Lyon's Ranch Loop - Redwood National Park

I hiked a 10 mile ridge-to-valley-to-ridge loop in Redwood National Park during a sunny late October day. The hike began at the parking lot for Lyon's Ranch...it vectored north down Bald Hills Road, then branched off onto a ranch road that curved back to the north...eventually hooking up with the Lyon's Ranch homestead. Abundant sunshine, cool breeze, golden California grass, and ridge top views of rolling mountains for miles and miles...perfect way to spend a day-off from work.

At the beginning of the hike two Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies stopped me as I was slogging down Bald Hills Road. They informed me that a lunatic wearing an orange jacket was flashing a knife at motorists driving by. They asked me if I was the person doing that...I said no, and they let me continue on my way. Needless to say, I was turning around every 10 minutes during my hike looking for a crazy man ready to knife me. Luckily I survived. However, when I was at the Lyon's Ranch Homestead, I heard a loud rustling in a group of trees.  I thought to myself, perhaps, the crazy man was watching me from afar. It turns out it was a mother black bear and her cub, who dashed out in front of me five minutes later and ran down a hillside. The mother stopped as the cub climbed up a tree for safety...the mother started eyeing me, and I got the hint, and picked up the pace back towards my truck, which was still a mile away.  Great hike!