Freshwater Lagoon

Redwood National Park

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I stopped at the parking lot just outside of the gate for the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center. (The gate is locked at 5PM, so inside is not a good option.) I figured I'd hike the beach over to the Gyon Bluffs to check out what they look like from the north, then cross over to the lagoon and hike back. After, I could loop around the beach to Redwood Creek, then back along a boardwalk. There's parking all along the side of US-101 above the beach, so there's people scattered all along the beach too.

Looking north, there's a picnic area with sheltered group areas and the visitor center.

There's lots of sandy beach between me and Gyon Bluffs.

Signs all along the parking by the highway illustrate that this is a particularly dangerous beach due to the way it drops off steeply just under the water. They indicate the waves will pull you down under along that slope and keep you there. The warning of strong undertow (and rather somewhat chill weather) was keeping everyone but a tight group of four surfers out of the water. They seemed to be out for practice. They caught waves frequently and then rode them for about 3 seconds before dropping out and swimming the short way back out.

One surfer at the end of a run just long enough to say you got it.

The wave action does seem to confirm the signs. The backwash forces up breakers that already broke into new breaker breakers. If that makes sense. This close barrel came up and broke in just a few feet.

One woman with two young kids may have taken the signs a little too much to heart for the current conditions. She didn't seem to want to be anywhere near where the waves might wash up, but still wanted a look for everyone. Maybe she was just scared of the ocean. Oceans are big and worthy of fear, but it's alright to touch the foam when it is calm.

"Then the tide rushes in and washes my castles away." It's a good beach to stop and experience beach so long as you aren't going far into the water.

Mussel Point looks closer from 2 miles off in the afternoon than it did from 1 mile off in the morning.

I found the bluffs to be just as impassable as they were a week before from the other side. Also, they have a tunnel through them right at the end. I waited a little to see if the tide would go out far enough to more happily explore it, but of course it didn't. Splashing over would have been reasonable, but I didn't.

Erosion throws up so many delights.

Close up, the bluffs are full of colors.

I have seen what looks like a bulldozer track up the side of the bluffs, so I followed that up to see what trails might be there. It is an orange clay and was just dry enough not to be slick in most places. At the top, there is a small use trail winding through the brush. I pushed my way along it a short way and turned back. It has branches that step out to look over the edge and I paused at one which wasn't so interesting a view.

From up on Gyon Bluff, there is the only view of it all from the Pacific Ocean to Freshwater Lagoon.

I made my way down carefully and nearly slipped anyway. I started along the parking area, then decided to try my luck for going along he side of the lagoon. I crossed the road and found a path down to it, but walking along the edge didn't get me very far before willows tried to push me into the water. I couldn't go along the side.

Down at the edge of Freshwater Lagoon.

I had to go back up and walk along the highway. It has a large shoulder along that section, so it could be worse. There's a road to use for boating on the lagoon that I followed when I got to it. It follows along about half of the lagoon that the highway follows.

An unmatched pair of ducks on the lagoon.

I crossed back over the highway and took the same trail down to the beach that I had taken before, this time wandering to Redwood Creek. There were clues with the light and angle to suggest that it's really not very crossable at the moment. The seals were still hanging out at the edge.

Redwood Creek and the harbor seals and the houses on Orick Hill.

There are seals in the creek as well. This one was a little up on the barrier beach.

I just can't resist another seal photograph.

I crossed the South Slough almost as easily as I had crossed the North Slough earlier. This one actually used to be the last turn of the creek, which follows the channel of the Middle Slough now. The old channel is more of a lagoon.

The South Slough can be quite a bit deeper, but it was nearly dry sand this day.

Charismatic megafauna with a few making sure I don't go running across the water at them.

I climbed up onto the levee then followed a little trail east from it. It branched off to the beach again, but I followed it through a little Sitka spruce forest. The South Slough gets steadily deeper going upstream. It also has flow, so it really is upstream. I eventually splashed across it quickly. If I'd brought my poles, I'd have probably tried to balance on the little logs that offered drier routes across.

Beside the South Slough looking at it sinking into the sand on its way to Redwood Creek. The trees are Sitka spruce.

There was very little view of the bulk of Sough Slough as I made my way to the boardwalk. There should have been a good view from the end of the boardwalk, but someone seems to have purposefully rendered it unusable. The boards have been taken up as it goes out over the water. The handrails have been cut away. Boards have been added blocking both sides. Willows and blackberries have been allowed to grow across it. So much for checking out the boardwalk.

In case all of that isn't enough, there's a nice, big closed sign on the boardwalk for informational purposes.

The rest of the boardwalk isn't in much better shape. All the boards are still there. They're actually nice and solid too. The willows and blackberries reach across it to make it hard to continue. It seems like there might be a steady flow of people who try to loop around and branches are broken enough to allow passage. There are trails off the sides going around large willow branches. When I could see the visitor center roof, I also saw trail cutting over to the road past the parking lot. I didn't guess it would be the boardwalk that would be hard to walk. I almost got through the day without getting stabbed by blackberries too. The rest of the way back was nice and easy, including around that locked gate to the outside parking.




©2021 Valerie Norton
Written 22 Mar 2021