English continous below
Im Zeitraum September bis Dezember war ich drei Monate beruflich in Kalifornien. An den Wochenende blieb zum Glück reichlich Zeit meinem Hobby nach zu gehen. Da ich diese Erinnerungen mit meinen amerikanischen Freunden Teile, habe ich mich entschlossen die Beiträge auf Englisch zu verfassen.
Big Bassin Redwoods State Park
In the period September till December 2018 I was on a business trip to California. On the weekends, I was lucky enough to have spare time to go hiking and exploring the State and National Parks.
My first trip brought me to the Redwoods National Park – this is where those giant trees can be found. Even though I left quite early in the morning, when I arrived at the reception desk, all the campsites were occupied or reserved. I was told to come back at 4:30 pm and I might get lucky and secure a camp-site and have a place to set up my tent.
I wondered what to do with the next few hours? Go hiking, of-course!. A look at the signpost revealed several different hiking options. A short trip around the campground looked a bit too easy, so I decided on the longer trail. Later on it should turn out, that this decision was no good…
I started my trip at the campground, where one single slice of a tree giant is hang up. The annual tree rings of that slice are labeled, showing the years like e.g. the first settlement, going back almost 1.000 years. Astonishing and hard to believe, that those trees stood here in times, when Germany was still stuck in the dark ages.
Time passed by as I followed the path and enjoyed tremendous outlooks, and I was really overwhelmed by the sheer size of the trees. While fascinated by the art of nature, I almost stumbled over a snake. I still do not know what kind of snake it was or if it was venomous, but it brought my heartbeat rate up quickly. But that was not the only reason for a high heartbeat and shortness of breath. I somewhat underestimated the hilly character of the landscape. The number of miles should not have prevented me from returning to the reception office by 4:30 pm. But with the terrain, that I might get into trouble.
I really had to speed up for the last few miles. After a while, I arrived sweaty but happy at the reception desk at the very last moment. I was almost last in a crowd of people waiting for the park office to give out any available campsites for the night. Luckily the distribution was based on a first-come, first-served. And since I arrived early and placed my name on the list, I got a campsite. When I arrived at the assigned site, I set up my poncho tarp, cooked myself a meal, and fell asleep.
The next day, I continued my trip up north to a spot called Half-Moon Bay recommended by my co-worker. It is really a very picturesque bay, its slight slope giving it the form of a half-moon. White sands, blue sky, the sound of waves, and a breeze from the ocean made me feel close to paradise. I took a nap because, frankly speaking, the sleep the night before was not as refreshing as it could have been. Maybe I need some other setup than just a poncho. But, I had to keep in budget with the space and weight of my trekking gear when it came to packing my suitcase.
Half moon bay
After some relaxing, I decided to take a walk along the beach before calling it a day. Only a few people were at the beach. This suits me very well. I like being out in nature and enjoying nature by itself. In Germany, a beach like this would be overcrowded and some would require an entrance fee to get to the shoreline. While having these thoughts, I spotted some pelican birds flying by. I have never seen pelican birds in the wildlife before. And as if this was not enough, I spotted dolphins in the shallow water. Oh yes, this is really the place to be. I thought to myself, what a lucky guy I am.
Lucky and confident that I would be keeping those pictures in my heart and soul, I returned home.