Nice hike, not short

The weather, as usual along the coast was cloudy and gray. Our original plan to go camping on Saturday night and do a dayhike on Sunday went out the window early on. It was a good chance to get caught up on household organizing and the continual rearranging .

On Sunday, even though it was still somewhat gray, we headed for a nearby hike near the Elk River. The hike is called the Elk River Headwaters trail, so I assumed that we would hike to see the headwaters of the river just south of town. As it turns out, you get to neither the source of the river, nor is there a lookout as a reward! Instead, after hiking 5 miles the promise is old growth forest. Right! I've seen old growth and this grove was comprised of babies by comparison. Oh well, it was good to be outside and the day was cool making it ideal for hiking.

On the trail:

CD in a living redwood; after a forest fire, they continue to grow even though their core is burned out:

We did the 10.5 miles pretty quickly which taught me a valuable lesson: going too fast makes my shins hurt! From now on, I'm taking it slow!