Oct 21 - Patrick's Point State Park and Lady Bird Johnson Grove, California

   Today was a very nice mix of ocean rocky coast and Redwood beauty.  It was a clear blue sky sunny day, in the 60's.  My perfect kind of weather.  First we went across the road from our campground to Patrick's Point State Park.  This park has several overlooks down to the ocean coves, with several major large rocky seastacks, and lots of smaller rock strewn coves, with crashing waves.
  We first went to Palmer's Point overlook.  It had a trail leading down to the "beach", although there was no sand on it.  Only rocks of every size, shape and color.  This area is known for its tide pools at low tide.  The notable thing about this trail is that it is steep, steep, steep and all downhill--leading from the mountain overlook down to the beach.  They had stairs at various spots, and I'm sure there were at least a thousand of them!  My knees thought so.  We got down to the rocky beach and just sat on the bottom steps and enjoyed the cove and it's waves and view.  Then we had to climb back up.  Slow and easy wins the race.  Back at the top, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and the view.
  The next stop was at the Wedding Rock and Patrick's Point Overlook.  Actually, Patrick's Point overlooks the Wedding Rock, but you can view it from two different overlooks.  The Wedding Rock had a really inviting trail, leading down, down, out and then up to the very large Wedding Rock, protruding out into the ocean.  Since we had already hiked down to the beach once, we decided to just enjoy this view.
  Our next attraction for the day was about 20 miles north, to the Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove.  This was the location that Lady Bird Johnson came to the late 60's to dedicate the Redwood National Park.  It has a delightful 1.5 mile trail through the Old and 2nd Growth Redwood Forest.  Each Redwood Forest that we wander through has its own feel and energy.  This one had many very old trees that had survived various forest fires.  The fires hollowed out the tree on the inside, but the tree still is able to live and thrive.  It's amazing.
   On the way back to the RV, we stopped at the Freshwater Lagoon.  The ocean is crashing onto the sandy beach on one side, and a large freshwater lagoon is on the other side of the road.  I walked the beach for a bit, and then just sat on a tree stump log in the sun and was mesmerized by the very long rows of waves.
  Back at the RV, I vacuumed out the car and the RV, and then enjoyed a cup of coffee, sitting in the sun on our little deck, overlooking the pond.

Patrick's Point State Park photos:

The Wedding Rock

Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove photos:

Freshwater Lagoon ocean beach photo: