Humboldt Lagoons State Park
My first road trip from Calgary in February 2012 was to North-West California to hike the Giant Redwoods, the next day I planned a short beach hike in Humboldt Lagoons State Park about 40 miles South of my hotel location in Crescent City. I arrived in good time as the fog rolled back from the ocean providing some beautiful atmospheric shots as I hiked along the beach.
The beach is strewn with driftwood in varying sizes which also provides great photo opportunities.
After a couple of miles of wandering along the beach the spit of land separating the lagoons from the Pacific Ocean narrows to just a few metres, the fog is still hanging around.......
the sea is pounding the black sand beach and though there is a glimpse of blue sky the fog is lingering much longer than expected
another advantage of having driftwood scattered along the beach is the availability of good seating
there may not be the greatest views from here but it is difficult to leave once seated and I spend a good 15 minutes just watching the waves crash against the rocky outcrops until the fog begins to get worse rather than better as I had expected
I soon set off back in the direction of the car park as the fog sweeps in killing the photo opportunities
heading back to the car park is a small point to go around (or over via the woodland trail) I opt for the woodland trail and I'm glad I did
at the far side of the point as the wood drops to a meadow I notice movement and creep out to see this female Elk close to the trees, she lets out a strange sound in short bursts from her nostrils
as I crouch in the long grass a huge 12 point bull meanders over to investigate
he appears to be looking and sniffing the air as he comes ever closer
he moves closer and seems to be looking right at me, I keep very still knowing that they have very poor eyesight and rely heavily on movement and sounds
as he starts toward me again I am beginning to think about escape routes from my position behind a grassy knoll, maybe I could jump up and shout initiating the 'flight response' ....probably in both of us ; )
suddenly his attention is taken by movement away to my left and he turns and heads that way
I waited a short time before creeping back to the forest with a look of disgust form the female who had spotted me first.
the fog rolled in for the rest for the day and killed any further photo opportunity, so I spend the day beach-combing and looking around Crescent City before getting an early night ready to begin the long drive home the next morning.