Riding Amongst the Giants

A steady downhill in the redwood forest 

Dean, Alex, Myself and Tim, we’re really getting into this big tree experience 

Native Americans at a Pow Wow

Yurok Reservation in Northern California 

Entertaining the land of the giants

 Checking out a hollowed out redwood  I was happy to leave Crescent City, CA. It didn’t seem like a very safe place. I believe they relocated many of the people they released from the state prison there. Many of the people at the church kept reminding us to lock our bikes and to have someone always on guard while our biking clothes were drying in front of the church. The ride out of Crescent City began with 1,200 foot climb. I just took my time because half way up we entered Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. The climb actually seemed easy and once we reached the summit we descended at breakneck speed. Our first rest stop was in Klamath, which is an Indian Reservation. We arrived there on a good day. It was Klamath’s Salmon Festival. It was a large event that featured salmon dishes and other Indian delicacies. I had a delicious Indian Taco. It was on a large deep fried flat bread and had a topping of elk meat, beans, lettuce, jalapeños, tomatoes, shredded cheese and sour cream. They had a great band playing and many arts and crafts booths I really enjoyed people watching there. I felt a little sad for some of the Native Americans I saw. As with many of us, it seemed like their culture was slowly disappearing and there was just a shadow of their heritage left. There was a small group of Native Americans chanting in their old native tongue but only the older generation joined in while the younger people were involved in a very spirited basketball game. I marveled at how good the young girls were. I saw one young lady make a very athletic reverse layup. I left the salmon festival on a full stomach and headed to Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. The ride into the park was spectacular. For 9 miles I coasted slowly through a tunnel of ancient redwoods, stopping along the way to take pictures. I arrived at our campground and after an evening of good camp food and friendly conversation, I went to sleep in the dense forest and slept amongst the giants.