Day 8: Tidepools, Elk & Trees of Mystery

We woke up early, quickly ate breakfast and headed to Palmer's Point to check out the tide pools. We took a LONG, steep walk down to some amazing tide pools. We saw mushroom corals, ricordeas, starfish, baby fish, stony corals, and LOTS of snails & crabs. Macy and Joey had a difficult time on the rocks, so they stayed up on the rocky shore and played while D and I ventured out separately to see some amazing sea life. We walked back up the path and watched a bunch of sea lions on the opposite side of the point.

After the tide pools we headed north towards the Trees of Mystery. Just north of Orick, California we saw a large herd of elk resting along the Redwood River. We pulled over and walked through an old quarry to get better pictures. Joey spotted an old excavator and was thrilled when we let him climb up on it for pictures. We traveled just a little farther up the road and saw one large elk standing right next to the road grazing on grass. D was able to get some good pictures of him!

We finally arrived at the Tress of Mystery. They allowed dogs on the trails, so Shelby enjoyed a long walk with us. Joey thought the path was awesome and D and I thought the trees were great. Macy loved the blooming rhododendrons, but wasn't totally overjoyed about the walk. Trees of Mystery now offers a gondola ride to "Ted's Observatory". Everyone (except Shelby and I) enjoyed the ride. When we got to the top we could see the ocean. There were binoculars available and we saw a gray whale frolicking in the ocean! He was there for a long time, swimming in circles and every once in a while coming quite far out of the water!

Before heading back to camp we drove to Agate Beach and walked down another steep trail to the beach. Joey was so exhausted, but we had fun looking for agates. We then made the long climb back up the trail!