Never touch, molest, or otherwise interfere with mammals on beaches.

The emerald green, teal, peacock, and cyan of the pacific northwest is brilliant.

Eureka! is at sea level. Only a little bay separates the city from the immense ocean.

Coves of beaches and freshwater lagoons wrap around redwood forested mountains. It has not rained yet, I was expecting rain.

The peaks hid areas from the daylight and frost was covering the ground. When the sun dif end up hitting the frosted grass and trees it sizzled and created a fog.

It looked like there was snow cover. Where there was full sun it was warm, and the shadows were bitterly cold. Marshes, meadows and woods weaved in and out of the scenery.

So Redwood National Park is rather a series of parks that happen to be a National Park. Like Death Valley there wasn't a real entry point, and trails were hard to find since there wasn't a map. I first entered what was called Elk Meadow. I got sad that I didn't see any elk at first.

Uh, apparently they did know this meadow for them so they were in someones yard. At first I thought they were fenced in because there was a gate beside them. The gate was just blocking a driveway, and the elk were just chillin by the roadside.

A whole herd was there. The whole family eating lunch together.

The highway ran through the park and redwoods were all around.

The sea was gorgeous. Waves crashing, wind blowing, whales...hidden somewhere, but they were there. To think that there is soooo incredibly much area covered in water.

The mid day sun gleamed over the surface like diamonds.

The Klamath River inlet battled the incoming waves.

These two bulls I saw after the herd were still there after I had drove back. A dog was outside just staring at them intently. He didn't bark but it made me think of how Dinosaur would freak out and bark at cows, horses, or anything she thought was another animal she didn't know of, including fake owls. I miss my girls, Geode don't be afraid to show Dino you mean business.

So more elk were showing off in front of some cabins. Wow, how I would love to wake to these guys every morning.

This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife, how did I get here?

Ok, so not as large as a moose but way bigger than a deer. If you met this guy in the middle of the road both of your days would be made a lot worse. Awe man would I like to ride one with a big staff made out of crystals wearing a headdress made of peacock feathers. I'd paint him florescent orange and pink, leaving his head natural, but gold leafing his antlers. But that's just me.

I finally got to walk a trail. The grove of redwoods are unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, the Sequoias are amazing, but I like the Redwoods better. These trees are have similar proportion that I am used to and just look freakin huge, the sequoias have some funky proportions. And these guys don't have to be thousands of years old to be large.

Oh they look just normal sized...but hundreds of feet over everything else.

Everything had some green on it.

Boy was it chilly with the weather for one, and in the shade of the trees.

Dinosaur habitat anyone? Scenes like this were everywhere, but with a Tyrannosaurus Rex coming through.

It was dark inside this tree, but the charred interior was being invaded by green moss and looked great.

The logs are massive. The dead red leaves littered the otherwise greenness of the area.

The visitors center I finally found, and exiting I found a sly guy. He saw me before I saw him, and he wanted no part of it.

It was after four o'clock so the sun was setting......4. The beaches waves looked inviting. Surfers with their gear on tried their luck at the surf. I stood just watching the waves come in and stepping back when the waves came near my boots.

The mist off the ocean was eerie and great.

Watching the waves come in and seep into the black sand was thrilling.

I stood away from the furthest waves and I was alright, until a wave came in from the damn side and surrounded me. Boots wet.

The sun rays over the black sand and crashing waves was peaceful. I have a lot on my mind and it helped put me at ease for a bit.

The clouds covered the sun and let the light struggle through. My day was nearing an end. I hope you all are enjoying this scenery for yourselves. I hope you never have the same reason to leave such as mine, but I hope very much that you can enjoy what this magnificent planet has to offer us in the near future.

A house divided can not stand, said Lincoln. The continental divide has been there for a REAL long time Linlcon. Get your shit straight.

I am not dead yet. This trip is saving my life. Be sure to READ everything that is here before you make my life harder right now than it already is. Read the header to Magical Wonderfulness to try and understand for yourselves what is happening here. I am trying to be upbeat, excited and amazed at what I am seeing out here, and I am trying to share that with others. Rocky Mountain National Park is amazing, and a park ranger knowing my name worries me, and complicates things, and gets my mind back onto what I am getting away from! SO STOP. You will hopefully understand more as time goes on. As will I. You can meet Randy and some elk when you read further.

Of all the things behind a McDonald's, this has to be one of the prettiest and less gross.

As soon as I got onto the Andrew's Glacier trail I started noticing florescent orange markers. If you are one to know anything about me, you know that this was amazing for me. OH, that amazing scenery with the surprising dash of the most artificial color. Yes. And this made me think of something I'll go into further.

There was anywhere from 3-17 inches of snow on the ground the whole way. The glacier I was heading to was nestled on top of the continental divide.

It was a blistering 45 degrees when I got to the trail-head and I was bundled up even more than yesterday after learning my lesson on cold and wind. Well I was hot and ended up taking my hat off and opening my coat. A survival lesson to be learned in the cold is to NEVER sweat. Sweat happens to col your body and that is very bad when it is already very cold outside, hypothermia can set in if you're not careful. Thanks "Survivor Man" for teaching me this and other wonderful insights that I hope to use one day. It's on the Discovery Channel, but a similar show called Man vs. Wild is terrible in comparison. That jackass just goes around doing stupid shit to get him in danger while always having a medical team on hand and Survivorman is alone and tapes all of his stuff and just spends a week showing what you need to do to survive in different areas.

Markers everywhere for a long while. Great.

the camera doesn/t even show the intensity of the color.

The ridge up to the glacier was spectacular.

Ope! Beautiful.

The trail was heavily traveled and every Aspen had carvings from ground level to head high.

The rock in this gorge was so shear and foreboding.

The view above was altered by an airplane that had passed some time ago.

I love you.

Casey Roberts, what trees do you use in your work? These Aspen remind me of the lines that your trees have. Just let me know, tell no one else.

Two feet of snow on the ground and beautiful snow covered pines...spruce...?

Such straight, tall trunks.

So I finally got near the glacier. The wind kicking down the mountain was fierce and made the trail hard to find. These tracks I made were covered when I cam back 10 minutes later.

The wind raced across the lake with frightening speed. It was hard to stand and take pictures.

This was similarly what the snow cover looked like once I got to this lake. The trail was completely covered. The black is thin ice and water. My foot went through and the sole of my boot touched ice water. Needless to say I was standing scared shitless of what was water or solid ground. There was no trail left to see anywhere except where I had come from and I was watching that disappear.

The dip in the ridge above was the glacier and I had come so far and was so close. I had to turn back, I wasn't about to walk back 7 miles with a wet foot. And the wind was whipping through two layers of gloves and both of my hats. My eyes being exposed felt like they were being sandblasted.

I really wanted to see the glacier before it was gone forever...turn off lights you're not using and don't drive when you don't have to damn it. Plant a tree.

I failed to mention the wildlife before. I didn't catch a picture of squirrels or a PIKA yesterday. (As in Pikachu's name sake, they aren't yellow or electricity though.) This squirrel species is very tiny. It is so gratifying to not know anything about the flora or fauna, I want to learn. This squirrel is so small, its defense is to yelp like a cross between a squirrel and a bird, to let you know JUST where to find the damn thing. Then, if it is on a branch or something, it violently shakes and looks like its is frightened to death. I don't know if this was to attract others or scare me, but it was cute and looked like i scared the crap out of it. Oh, and they straighten their arms out and look as if they are throwing out gang signs. DENVER, WHAT!? STRAIGHT OUT OF RMNP. WHAT!? So cute.

Sadly this trail doubled back on itself and I just had to look the opposite direction instead of see more diverse conditions. The difference was the sun was setting.



This species of tree has purple bark, super green needles, and the needles come in balls. My kind of beautifully weird tree.

I got back to my car and since there was still light I wanted to go over the cintinental divide and see the scenery.

On top of the mountains, overlooking more mountains, yes please.

When I got to a spot to stop the car and get out and look a nice Park Ranger named Randy wanted to make sure I knew that this area was mainly for enjoyment during the day. I said I was about to leave and it came up that I was from Indiana. "Is your name Shane?" Randy asked, "...UH, ya, how do you know that?" I replied. He was on the lookout for a Shane driving a white car. Wow. Ok, so people are worried about me and I know why. I am here because I wanted to get away from what was happening in my life and not have to think about the things that were wrong. I have no way of contacting people except through facebook and this blog, as I do not have a cellphone and payphones are almost extinct. I have plenty of money for a payphone, but the only one I have come across was in Kansas City and it was broken, then I saw that Delorean. I knew Randy knew what I had told Ani, and he had a concerned look trying to avoid asking me the big question. I told him I was fine, and that this journey was to try and save my life, and to find peace. He went on to say how he and a friend came west back in the day and ended up running out of money and starting a new life in San Diego. He was nice and I explained that I had bought an "America the Beautiful Pass" (that lets me get into all national parks for free within the year) and was on my way to see Arches, Death Valley, Sequoia and others. He used to work at Death Valley NP and said this was a great time to visit, and said the Grand Canyon was always good, but Zion National Park was a gem and that I should go there.

Right before I left he pulled up beside my car and warned me that there were 3 or 4 bull elk down the road and to watch out, or it would ruin everyone's day. Boy was he right. I was on my way out of the park and when the road bent my eyes grew ten-fold to see a humongous bull elk in another cars headlights. Holy crap these guys were huge. They were just chilling in and near the road, eating grasses and...something in the middle of the road, I couldn't tell what.

It was so dark I had to get the most horrible pictures, but I stood outside my car and watched them for a while.

And the elk said unto me... I love you all, do not worry about me or make my trip anymore complicated, please. If I had stayed everyone would be at a loss for a son, friend, mentally distraut ex-boyfriend, and all around great artist. I have Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, and a co-dependency. For those of you that have expressed that I care too much about what others think, you can learn why: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/borderline-personality-disorder-fact-sheet/index.shtml