Story:
The day after Christmas is normally slow, so it seemed like a perfect time to get away from the family obligations and just spend some time outside. Given that it was cool and threatening to rain, what better place to be than among the redwoods?
The day after Christmas is normally slow, so it seemed like a perfect time to get away from the family obligations and just spend some time outside. Given that it was cool and threatening to rain, what better place to be than among the redwoods?
This was a short hike from the Big Basin Visitor Center towards Sempervirens Falls, a smaller version of the park's better-known Berry Creek Falls and possessing the added benefit of being relatively level, which is always good when one of your hiking companions is three feet tall and possessed of an can-do attitude ("I can DO IT MYSELF!"). We hiked until "I can do it myself" turned into "I can use a ride about now" and turned back. On the way we saw deer and funny-shaped trees, which resulted in much excitement. Banana slugs are supposedly out in strength in this weather but we didn't see any (the viewing is better closer to the creek, apparently).
While the trail stays just next to a park road for a good ways, at least on this day, it was hardly noticeable -- the big woods muffle sound and despite the nearly-full parking lot things didn't feel very busy.
A nice excursion for a cool and threatening-to-rain day.
Tips:
- Big Basin's waterfalls, needless to say, are best during California's rainy season. Visitation is also lower, which means you might be able to find parking.
- The Sempervirens Falls trail is relatively level ('relatively' in this case means nothing that an adult would notice but there are definitely some ups and downs even if the contour lines refuse to admit it).
- The visitor center and museum have many interesting exhibits and, on cold days, there's a fire in the visitor center's fireplace. Ah, warmth!
Tags:
family, kids
family, kids
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