If you have not had a chance to go to the Redwood National park and Coast this should be on your to do travel list. The Redwoods are the tallest known trees in the world with some recorded heights of over 360 feet. The Redwoods grow only in a narrow strip of land along the Pacific coast and south western Oregon. Redwoods survive to be over 2,000 years old and were here in the age of the Dinosaurs.

These days only 40,000 acres of rainforest are left. The Redwoods have been cut in half by overlogging and the Goldrush.

If you are a first timer to the Redwoods then go do your tourist thing first. In most of the famous images of the Redwoods it is the car going through the Redwood tree, well alas no longer. You can still see the tree that you used to be able to drive through but you have to hike to get there. The road that went to the tree and Camp 44 that is at the bottom of the Redwood forest has been cut off from regular traffic in order to save the Redwoods from carbon emissions. You can get a permit that is free that will take you to the trailhead. You can get the permit from the Kuchel Visiter center that is located on the beach and just after the town of Orick.

Hiking:

Some of the best hiking is actually in the Redwood Prairie Creek State park, you can spend days hiking in this area. The Prairie Creek area is so well preserved it literally is like going into Jurassic park with trees spanning overhead and evey direction. They are the world’s tallest trees, but they are also just one species in an incredibly varied ecosystem with wind-pruned, salt-tolerant Sitka spruce by the seaside, to the cool, moist redwood groves, and sunny, open grasslands of the prairies. Redwoods prefer mosit air that creates a colder eco system when you enter in the woods to hike.

Camping:

There are a few places to camp but my advice is if you are in toursit season book a reservation  ahead of time. A great time to go is the end of April and the beginning of May becasue it’s not too hot and busy, you get to enoy the Redoods to yourself.

Camping at the Prairie State park is only $20 a night and is located in easy distance of the Redwoods. It seems to be a little quieter and as showers , running water and toliets. Another place to camp is at Klamath camp ground which is pretty much on the Kalmath river that overlooks the ocean.

By Sharon Page - April 21, 2009

Women Himalayan climbers Sushmita Maskey and Usha Bistthey and their climbing team made history by becoming the first  all-women’s team from Nepal to summit Mt Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

On Sundaythey were celebrated as the 99th International Women’s Day, the 10 Nepali women climbers have broken new ground by announcing they would establish a national mountaineering school that would help other aspiring climbers in the country to aim at Everest , k2 and other high Himalayan summits.

As Hisila Yami, minister for tourism and civil aviation, handed over the cheque, the group said they would use it as seed money to establish a National Mountaineering School.

The women’s group will now head for Langtang in northern Nepal to identify a possible site for the proposed school. The other optional sites are Rolwaling Valley and the Khumbu, Annapurna and Kanchanjunga regions.

Climbing legends Lou and Jim Whittaker turned 80 earlier this month. Born in Seattle, Washington in 1929, they were born in the era of  Mallory and Irvine and the beginning of Alpine and Himalayan adventure. Both Jim and Lou developed their climbing in the rugged mountains of the Cascades in the Northwest.

By 1963 Jim Whittaker scaled the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest at 29,028 ft and in doing so was the first American to climb the mountain. On returning from Everest Jim went on to become REI’s first employee then becoming CEO in the late 1960’s.

Lou Whittaker is an accomplished higher-altitude, glacier-travel guide who has summitted Mount Rainier 250 times and founded the guide business Rainier Mountaineering Inc.

At 80 things are not slowing down to much with a trip last year to the Everest Base Camp and a trip to New Zealand. Let’s only hope when we reach the golden age of 80 that I am traversing some Himalayan passage.

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