The Damnation Creek Trail is a 4.2 mile round trip trail that follows the route used by the Tolowa Indians to reach the ocean to gather shellfish and seaweed. This trail drops 1,000 feet through groves of old growth redwood and Sitka spruce to the outlet of Damnation Creek at the Pacific Ocean. I couldn’t find any info on why the creek was named ‘Damnation’…..I thought that it was perhaps the 1,000 ft elevation drop. ;- )
The hike was awesome! Good trail most of the way……
It is hard to describe the lushness…….the ferns, clovers, mosses and other undergrowth….
And the sheer SIZE of the redwoods! We felt like we were walking in some pre-historic landscape where the dinosaurs roamed……
We hiked down and down…..through this landscape of giants……until we began to get a glimpse here and there of the ocean………
As we emerged from the trees and beheld this amazing ocean, we fancied that we felt a bit of what the explorers Louis and Clark must have felt…..”There it is……the Pacific!”
The rocky shoreline……giving way to the sea……The Damnation Creek flowing into the Pacific.
We found a rock to sit on, and had our lunch……
And explored the tide pools along the shore…..
And just sat and enjoyed. The weather had warmed, and the wind was still (for the first time since we had been along the coast) and we were in no hurry to start the trek up.
By the way…..the hike up really didn’t seem so bad. We had made it down in about 1hr 45min (stopping for pictures, etc.) and hiked the 2.1 miles up in 1hr 15min without any problems. : )
What a cool hike! These redwoods seem wider than the ones around here.
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