Redwood EdVentures Quest at Redwood Park

Arcata Community Forest

Click for rough map.

My second backpacking trip on the Lost Coast fizzled with an email that permits were suspended on the 28th. Mine was for the 29th finishing today, so no additional watching the sea lions play for me. I guess it saved me from one dreary rain day and a second rather heavy rain day. What to do? Another Quest? There's one at the Arcata Community Forest. It's just the smallest circle through the trees beside Redwood Park. The lots are open for parking with just a sign stating that the gates will actually be getting locked after January. I'm sure I'll be out before dark. I found my way to the larger lot which is also the lesser used, so there was plenty of space. There are a few groups using the park. A slackline hangs slack at one end by a group of three spread out and a larger group of 20-somethings are collected at the other end almost spread out. Otherwise, there's a few singles scattered about the grass with one trying to get a big kite decorated with a dragon up into the wind. He doesn't seem to be having much luck. He's probably standing too close to the tall tree wind break behind him. So it's a perfectly ordinary park, except for the torn up caution tape decorating the playground equipment. The Quest begins on the far side of the grass at trail #1.

Lots of space in Redwood Park at the moment. The equipment doesn't look as tough as the stuff we got as kids, but then our stuff always had a bit that wiggled a lot.

My tramp across the grass is forestalled when I notice the bright red of rhododendron at the edge. They're in bloom! Well, two of them growing with far more sun than usual are.

Showy red flowers of a bush with big plain leaves. There's rhododendron in bloom.

And then past the sign for the trail and into the forest. The forest here has a floor cleared by being so close to the park. Many feet have wandered it even where the paths do not go. I'm sticking to the path and looking for an octopus tree. I've been thinking those are the ones that split into numerous trunks or suddenly have a bunch of branches decide they should also be trunks, but there's a picture to help me find the tree they mean and it suggests they mean something different.

Lots of young trees with few ferns beneath at the edge of the park.

A sort of octopus tree growing up from the root of a fallen tree. But not the one they mean.

High up, there really is a lot of wind for that kite to grab. I have to watch the trees sway for a little bit. They never sway the same and the spaces around them are constantly changing when the wind blows.





Down on the forest floor, there seems to be a lot more trillium than there has been. It must be peaking.

There's a lot more trillium in bloom now. All the white dots are the big triple petal flowers.

Found it! The octopus tree with its "tentacles" embracing an old stump.

There's small group wandering among the trees, too. They all look like families. There's room to pass with plenty of mandatory "social distancing" space and room to step off the path if one decides to want more space. These are well used paths with a long history of people stepping aside. Some of the trails further up are old roads and probably still get used by vehicles for maintenance.

Such clusters of trillium.

A large burned out stump, but not large for here.

This is second growth forest logged about 150 years ago. The Quest brings my attention to all the stumps and all the trees. It tries to put in a grand light how many more trees there are now. Little trees. Some are reaching high already, but they are so skinny.

Looking up past another stump, this one growing plenty of new things.

I'm to head down and across a bridge and up toward the ridge to a "special seat to rest your feet." I can find the down slope and the bridge, but not the seat. I head up at the junction past the bridge to see if it's that way. Nope, and it puts me on trail that is not part of the track shown in the map. Down? Nope, and I'm quickly running out of room for the next stops. Back the way I came to last known good position doesn't help find it either. Somewhere between that bridge and junction, surely.

Found the bridge. It is actually after a smaller bridge. Somewhere in those few short switchbacks is a "special seat".

The redwood sorrel seems to put up different flowers around here. Many of the leaves aren't strongly red on the underside, too.

They really are some tall trees.

The next stops are easy enough to find. One at a massive stump. There's a tree behind it that seems particularly large for the forest. It looks big enough to have been medium when the loggers came. There are plenty of medium stumps, but it is a bit misshapen looking. Maybe that saved it. Maybe the fact it is practically in the stream has simply allowed it to grow big that much faster.

A stop for a nurse log (well, nurse fallen stump) includes a tease for salamanders, but I can only find banana slugs on the sword ferns.

Some eight inches of banana slug climbing sword ferns.

And then it finishes and I have to find my answer to the final question among the creek crossings in the forest.

Finishing up among a pair of bridges under the trees.

In spite of the blooms beside the grass, I saw not so much as a bud on the ones in the forest. It's still not time to go on an expedition to see them. I have been told April and May and it's now April! Barely! There's more flowers to be found around the park as I return to the car.

A delightful splash of purple. More have already turned to pods on the left.

More wild onions at the edges.

The planted azalea are also blooming already.

As I pass, the little lot is full and has a few creative parking spots getting used. The big lot still isn't even halfway to full.




©2020 Valerie Norton
Written 9 Apr 2020