Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

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Hadar
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Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by Hadar »

This adventure began with a phone call from my best friend from undergrad, Adison. We used to plan a girls trip every 6 months no matter where in the world we were living but eventually jobs (lack of vacation time), distance (money), and very different schedules kept us apart. :( It had been 3 years since our last trip in which I got Adison started on herping with the help of one of my favorite "B bro", Chris Boguslawski.

Being Spartans (Go Green!) we always have to have an element of danger, a splash of spontaneity, and endless fun. We were talking about how we would out do our previous escapades of Zombie March, Pride Parade, World Naked Bike Ride, and becoming bffs with "TNT" the owner of a lovely Boystown adult entertainment/supply business. We decided to road trip down to Redwood National Park and meet up with badass herper Natalie in Arcata before heading to Portland so Adison could spot her first hipster.

Part 1: California

Adison and I started in Crescent City where we hiked the coastal section of Redwood National Park. Adison saw a couple lizards and a garter snake but they had escaped into the foliage before I was able to get a good look at them. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed watching the seals and sea lions play in the waves. When we made it to Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway I insisted that we stop to walk among the giants that surrounded us. The air was crisp and fresh, the best my lungs have experienced in my lifetime. After a mandatory tree hugging and some bark petting, we stood inside a dead sequoia and admired new growth sprouting from the skeleton of the dead tree. Being a child of the late 80's, I immediately thought of Magi Lune, "There are worlds within worlds...Everything in our world is connected by the delicate strands of the web of life, which is a balance between the forces of destruction and the magical forces of creation." Thanks FernGully! In the forest, dark fell quickly so we continued on our way. As we were leaving Adison asked me how this forest compared to the rain forests I've traveled to around the world. I explained that we were in a rain forest, just a temperate one. Even though the world's tallest trees towered over us (average height of 165-280 ft and average diameter of 20-26 ft), they seemed smaller than the Ceibas of Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil (average height 230 ft). I don't know why I felt that way. Maybe the redwoods weren't as intimidating without the thorns on the trunk. Perhaps it had something to do with the mythology behind the ceiba, how it connects the different planes of the world from the land to the skies to the Underworld. Whatever it was, the redwoods felt more like ancient beings indifferent to the existence of humans. Like (ready for another 80's reference?) Morla but less melancholy.

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We drove into the sunset, down a roller coaster of winding roads until we arrived in Arcata to join Natalie herping at her stomping grounds. Natalie and I were trying to explain how to herp by eye shine to Adison and more importantly, distinguishing the reflection of salamander eyes from that of the thousands of spiders surrounding us. I was also looking for banana slugs to show Adison since she had never seen one and I was describing their mating ritual during our hike earlier in the day. Weather wise it wasn't a great evening but we still found 10 Ensatina climbing old growth trees (not where I was expecting to find them). Using eye shine, Natalie found our first Dicamp with only its head sticking out of a hole. Not sure why I found this so amusing but for some reason seeing the Dicamp with his hat of clover just made me laugh. Another fun find was a slender salamander who had wedged itself into the crack of a tree stump surrounded by needles. The camouflage reminded me of the catkins of a loblolly pine.

We left the old growth forest site to head to a creek where we found a large Dicamp on the crawl in the leaf litter and several larval Dicamps and torrents. The torrents ranged from less than an inch long to 3 inches. I still haven't figured out a good way to photograph these guys in the water at night. If anyone has ideas, let me know. Before calling it a night Natalie and I flipped a large log and uncovered the longest slender salamander I've ever seen.

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The next day we explored more of the national park. We started driving towards our first hike when our car was surrounded by Roosevelt elk and we had to stop until they decided to move on.

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We didn't check the distance of our first hike before we started and left the map in the car so for 20 minutes we debated whether we should turn around. We decided to keep going but to take the map with us from then on. After five more hikes we were doing good on time so we decided to do one more. The park rangers had recommended Fern Canyon and reading the description it sounded like a great place to find Dicamps and frogs. We were warned that the road to the trail was filled with potholes and partially flooded. It made for an exciting and bumpy ride. We had to walk the last few miles to the trail-head. On our hike there we stumbled upon a large group of teenage boys who were playing chicken with a small group of elk (two adults and a baby). I was half hoping the elk would maul the pestering boys but nothing happened.

After Fern Canyon we discovered that the bridges on the trail were not in place, since it was the off season, so log climbing and walking through the creek was required. While hiking in the canyon I checked the creek for Dicamps. When I saw movement I rushed over to investigate and discovered a tailed frog tadpole. I was quite excited since I had only seen the adults before and found the tail markings to be remarkable. We trail wasn't well marked so we were relieved when we saw a sign on the bank and a set of stairs. Adison was really liking climbing the logs and saw another path further down the creek so we stayed in the canyon instead of taking the stairs up thinking that the trail looped back down again. We had been hiking for an hour and the Fern Canyon trail was supposed to be a short loop so I was surprised we hadn't reached the end of the loop. I asked Adison for the map and realized we had left Fern Canyon trail and gotten on another trail which was 5 miles out of the way. If we had started earlier it wouldn't have had been an issue but the sun was setting in 15 minutes. We quickly turned around and headed out of the canyon.

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The youtube video of the tailed frog tadpole doesn't seem to want to show here but if you wish to view it, click on the link below.
https://youtu.be/tx_2mKnus8s

When we emerged from the canyon the sun was mostly set. I walked towards a freshwater pond along side the beach where frogs were calling. With the low light it was difficult to see but beautiful nonetheless. We waded through marsh to the beach and walked along the sand until the tide started coming in. With the hike back to the car and the long ride after that, we decided to take a short cut through the meadow and a small forested area. When we were walking out of the trees we heard a snort. To either side of us were elk (the adults from before but the baby was no where to be seen). Knowing how upset elk can get if you get between them and their offspring, and not knowing where the baby was due to the lack of light, I suggested to Adison that we speak clearly and monotone to make the elk aware of our presence and avoid spooking them. We avoided eye contact and walked slowly past the elk successfully without upsetting them. When we finally made it to the car we once again were surrounded by elk. I tried turning my headlights on and off to encourage them to move but that just caused one of them to bow its head and start to paw at the ground so I stopped and waited.
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Our third day we hiked some more and then went herping in Del Norte county. There we found a couple Painted Ensatina and more slenders. One of the painted Ensatina was an adult under a log by itself and the other was a juvenile, hanging out with a slender salamander.

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Here is the list of herps we found over the three days. The lizards and garter snake are not included since I was unable to identify them.

11 - Oregon Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis)
4 - Coastal Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus)
4 - California Slender Salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus)
2 - Southern Torrent Salamander (Rhyacotriton variegatus)
1 - Western Tailed Frog (Ascaphus truei)
2 - Painted Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii picta)

We also found many banana slugs but the spotted cow was my favorite.

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On the drive back up to Oregon I got tired of being in the car so we stopped at Grants Pass to grab lunch around 2:30 pm. It was the dining experience Adison had been looking forward to after watching the first season of Portlandia in preparation for her trip. Our waiter came over and sat down at the table with us and walked through every option on the organic, locally grown, gluten-free, vegan menu and explained how the restaurant specializes in custom ordering. We were questioned about our dietary requirements and preferences before personalized suggestions were made. I was most excited about the markers they provided us to draw on the tables. I left them my rendition of Ensatina eschscholtzii picta. Adison offered to drive the rest of the way after lunch. She tried to kill us before we even got out of Grants Pass when she spaced out and ran a red light into oncoming traffic. I told her that I would drive after that.

Part 2: Oregon

I'm going to skip most of our Portland adventures since none of the stories are related to herps but since I had a request about the drive-by shooting story, I will tell just that one. Fast forward through a long, exhausting, packed yet beautiful day in the city and stop at sunset near the river with Adison and I debating where to go for dinner. Adison was checking every review Urbanspoon had for the entire Portland metropolitan area while I took in the view. Suddenly, I heard screeching tires from behind me and I looked down the street to see a cloud of smoke. As I continued to watch, I saw a black car weaving through traffic. Not just in the next lane, but into oncoming traffic and on the sidewalks as well. Having already been hit by a car once in Oregon and not trusting this approaching car, I jumped off the sidewalk and into a parking lot where I pressed my body against the brick building beside me in case this car decided to take a shortcut through the lot. Adison saw me jump out of the corner of her eye so she looked up to see what had startled me. By the time she did the passenger in car had crawled mostly out of the window. Only his ankles remained in the vehicle. His arms rested on the hood of the car and his face was partially covered by a shiny black instrument that he was looking through and holding steadily with his arms. Being familiar with Detroit, Adison immediately ducked and screamed believing that shining black metal to belong to a pistol. The driver rolled down his window at this and shouted before continuing his race over the bridge, running through 4 red lights that I could see. We had been part of a drive-by shooting, only that black instrument was a camera and I can only imagine what responses were captured that day.
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Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by Hans Breuer (twoton) »

Great story - thanks for taking the time! Looking forward to the drive-by shooting now.

PS: Spartans stand for "endless fun"? That's not what I learned from the Classics.....
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Hadar
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by Hadar »

Hans Breuer (twoton) wrote:Great story - thanks for taking the time! Looking forward to the drive-by shooting now.

PS: Spartans stand for "endless fun"? That's not what I learned from the Classics.....
I added the drive-by shooting story for you. When it's MSU Spartans it does, we are "a riot".
NACairns
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by NACairns »

Great story and very cool species. Fern Canyon looks amazing how long does is stay so narrow?
Thank you for sharing,
Nick
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Hadar
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by Hadar »

NACairns wrote:Great story and very cool species. Fern Canyon looks amazing how long does is stay so narrow?
Thank you for sharing,
Nick
The Fern Canyon trail is a 1.1 mile loop, narrowing at times to 30 feet across but most of the time it is ~100 feet across or more (I would estimate). My friend and I continued down Home Creek and didn't take the loop back. Instead we hopped on James Irvine Trail which is not a loop and would've been 9.5 miles to finish, plus the portion of fern canyon we had already done and the hike back to the car. That's why, with 15 minutes until sunset, we turned around instead of continuing on with 1 head lamp and a small flash light. If we had started earlier I would've stayed on the James Irvine Trail. The canyon walls are 50 feet above you on either side and there are ferns everywhere. I love ferns so this was a piece of Heaven to me.
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jonathan
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by jonathan »

Nice trip report!
NACairns
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by NACairns »

Thanks Hadar,
I had read about it and seen it in other media but I was unsure. It is added to the list for the family road trip this summer. Any idea what sort of herp activity will be like in late July? May I ask you the same question for Corvallis?
Thanks
Nick
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Hadar
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by Hadar »

NACairns wrote:Thanks Hadar,
I had read about it and seen it in other media but I was unsure. It is added to the list for the family road trip this summer. Any idea what sort of herp activity will be like in late July? May I ask you the same question for Corvallis?
Thanks
Nick
Nick,

I'm not certain. This will be my first July herping Corvallis, last July I was on crutches. Richard would know though. As for Redwood National Park, I would check with Natalie. Matt and Jonathan might know too. They are more familiar with the area since they grew up in these parts. I'm just a transplant, almost a year in.

Cheers, Heather
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jonathan
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by jonathan »

Unfortunately, I've never herped that habitat in the summer either. When I was growing up the only spots I ever herped were extreme NW Oregon and the north Cascades, and since I got serious about herping I haven't managed to make any summer trips along the coast yet.
NACairns
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by NACairns »

Thanks Heather and Jonathan,
I'll post a request for advice in the next couple days-weeks and hopefully some of those folks will be able to speak to the area at that time of year. From growing up on Vancouver Island I found July to be a bit low on activity but the Okanagan is hopping. We might have to give up on salamanders and drive a little inland for Phrynosoma douglasii but it is hard to skip the Willamette Valley and its Thamnophis s. concinnus. Any ways, I really like this post, great inspiration.
Best to both of you,
Nick
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nightdriver
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Re: Redwood National Park and Humboldt County

Post by nightdriver »

I thought the spotted ones were "ripe" banana slugs ;)

Nice post. I love that area of the world.

-nightdriver
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