We all slept very well, Sophie topping the chart at 12 hours. The day was yet again perfect. We've hit a really nice spell since we arrived in San Francisco. After breakfast it was down to the lake for Ali and Sophie to take a dip in the cool water. The lake is surrounded by settlements, and thousands of homes hidden in the trees. You really have no idea how many places there are, as the trees come right down to the water, and the houses are all dark brown. It means that it seems quite unpopulated... until you see the rows of boats moored along the water's edge.
We took off in the car for a walk at Page Meadows. Lovely forest mainly conifer species but some lovely alders which are quite like our own silver birches and are distinguished by leaves which shimmer in the breeze and make a lovely rustling sound.
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| Tree sniffing |
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| Picnic Lunch |
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| Wolf lichen - dayglo lime colour |
The trail was generous, and nice and smooth underfoot. We walked about 8km over 2.5 hours with a good break on a log in the middle of the walk to have lunch. Sophie taught us all that redwoods have a lovely smell if you get up close and sniff the bark - a vanilla to butterscotch perfume.
There were many wild berries, so at this time of year the bears and other animals must be well fed. We saw wild currants, raspberries, snowberries, huckleberries or blueberries, and more.
In the evening we played corn sack - throwing corn-filled bean-bags into a hole in a 1mx2m board. A lot of fun. This was followed up by giant Jenga. which was made more tricky by the large blocks being a little rough and therefore hard to pull out at times.
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| Failure! |
