Redwood National Park, Siuslaw National Forest, and Olympia National Park
The journey continues, this time it’s a road trip to Alaska. For those of you out of the immediate loop, I sold my house in California this past January and bought a camper van that has become my home on the road. I circumnavigated the states during the winter months spending time with family and friends back east and Christmas at my parents in North Carolina. In my spare time, I have been writing as much as possible, working on a memoir about my journey through South East Asia. Still lots of writing left to do, but it’s coming along surprisingly well.
I left the Bay Area on April 7th, crossing the Golden Gate and heading up the coast. My first major stop was Redwood National Park in the northwestern part of California. Walking through the towering spires of 
ancient redwoods, I found myself humbled by the magnitude of the woods. Near San Francisco, it’s possible to find small groves of old-growth redwoods, but they’re small and easily traversed in a few minutes of hiking. Here in Redwood National Park, there are miles and miles of old-growth forests and it’s possible to hike for hours without discovering their limits. Wonderful. There is a certain reverence and majesty to the redwood forest and as I wondered through their lofty heights, I felt as if I was walking through a great cathedral – surely, this is nature’s church.
Rambling on up the coast I arrived at Oregon’s Siuslaw National Forest where I camped for a few day hiking around the coast and working on my book. I visited Sea Lion Cave – the largest sea cave in the United States – a huge cavern located in the side of a cliff and open to the 
sea. An elevator lowers you into the cave, where there simultaneous barking of hundreds of sea lions create a haunting chorus. The cavern is immense and the sea lions cajole one another trying to position themselves out of reach of the pounding surf. I hiked to a picturesque lighthouse perched on a cliff and watched on orange red sun sink into the sea – a sight that never fails to inspire me even after hundreds of similar sightings.
Another day of driving brought me to Olympic National Park in northern Washington State. Here I hiked through the primeval Hoh Rain Forest – the temperate version of the tropical rain forest. Large groves of Sitka Spruce, Red Cedar,
Hemlock, and Maples stand, their sagging branches draped with long veils of stringy green moss. Rotting logs, moss, and fern cover the forest floor in many layers of green. Herds of Roosevelt Elk feed on low hanging branches their velvety antlers in the early stages of growth. Walking through these forests, I felt carried back in time – a visitor to an alien landscape.
From Olympic National Park I headed east to Port Townsend where I caught a ferry across Puget Sound avoiding the snarled mess of Seattle traffic. Tomorrow I will cross the border into Canada and leave the lower forty-eight behind. Stay tuned for further updates…
If you would like to see more pictures of the Pacific Northwest leg of my Alaska trip, visit the Adventure Gallery.