Continuous Travelers Explore The Pygmy Forest

It’s been six weeks since escrow closed on our Oregon home, and just two weeks since we left Southern Oregon and headed south. We haven’t made it very far, but that’s okay. There is no timetable.
We’re enjoying an extended stay along the coast of Mendocino, taking full advantage of a stretch of beautifully sunny days. Our campground is nearly empty, but we hear that will change this week as Thanksgiving campers are due to fill every site available.

Today we tackled the Ecological Staircase Nature Trail, located in Jug Handle State Natural Reserve, on the Northern California Coast, a few miles south of Fort Bragg. The 2.5-mile walk ascends through five distinct terraces, each with its own geology, soil and plant varieties. For curious hikers, an online brochure with information about numerous points of interest is available to download. We simple enjoyed the scenery.

The trail begins with a series of steps down (there are 80 of them…Reg counted on the way back up) leading to a raised walkway that delivered us to the beginning of the uphill climb. The ascent is pretty gradual and the path is really well-maintained. The described terraces weren’t apparent to me, but the forest did not disappoint. Perhaps the brochure would have helped.

As we climbed higher, the trail leveled out when we reached the top. A missed turn had us negotiating our way around giant puddles, wobbling across strategically placed limbs and random tufts of grass…until I checked the map. A quick turnaround required us to retrace our balancing acts to get back on track.

A boardwalk circles through the Pygmy Forest. We were pleased to see benches on either side of a viewing platform…a perfect (dry) spot for our packed lunch.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this hike. The Pygmy Forest was pretty dense, so I found it hard to appreciate the “pygmy” aspect of it. However, it was a beautiful walk, I’m glad we did it and we both left with a new awareness of the coastal landscape.