Humboldt Views

Fog is pervasive on the Humboldt coast.  It's most common in summer but occurs year round, as seen here in February at Patricks Point State Park.  These trees, only a couple hundred yards from the ocean, are Sitka spruce; they're salt tolerant, unlike redwoods which grow farther inland.

Winter reveals the gnarled branches of the coastal shrub trees.

These are homes in a reconstructed Yurok village at Patricks Point.  The Yuroks still use these structures for ceremonial occasions.  The entrances are the holes near the ground...you have to crawl into the structure.  Not easy if you're fat and/or old...I guess the Yuroks are in good shape. 

Arcata, like many towns in Humboldt county, has many cool Victorian structures that have been nicely maintained in recent years.  This home is a B&B.

A nurse log provides a home for redwood sorrel in the forest of Humboldt Redwoods SP.  This log has gone down fairly recently, so doesn't have many plants growing on it yet.

The trail winds quietly through the majestic forest.

The redwoods in the state park are protected, but before the park was established a few of the huge trees were logged.  For perspective, this stump is about ten feet high.  In the days before mechanized logging, to cut down a massive tree more easily, loggers cut notches in the base and inserted planks.  The loggers stood on the boards and sawed higher up, where the stump was much narrower than at the ground..

A towering redwood soars into the mist.

The wild northern shore, shrouded in fog and mist.