It was another gorgeous day in the Redwoods. To get it going right away, we drove along the south bank of the Klamath River for a few miles to take a stroll out to the mouth of the river. What I suspect are California sea lions and some larger seals have set up housekeeping the sandbar at the mouth. It was high tide when we arrived and most of what we witnessed was groups of mammals team hunting salmon that are lurking at tidewater waiting for the river to rise after rain. The seals are particularly noisy, barking at each other even though separated by hundreds of yards. All the predation seemed to be very relaxed, at least from the standpoints of the predators.
We decided to return to see the feeding frenzy a bit later today at low tide and when all the fish will be obliged to run through a much narrower channel filled with teeth. We headed back upriver to 101 where we turned south again to the Newton B. Drury Parkway. The Parkway is much straighter, a lot shorter, absolutely gorgeous and does not require climbing another 1000′ on 101. The roads meet again about 15 miles south at Prairie Creek Redwoods. Our first stop was at the Ah Pah Interpretive Trail where we took another walk to check out the scenery on foot. There were some interpretive signs along the trail but none of them explained what an Ah Pah might be. We ambled between some more massive Redwoods although toward the far end of the trail the forest species become a bit more mixed with Douglas Firs and Hemlocks. Many of the Redwoods visible from the trail had bizarre appendages that would make Georgia O’Keefe blush. The Ah Pah is a very nice trail and is perfect for elderly, gimpy folks like me. There are some tripping hazards along the way but those paying attention will pass by easily.
We had plenty of day left when we returned to our truck so we drove south down the Parkway until we emerged near the visitor center and 101. From a distance that amazed me, I spotted some elk lurking behind the Ranger’s house. They were all large bulls. Mating season is almost here but the bulls are still separated from the cows. First will come the fighting, then the screwing before the bulls shirk their parental duties and wander off into their lonely winter existence to gamble or drink or whatever bull elk do.
We returned back to Kamp Klamath RV Park for lunch before we took another stab at going out to see the mammals eat the fish at the river mouth. It is probably only about 2 miles down the loop to our viewing spot overlooking the mouth but the road is one-way right in the middle so we had to drive the 6 or 8 miles around. It should be noted that going the long way in this part of the world may be better than the short way.
When we made it to our cliff side viewing spot, we could see the sea lions porpoising upstream in the rapidly running river where it was pinched on both sides by shoreline. The much larger seals were all snuggled up like a box of cigars on the far sandbar. They were offering noisy support from the shoreline as the sea lions snacked on the stream of fish flowing out of the mouth. Offshore, sea lions were body surfing in the waves and hanging around. There were lots of mammals hunting – maybe 50 or 100. Sea lions appear to be very astute and highly maneuverable hunters and it looks like the salmon had little chance in this gauntlet.
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