Day Two

  Klamath, California, United States
Tuesday, September 4, 2007

THE HOTEL
We are in love with our hotel - the Requa (pronounced Rek-wah) Inn. This 1914 guesthouse is like staying with a good friend. The lobby/living room

Lobby of the Inn

  is filled with games, great books and magazines.

Games, Books and More

Breakfast this morning included a selection of orange pancakes, homemade wheat bread toast and European-style yogurt - and this was only a portion of our options! Dinner here is quite fun. Each night the guests dine dinner party-style. We met couples from England, Virginia and Utah. The food was spectacular and capped off with fresh from the bush in the backyard, blackberry bramble. 
 
If this isn't enough, we have a magnificent room with an unforgettable view. 

The Boat Creek Room

We are spending two nights in the Boat Creek Room. The cheery blue, white and yellow décor is a welcome oasis after a long hike. We wake up to a view of the fog receding off the Klamath River right outside our windows. This morning I looked out to see a seal playing in the river.

View from our Room at the Requa Inn

 



 
INTERESTING SITES SEEN TODAY: 
--A frog -

Frog

we haven't seen a whole lot of wildlife on this trip which is fine with me. The trees here are huge. The ferns are on steroids. Imagine the size of the wildlife that must exist!  

--Delicious Mexican Food: This is actually the second time we have experienced this lovely reality. Due to our west coast location and proximity to Mexico, the Mexican restaurants display a greater level of authenticity with their menu. We enjoyed homemade tamales for lunch today.  


--Hippie bus - This trip may be filled with hippie sightings. Today's was one of the more artistic viewings. We only captured one side of the bus. The other side featured a memorable artistic rendition of aliens visiting planet earth.

Hippie Bus

HIKES
Today we took two hikes. One to fern canyon and the other on a trail named after some dude with the last name Irvine.
 
FERN CANYON

Bill on Fern Canyon Hike

Fern canyon was a simple trail along a babbling brook through a canyon lined with 60 foot walls of fern.

60 foot walls of fern

This canyon was so close to the ocean you could hear the pounding surf on almost the entire one mile trek. Every fern glistened with moisture from this incredibly humid coastal environment.





 
THE OTHER HIKE
Wanting to immerse ourselves in the magnificent Redwoods, but not needing a trail life-threatening long, we ended up on this six-mile round trip journey through old-growth Redwoods. At first the trees were spectacular.

Tree that splits in two at the top

  We got pictures of Bill next to the tree; a shot of me standing in a burned out tree.  There were quick shots of tall trees, trees that had split, trees that had fallen down, trees growing out of other trees. 

Jamie In a Tree

Then the reality of the hike kicked in.
 
It isn't easy hiking through Redwoods. Their roots are close to the surface meaning each step is a carefully orchestrated move to be sure you don't trip on the roots lining the trail. We passed a man pulling off his boots and socks to check on a twisted ankle. You also have to climb over trees and under trees that had fallen over the trail.
 
We were getting tired. It was taking forever. Would the trail ever end? Would we get back in time for 7:00 p.m. dinner at the Inn? Would we end up living in a tree? 
 
It took us nearly two and half hours to reach our turnaround point. We were exhausted having trekked the last mile merely on the principle of completing what we set out to do. It was misery and now we had to go back.

The Other Hike

 
Fearing a night in the forest, we put ourselves into motion. Every tree in the forest could have turned purple and started dancing for all we noticed. Our eyes were on the trail and our feet moving like the wind.  The three-mile trek back took only an hour and half. Of course, we spent the entire time speed-walking and avoiding tree roots, but we did make it back to the Inn for dinner and more importantly we are not writing this entry from a Redwood tree stuck in the middle of the forest!