The Redwood Trees

After visiting San Francisco, our plan was to drive north along highway 101 and visit the Redwood National Forest. On our way there we saw several elk at the side of this river.

We were able to spend some time hiking around these magnificent trees. It truly is amazing to walk through a forest with some of the oldest and tallest living things on earth. The redwoods on the coast are taller than the great sequoias (also a type of redwood) found inland. Coast redwoods can grow to nearly 370 ft and can be 2,000 years old. Their base is not as wide as some sequoia trees, but we saw several impressively wide trees!

We got to walk through a couple that had fallen down

This one was called the "Big Tree"

We saw some great wildlife in the forest. You can't tell from this picture, but this salamander was HUGE! Both Sydney and Kevin picked it up, but it was too slippery to hold for more than a second. It was probably 8 inches long.

Sydney found a snail and we saw our first yellow banana slugs!