Sunset over the jetty off Samoa Peninsula.
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NorthWestward Ho!:

Hank and Barbara
(finally) visit
Eureka, California

15-16 September 2005


Thursday, September 15

After bidding a fond farewell to the Youth Hostel folks, we made a last visit to Prairie Creek State Park. We hiked a portion of the beautiful Brown Creek Trail....

...where we could see evidence of forest dynamics everywhere we turned.

New trees take root on precarious remnants of fallen "nurse" trees...

...while tiers of fungi form wherever the opportunity presents itself...

...recently cut trees show their age...

...and a stately sword fern mingles with a wild crowd of redwood sorrel.

A little reminder of home near the park's Visitor Center.

A few miles down Hwy 101, after leaving the park, we encountered another, larger, herd of Roosevelt elk, including the bull...

...his lovely harem...

...and extended family.

Continuing down Hwy 101, we missed the exit for Patrick's Point Drive, a scenic alternate route that runs from Patrick's Point through Trinidad, but we were able to join it at the next exit and were glad we did.

The cliffs overlooked rocky coves far below....

...and offered tantalizing views of Patrick's Point State Park off in the distance.

We stopped in Arcata for lunch at the Wildflower Cafe. What a great town! We walked around Arcata Plaza, stopped in a few shops (including the used book store, of course), and then drove through the Arcata Community Forest: an extensive redwood forest within the city limits that is criss-crossed with numerous hiking and biking trails. Amazing!!

Finally, we arrived in Eureka, a city renowned for its Victorian-style houses like...

...the Pink Lady and...

...the William Carson Mansion.

We stayed at the Ship's Inn B&B which offered...

...a cozy sitting room...

...a welcoming entryway, a comfy bed, and a refreshing evening treat of chilled cucumber water and chocolates! Thanks, Genie!!

Before going to dinner at the fabled Samoa Cookhouse, we drove down toward the tip of Samoa peninsula to see what we could of the sunset through the gray clouds.

It didn't look promising.

The grim spectre of a gray day sunset.

The spot where we had pulled over was directly across the Jetty Rd from a smoke- and noise-belching paper mill. Although the ocean view was terrific, it certainly lacked a certain je ne sais quoi in terms of contemplating one's natural environment, if you get my drift. So, we took off in search of a more suitable location, which we found in the small park at the southern tip of the peninsula.

Not long after we got settled there, the sun began to emerge below the dense cloud bank that had obscured it!

Although the jetty interrupted our view of the sky and ocean, it served as a clear benchmark against which we could gauge the sun's progress toward the horizon.

The following pictures are from a series of photos taken from roughly the same position while the sun was setting. I've scaled each of them to standardize and align the jetty silhouette so the sun's course can be seen.

on to Leggett ...