Day 28

 

 July 14 (Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, CA)

We were able to secure this site for one more night and are all so excited to not have to move location again for the fourth day in a row. Seriah stopped by our campsite first thing in the morning before Evelyn was even out of the camper. She is really sweet, and it brought me joy seeing Evelyn's friends return her care (why would she come by so early except her care for Evelyn?!) - and after getting to know River, her Nana, and River's son, Blue, I'm happy for the connections we all made here. River referred to her grandchildren as "simple" in terms of the scope of their reality and experiences (not their intelligence - Sierra and Seriah were sharp and insightful!), and I'm glad we could help to enrich and expand their reality for a few days (and they for us, too!). The four of them (along with a few other cousins and siblings) made magical, fun memories and shared experiences that they will remember all their lives - how wonderful…

When Cassandra drove out to get internet and do some work, Evelyn, Tilda, and I went for a hike on the Trestle Loop Trail, accessible from our campground. It was a pretty flat, gentle trail through some small old growth redwood groves. It turns out that a bridge was out on the trail, rendering it an out-and-back trail, rather than a loop, so we decided to hike as far as we could, then turn back.

Not far from the location of this picture (what we soon found was the end of the trail), we heard loud rustling in one of the redwood groves. We all turned to our left and saw a huge body moving through a patch of ferns, and then a black bear popped its front claws onto the trunk of a redwood and looked directly at us. Its ears were pointing up and it seemed both curious and nervous. We definitively startled it just as much as we were startled by it. It was a thrilling moment, looking into the eyes of a bear and trying to wordlessly communicate our benevolence. After a long moment, we continued walking along the path and soon the bear was out of sight (clearly not following or interested in us). I felt weak in my knees and was so happy to be away from the power and danger of the bear, even though it was so cute. I'm not interested in getting close with a bear, especially with Ev and Til (and no Cassandra!).

We came to a dead end at a stream crossing a few minutes later, so after desperately looking in vain for the trailhead, we turned back with much fear and caution; back in the direction of the bear. Fortunately, our friend stayed out of sight and sound, and after we noisily moved past the area where we saw the bear, we all stopped to catch out breath and express excitement for seeing the bear. It was such a cool experience for us. Just a few seconds before we heard and saw the bear, Evelyn mentioned how she really wishes she could see a bear on this hike - it was as though she invoked all of this.

When we returned back to our campsite, Ev and Til went right to find their friends to tell them all about their bear encounter, and I breathed in relief. River and Blue eventually stopped by to invite us the hang out for smores that evening for our last night there. We accepted and looked forward to spending more time with these interesting and people with whom our children have been spending so much time. We ate dinner, and the kids anxiously awaited our date with our friends. We waited until a bit after 9pm, but as we walked toward their campsite, it was unexpectedly dark and quiet all around - nothing indicating a campfire-smore hangout with the sounds of children and adults. We eventually heard River singing in the bathroom and found her with Sierra and Seriah. She said her people were late and got lost and weren't going to be arriving anytime soon. Admittedly, this wasn't terribly surprising, considering some of what River shared about her family and their history. Some of it was pretty messy, but River and her grandchildren were incredibly caring and loving souls, so we got to spend time with the best of them! We eventually made a small smore fire, expressed our mutual care, then headed back to our site for the night.

Tomorrow, we are back on the road. We decided to start heading eastward…