Redwood National Park

Trees are SOOOOOOOOOOOO TALL!!!! This is the infamous redwood national park on the very north of California, only an hour away from the Oregon/California border. (Such a long drive T_T) It is a beautiful park right next to the Pacific Ocean. We arrived on Friday night, and spent 2 full days hiking around the park, and drove back down on Monday. It was a lot of driving (almost 1800 miles total), but it was all worth it. 
Driving from the south up, you will enter the Redwood National Park first, and then if you keep driving up on US-101 N, you will then hit the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, then if you keep driving, you will see the Jedediah Smith State Park. We hiked in all three parks, and they were all beautiful. Because of the canopies of the redwoods, the hikes are mostly under shades, and also the temperature is around 60-70, which is perfect hiking weather. It might be a little chilly in the beginning, but once you start walking for a while, you warm up.  

Sunset right next to the US-101

There are a couple of scenic drives in the area, including the Bald Hills Road, that actually leads you to the Tall Trees Trail. The Tall Trees Trail is accessible by permit only, but all you need to do is go to the visitor center and ask for it. It is free and the hike was not strenuous at all. Besides the Tall Trees Trail, the Bald Hills Road also passes through the Lady Bird Johnson Grove ( a very short, flat yet pretty hike) and the Redwood Creek Overlook (2100 feet). There is another scenic drive on the Howland Hill Road, which leads you to the Boy Scout Trail. This drive is located all the way up in the Jedediah smith Redwoods State Park, and on the way there, part of the US-101 is right next to the beach. You can pull over and literally walk to the beach, it is absolutely gorgeous. We went to the Boy Scout Trail, and this is one of my favorite hikes on this trip. It was a 5 miles round trip hike, and at the end of the trail, there's a little fern fall.
Also, on the way up there, you should pass by the "Trees of Mystery", and  one of the most appealing activities there is the SkyTrail! It is basically a cable car ride that goes through the forest tree tops, and you get a bird's eye view of the forest.

This is the view of our lunch on day

One thing you should definitely not miss is the Fern Canyon. We were driving on another scenic drive "Newton B Drury Parkway", and our plan was to walk from the Rhododendron Trail to the north westridge trail, through the Friendship Ridge Trail to the Fern Canyon Loop Trail. Unfortunately, we made some wrong turns, so we ended up hiking the south West Ridge trail down to the visitor center. We could have taken the James Irvine Trail to the Fern Canyon from the visitor center, but it was already noon, and hiking there and back to the car would be more than 8 miles. So, we decided to go back up through the Prairie Creek Trail to the car and drove to the another entrance of the Fern Canyon trail through Division Road. The Division Road is unpaved, with a couple of shallow streams that you will have to cross. It cannot be traversed by SUVs and RVs. Even with a small car, you will need to be super slow for your bumper. After you survived the drive, the hike is less than a mile, and it was absolutely amazing (you forget all the trouble it took to get here until you have to drive back lol). The walls are covered with ferns, and some of the ferns are ancient species. dating back to 325 million years ago. You pass through some logs and streams of water on the trail, and you can see mini waterfalls dripping from the moss and ferns on the side. Definitely a very unique hike. (Fun fact: Steven Speilberg filmed a Jurassic Park II scenes here!!)

Fern Canyon

Since this area has very little light pollution, we decided that we should go see the stars! We drove all the way to the beach next to US-101 because we thought it would be a good spot to see the stars without all the tall trees blocking the sky. Unfortunately, it was SUPER FOGGY!!! You can see from the photo below, the one with light behind a house, it was just too foggy right next to the ocean. So, we decided to find another flat spot that is further away from the ocean on US-101, and as you can see from the picture below, we saw the milky way!!! OMG!!! SO PRETTY!!! (We have been to Bryce and Arches, and because of the altitude and even less light pollution, the stars were even crazier! But I forgot my tripod at the time..... bummer...) This is my first ever star photo!! (It wasn't very good.... but practice makes perfect, right?) I was hoping to get a picture with some trees or something for the background, but there is nothing around the place we took the picture...... Anyways, I will go back to the Arches one day!

On the way back, instead of taking the US-101 S all the way, we made a detour to another scenic drive "the avenue of the giants", the longest stretch of remaining virgin redwoods in the world. It is parallel to the US-101, so it is not exactly extra miles that we need to drive, just taking a different route. There are a couple spots you can stop by, like the Drury-Chaney Loop Trail we did, it is a nice short 2.5-mile-loop trail. There is also the Drive-Thru Tree that you can go to. It is a $6 entrance fee, and you literally drive your car through a big tree.

These trees are just magnificent!!! After hundreds and thousands of years, they still stand! There were earthquakes, fires (You can see fire scars on some of the trees, but they are still alive!), and God knows what else have they been through, but they are so resilient! (Until humans cut them down :/ What we see now is only 5% of the original) The largest sequoia is actually in the Sequoia National Park a couple hours south, called the General Sherman. It is 87 meters tall (286 feet) with a circumference of 34 meters (113 feet), and its estimated age is 1800-2700 years, one of the longest and biggest living organisms on earth. Below are some pictures I took during the trip! Enjoy!

Zion National Park - the Subway

It looks absolutely amazing! And it is even more stunning in real life. So we won the lottery and got the permit to go this incredible hike in Zion National Park. There are two ways to get to the subway, the top-down and the bottom-up. The top-down route is strenuous 9.5-mile hike that requires rappelling skills, 60 feet of rope and extensive route finding experience, as well as swimming through several deep pools of very cold debris-filled water. The bottom-up route is also a strenuous hike, but non-technical. It is a 9-mile round-trip hike that requires route finding, creek crossing and scrambling over boulders. 

We chose the bottom-up route because we do not have a lot of canyoneering experience. The hike begins at the left fork trailhead. We picked up the permit and got to the trailhead at around 9am. We packed a lot of water, energy bars, some fruits, and READY TO ROLL!!!! Guess what? We got lost! HAHAHAHA! Wasted more than an hour to find the right way!!! For those who might get lost like us, here's how to get there!!!! You follow the trail for about 10 minutes, and then you will see a split, one road keeps going forward, the other makes like a sharp U-turn. FOLLOW THE U-TURN! Then, keep walking for about 10 minutes, you should see a road with some stairs on your right, FOLLOW THE STAIRS! Keep walking, and you will eventually see a sign "entering zion wilderness". Then, you will be sort of on a cliff looking over the creek, follow the trails down the cliff (it is pretty steep) until you reach the very bottom. Once you hit the bottom, you will see another sign "left fork trailhead ->", that's the sign to help you recognize the turn when you come back. Turn left and follow the creek to the end and you will see the infamous SUBWAY! 

On our drive to the zion last night, we saw a lot of lightning and we were very worried that the weather is not going to be good today. There are warnings of possible flashfloods from the thunderstorm, but the weather is nice. It is slightly overcast, but it is a nice hiking weather. On the way to the subway, you will have to get your feet wet sooner or later. There are high grounds that you can walk besides the creek, but at some point, you will have to walk across the creek or follow the creek for a while. We saw a lot of dragonflies, tadpoles, etc. Closer and closer to the subway, you will start to see little cascade falls, and it was beautiful. Right before the entrance of the subway, you will see the largest cascade falls, and you will have to walk up the steps to the entrance. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL. At last, you will see the subway!!!! And if you keep going a little further, which requires going into some deep pools of water, there is a small little waterfall at the end. We were taking our time when we were heading there, and when we finally arrived, the thunderstorm arrived too. It started raining! And you can hear the thunder. We were worried about flashfloods, so we decided to hurry back! We made it back in 3 hours, and we were SOAKED (Thank God I brought my dry bag for the camera). When we arrived at the parking lot, our car is the only car left. We were exhausted, but the scenery is spectacular and it was FUN! 

Picture below is the subway, and just want to show you how magnificent it is when there's a person in the picture!

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We didn't want to leave right away the next day. So, we did another trail, the angels landing! This is the second time I do this hike, but the first time, we didn't go all the way to the end because we had crappy shoes, and they were way too slippery for cliffs. I was very excited that we finally made it to the top this time! This trail is only 2.5 mile one way, and the first 2 miles are paved, but very uphill! The last 0.5 mile did not feel like 0.5 mile AT ALL, and it is on a narrow sandstone ridge the whole time, with anchored support chains attached along most of the sections. Total elevation gain is almost 1500 feet. When you get to the top, it's all worth it. The 360 view of the canyons <3 Love it. There are still more trails in the zion that we haven't gone, and we will definitely come back for them! 

A recap of "The wave"

Yes. It is in the United States. Yes. It exists. And yes. It is stunning. Where is it? It is in Utah. From Wikipedia, "The wave is a sandstone rock formation, on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes, in the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness, on the Colorado Plateau'. In order to preserve this spectacular nature, only 20 people per day is allowed to go on this trail to see "the wave". You will need to enter a lottery to get the permit of this hike. It is only $5 to enter the lottery, and I got very lucky that I won the lottery in March and was able to experience this incredible scenery. (Apparently, there are people who try for years.... )

This whole area is basically compacted sand, and the wavy landscape is shaped by years of wind swirling around the sandstone. If you try to rub the sandstone with your finger (NOT recommended! We are trying to preserve this beautiful nature), the stone turns into sand. It is amazing how nature works, isn't it? The trail is very undefined, so we went with a tour guide (Dreamland Safari Tour). I do not want to risk getting lost, and dying of heat in the day/ dying in freezing cold at night, especially when I am a complete idiot when it comes to nature navigation. The tour guide is from Belgium, and 20 years ago, she decided to come to the states to learn English, and decided to stay here. After years of exploring difdifferent options, she finally found her passion in nature and decided to become a tour guide of the beautiful canyons. Very interesting and inspiring story.

It is a 7-mile hike round trip, and it was not very strenuous. Since we went in March, the weather was not too hot. Well..... it did get a little hot around 2-3 in the afternoon when the sun is right above you, but for the most part, it is a lot better than in summer. The very first picture above was the signature shot of the wave , which is spectacular, but on the way to this awesome destination, the scenery was absolutely amazing as well. Everywhere is sooooooo... what's the right word.... WAVY! In a way, I'd like to think it is the architecture of nature. We do have a lot of cool buildings, cathedrals, etc., but nothing like this. I can't help but feel humbled by the power of nature.

Speaking of the power of nature, 65 million years ago, dinosaurs went extinct because of some kind of natural disaster (there are a lot of different theories). And in the United States, Utah is one of the big playgrounds for the paleontologists, and fossils are constantly found in the area. (There is a Utah Natural Museum I believe.... if anyone is interested) Guess what we saw!! DINOSAUR TRACKS!!!! (Picture on the left) OMG!!!This is just too cool! They were not easy to spot, and fortunately, we have a tour guide to help us find them! Otherwise, there is no way on earth that we could have found it ourselves. Besides the ancient dinosaur tracks, there are also tracks of small animals that live around the area. You can see the little footsteps (picture on the right), and the tail being dragged along when it walks. (super duper adorable <3)

Below is one of my most satisfying shots of the trip. Believe it or not, as dry as it looks, it rains quite a bit here in the canyon, and it often causes flash floods. A lot of the hikers do not live in the area, and therefore do not understand the danger of flash floods. The current is so high that it can wash you away or even cars sometimes. (I was told by the tour guide) The day we were there, there is still water from the rain a few days ago, the reflection of the canyon and the sky in the water definitely made the shot!

This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kinda trip. Not that I don't want to go back to this beautiful landscape, it's just.... there are too many other places that I want to go..... and.... and...... there is only so much time and money..... Since I won this lottery, maybe it's time to invest on the money kind of lottery? (lol) If I have enough money, there is only ONE thing I want. Travel! I want to see the world, every corner of the world. From the common popular tourist cities (Paris, Rome, etc) to the very small villages in China to the safari in Africa to the glacier in Antarctica. Every accessible (Or inaccessible? I am very

adventurous) corner of the world, I want to see it! I want to take pictures of it to show the rest of the world what our world looks like. (I am working on the technique part.... ) What are the people like in different places? What are their cultures? What are their stories? Not to mention all the amazing scenery from different part of the world. I would die with regrets without seeing the world, which most likely is going to happen..... the world is big..... but I definitely would not forgive myself from not trying.

Go travel as much as you can! Experience the world! It is very different than watching the discovery channel or the national geographic channel, but I have to warn you, it is addicting.