Mystery Coast Redwood #10

Unexpected artifacts

by Mario Vaden

 

The photo below was taken from the opposite side of a valley about 200 feet away. Chris is about 6 ft. & 4 in. tall for scale. The grove was forgiving for bushwhacking .. lots of ferns and open views.

When I look at this image, what comes to mind are unexpected things found in the forest. We passed a sprawling bigleaf maple set like a gemstone by a stream. Then a few steps later, white PVC pipe and fittings appeared with legs like the machines in War of the Worlds. Very strange this far into the forest. Forgotten remnamts from some research project?

One other time, a distance off highway 199, I spotted remnants of a collapsed shelter. It was very out-of-place. Who would ever pack the wood in there? The distance was impractical for a boy's play fort. These were milled boards and very old. Later that day after leaving the forest, the Redwood Transect came to mind, when Mike Faye & Lindsey Holm passed through the redwoods on foot (September 2007 - July 2008). In the last month of the 1,800 mile journey, they passed through this park found an old bottle, not far from where the boards remained. I suspect bootleggers like what happened around Whiskey Prairie Hike & Baxter Trail near mile 6.2 of Mattole Road (Humboldt Redwoods State Park). The lumber was old enough for the prohibition era (1920 - 1933).