie Creek park headquarters, which was built by the CCC during the Great Depression. The guy behind the counter at the gift shop gave us three great recommendations: the two-mile Prairie Creek loop trail from the HQ out to "Big Tree"; the Klamath River Overlook up the coast; and Howland Hill Road; a little dirt road through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Here are some photos from our walk along Prairie Creek:

After only a few hundred feet we realized the dude at the desk had set us on a righteous course. What I've always loved about walking among redwoods is the sense of time and scale combined with real peacefulness. It's impossible to rush among the redwoods.

I respect a tree that can make me look skinny.

If you look carefully at that tiny bright spot just above the ferns in the bottom of the photo you can spot Monique, a bit overexposed by a ray of sunlight.

The lush quiet and beauty extends to the forest's undergrowth. Here we see a big-leaf maple just taking on its fall colors.

This was one of my favorite redwoods along the trail. It was easily 300+ feet tall. Two hundred feet above the forest floor the main branch splits into two trunks. Each of those giant redwood trunks soars another hundred feet or more above the split.

Monique respects a tree trunk that makes her look short.

Tree after tree like this.

Here I am with "Big Tree" which was indeed big, thought it wasn't the tallest of the many trees along the trail. Big Tree is 300+ feet tall, 22 feet in diameter, and at least 1,500 years old. Big Tree was an important tree in the history of the protection of the park. A rumor that a homesteader planned to cut it down to convert the stump into a dance floor was one of the spurs that led to the foundation of the Save the Redwoods League in 1918.

In 1850 the coastal redwood forests covered 2,000,000 acres. There are now only 118,000 acres of old-growth redwoods left.

So peaceful.

So inspiring.

And then, after a few hours walking among the redwoods, it was time to head North. Next stop, the Klamath River overlook:

The overlook sits on a bluff about 800-feet above the mouth of the Klamath River. The view is truly spectacular.  It was, however, more than a wee bit windy up there that day. So we headed to lower altitudes and lunched next to the Ocean in the aptly named "False Klamath Cove" beach near Wilson Creek. Not too shabby:

We'd taken our time with our morning hike, so our third redwood state-park recommendation -- Howland Hill Road, the little dirt road through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park -- had to wait for our return trip, since we were expected that evening up at my aunt and uncle's place in Oregon.

It was well worth keeping that dirt road on the "to-do" list on the way back. Among the places it visits is Stout Grove, a grove of old-growth redwoods donated by the widow of a lumber baron in 1929. I'm glad she saved it for us:

Serene, beautiful, and majestic.

One of the things we didn't capture well in photos was the scale of the fallen redwoods on the forest floors. Each of these fallen giants creates a vast ecosystem of its own.

The grove includes the Stout Tree, the bulkiest known coastal redwood at 340 feet tall and 16 feet in diameter at chest height. Here I am standing next to it, on the right side of this photo. I didn't realize I was standing next to a record-holder or we might've tried to get a better picture of the whole tree ... or as much of it as I could fit in my wide-angle lens.

All I thought at the time was "Wow, what a monster! It's even bigger than Big Tree!!"

After walking around Stout Grove, it was time to get back on our little dirt road and head back out to the coast for another lunch stop at False Klamath Cove:

The lunchtime scenery? Not too shabby. Again.

Our last visit with the redwoods wasn't a walk, alas. But as we drove South along Highway 101 we took the 32-mile-long "Avenue of the Giants" scenic detour through Humboldt State Park. It was well worth the extra time.  We were too busy rubbernecking to shoot any pictures as we drove among the trees. But I did grab a photo of the park visitor center. The center is chock full of redwood history, biology, and Charles Kellogg's Travel Log, the world's first RV, which was built in 1917 by traveling naturalist Kellogg from the trunk from a fallen redwood.

Well done, California state park system. Well done.

A Few Vacation Photos from the Pacific Coast (Part 1)

Here's a bit of photographic evidence for folks that Monique and I are indeed alive and well and vacationing out here in California and Oregon:

Winetasting in the Rutherford Valley with Tim and Jennifer Kardos.

While in Berkeley we stayed in my Uncle Joe and Aunt Carol's house.  Here we see an eight-point buck dining on the apples in their yard.

My advice to this deer? Don't try that in my Dad's yard.

Sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge seen from Joe & Carol's.

Highway One, California.

Yeah, it's inevitable on the ol' Patio Boat blog these days: photos of little British cars. A Triumph club drove down the coast on Highway One as we headed North. One day, my little MGB, maybe you'll get to do this trip, too.

Watch out for that first step. It's a doosie!

Point Arena Lighthouse. Highway One, California.

Seas and seals! Point Arena Lighthouse. Highway One, California.

Thanks to Tim and Jennifer Kardos's recommendation we sought out Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California. There the beach was used for years and years as a dump. The dump was eventually cleaned up, but the glass remained. It's a pretty amazing place:

Happy Monique, surrounded by sea glass.

So, we had a clever plan to hike in Redwood National Park and visit the world's tallest trees. Only two things could possibly go wrong with the plan: bad weather or a federal government shutdown engineered by an incredibly irresponsible and delusional batch of Republican Congressmen. The weather was fine. 

Sigh.

Fortunately, we found a perfectly lovely redwood park run by the state of California:

(More tree photos coming soon. For some reason I'm having difficulty getting the vertical photos to look vertical today.)

The last photos for this batch: the Klamath River overlook just South of Crescent City, California. It was an awesome -- and extremely windy! -- view.

More coming soon!

Back to Our Core Mission

We're sure everybody's enjoyed our lengthy digression into pictures of pretty cars, but it's time for the Patio Boat to get back to one of its core missions**: haiku coverage of the Indianapolis Colts from intrepid girl reporter Mary Campbell-Droze:

Today MC-D reflects on Trent Richardson's reaction to being traded from the terrible Cleveland Browns to the potentially playoff-bound Colts:

*Ring* "Dude.  What ?  REALLY?
W.T.F.!!  Well, with any
Luck, this might not suck."

     --Mary Campbell-Droze

**Other other two core missions of course being:

1) Haiku coverage of Katie the Beagle

2) Other occasional meandering bits of randomness.

How About Another Semi-Random Automotive Photo or Two?

So, um, no car shows thus far in San Francisco this week.  So how about a couple of semi-random shots of the car I'm renting this week, a Cadillac ATS sports sedan with a 2.0-liter turbo engine that spits out 272 hp?

Why the Caddy? Because my company's rental car policy will pick up the tab on a car up to an intermediate, which usually means a Toyota Corolla.  Nothing against Corollas, they're justifiably popular for good reason, but I'm a bit large and didn't really fit all that well in a Corolla the last time I tried one. That's why I'm pretty willing to throw in a few extra bucks of my own for an upgrade to something a bit bigger; so that I don't have to cock my head sideways while I drive. Plus, it's just fun to try something new.

Since I flew in on a Monday evening -- after the week's business travelers had scooped up every other car on the rental lot -- my options were either the Corolla that I had reserved or the Caddy. The ATS is the smallest car in the Cadillac lineup, but I reckoned I'd give it a try.

So far I like it more than I expected to.  Most of the GM sedans I've driven over the year have a big-boat feel to them, but this seems pretty zippy and nimble. (Not as nimble as an MGB, of course, but much better than I expected out of a Cadillac.) And the leather seats are niiiiiice.

I'm genuinely looking forward to trying it out on Highway 1.

The review? So far it's a heck of a lot nicer to sit in during a long commute than a Toyota Corolla.

One Last Orphan Car: the Amphicar!

Holy cow. Somehow in all of my hurried orphan-car posting from the Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti yesterday, I somehow forgot to include this photo of one of my all-time favorites:

The Amphicar! This is a 1962 Amphicar 770 Convertible. Of all the car companies that didn't carry forward, I can't possibly imagine how Amphicar didn't make it as the world's all-time sales leader.  It's a car that you can drive on a lake! Criminy! What could possibly be better?!

Honestly, if I had to choose between a brand new Porsche 911 and an Amphicar, I'd take the Amphicar without a moment's hesitation.  It's a car that you can drive on a lake!!

The 2013 Orphan Car Show - Ypsilanti, Michigan

And now for something completely the same. More pictures of old cars!

Today's installment is from today's Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Orphan Car Show is sponsored by the Ypsilanti Auto Heritage Museum and features cars from makes that are no longer sold in the United States. They also have some sort of an age limit (pre-1964, I believe) for some of our most recent additions to the automotive make dustbin of history -- Pontiac, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, etc. -- so as to keep the focus on the truly historic orphaned makes.

And so, let's go find some cars from the dustbin of automotive history.

Where should we look for the event? Oh, here's an ancient DeSoto parked on the street. We must be close!

Here in the "Unrestored" class we have a 1923 Willis-Knight 64-Roadster.  I'd call this an "Extremely Unrestored" entry.

Another "Extremely Unrestored" competitor: a 1928 Willis-Knight 66A Coupe.  Believe it or, these oldsters were still running well enough to take a parade lap.

Now this little fellow looks familiar! If you thought you saw it among the "Battle of the Brits" photos, you're right. This is Jim and Marcia Smithbauer's 1979 MGB roadster, with the top up today because it was raining on them a bit when they took it on Saturday's "Orphan Cruise." I walked around much of the show with Jim.  He was as surprised as anybody to have been selected for the "Unrestored" class. When he arrived in the morning he went over and parked with the other British orphans.  But their MG's original condition merited the bump to this feature class.  The promotion was well merited. That's pretty amazing yellow paint for a 34-year-old car!

1961 Corvair Sportswagon Greenbrier Camper Van. This is quite probably the only original Sportswagon Camper left from 1961 the first year for the Corvair Camper. Later models had a pop top.

More extremely unrestored entrants: a 1918 Studebaker SH Touring Car (left) and a 1919 Studebaker Light Four (right).

A pair of wee little 1942 Crosley Liberty Sedans.

No, it's not a doorstop. It's a 1975 Sebring Citicar Vanguard Wedge.

Look, it's a 1979 Checker Cab! If it comes with Marilu Henner inside I'm buying it!

And now we visit a few favorites from the late, lamented American Motor Corporation.

1976 AMC Pacer.

1973 AMC Gremlin

Our final entry from AMC-land is this 1966 AMC Marlin two-door coupe.  Not only are they cool-looking cars with wild interiors, but they have two of my all-time favorite automotive ornaments on the hood and the tail.  

Next, how about some Corvairs? "But, John," you say. "I thought this was for 'orphan' makes of cars. Weren't Corvairs made by Chevrolet?"

Hush. Don't ask too many nosy questions.

Yes, Corvairs were made by Chevrolet and they were never an independent make. But they were also built in Ypsilanti. So the Ypsilanti Orphan Car Show should darn well have some Corvairs. Plus, they're really cool and differently built than all of the other Chevies of their day. They were modeled after Volkswagons with a rear air-cooled engine and the trunk is in the front.

This is a Corvair Rampside pickup. Remember the bit about Corvairs having air-cooled engines in the rear? Yeah, it's the same with this one. So it's not quite a regular pickup since the rear bed isn't flat; it has a little bench in the far back atop the engine. Nonetheless, they managed to sell 17,786 of them in their four years of manufacture. The owner estimates there are only about a hundred or so left in good condition.

1958 BMW Isetta 300.  Yeah ... yeah, I know. BWM still sells lots and lots of cars in the states. First the Chevy Corvairs snuck into the show, and now a BWM?!

What can I say? Isettas are cool and, um ... well, I don't think they sell any more BMWs whose one door is also the front of the car.  That's good enough to qualify it for the show in my book.

1963 Ghia 1500 GT Coupe. I don't recall ever having seen one before, but it was a great-looking sports car.

DeSotos as far as the eye can see!

Now the British orphans:

A 1976 MGB and a line of Triumphs.

An Austin-Healey 3000, the "Big Healey."

Ahhh, you thought I snuck a photo of my MGB in here, didn't you? But this is actually somebody else's black MGB, a 1978 roadster.

1959 Ford Anglia Sedan.

1959 Edsel Villager Station Wagon. This was a great land yacht.

1957 Imperial Crown Sedan. This was one of my favorite cars in the entire show. It only has 13,500 total miles on it, and when it started up to go on parade its 392-cc, 325-hp engine was just a silent purr.

1947 Desoto Custom Convertible. On a field full of chrome, this Desoto's grill still stood out.

Speaking of Desotos, I love the wide-awake face on this 1957 Desoto Firedome 4-Door Hardtop.

1922 R & V Knight R.

1926 Willis Knight 66 (left) and 1928 Falcoln-Knight 12 (right).

The Willis Knight's radiator cap is among my favorites...

... though the Falcoln Knight makes a strong case of its own.

1933 Willys Overland 6-90A Roadster.

1910 Hupmobile 20 Runabout.

1912 EMF 30 Pony Tonneau. I have no idea who EMF was or where they went. But I can tell you they made at least one great-looking car.

1935 LaSalle 5067 Roadster.

This 1928 Marmon Wasp raced in the Indianapolis 500.

I can't help but love them. Cords! A 1937 Cord 812 on the left and a 1937 Cord Supercharged Phaeton on the right.

A 1929 Auburn Boat Tail Speedster. Even on this field full of beauties this might have been the belle of the ball.

How about a couple of Pontiacs on parade?

Here's a Pontiac Star Chief motoring alongside the river, following behind...

... this swoopy Pontiac "Super Stream".

Alas that my camera chip ran out of space right as I reached the Studebakers. Frankly, it probably saved you all from looking at 48 photos of bullet noses, so it may be for the best. But since I only have one Studebaker photo, please be sure to enjoy the nose on this 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe. It certainly looks as if it's enjoying itself!

And we close our tour of the Orphan Car Show appropriately enough with an orphan's orphan: this 1938 Hudson Terraplane Deluxe. Keen readers of my Concours posts may recall that Essex was the 3rd-best selling brand in America in the late 1920s, but by the early 30s it had dwindled to a single model, the Terraplane, which was then subsumed by Hudson as Essex was phased out entirely.

And so it goes.

Thanks for touring the Orphan cars with me. I had a great time walking around the show, so I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour.