Big Basin Redwoods State Park - Berry Creek Falls ( Hike three )

I am thoroughly enjoying this spree of State Park hikes! This flat path here in the picture to the right was covered in dried leaves. It is here I saw the very first banana slug of my life! A bright almost florescent yellow, long chilly like thing is a slug? I dint know such a thing existed ! All I have ever seen are black thick slugs. These long edible looking slugs on the leafy path, I must say were very attractive. A lot of the path was narrow with space for one person to walk at a time. It was a cold day, but after some walking it was easy to get rid of the fleece. Although, coming down at the end of the hike my hands froze. It's when I couldn't speak clearly, that i realized my face was freezing too. I'll remember to take my gloves next time. Somehow, I was sweating and freezing simultaneously.

We stopped at four different falls on this hike. It was the Cascade Falls, Golden Falls, Silver Falls and the Berry Creek Falls. The Berry Creek Falls was the heaviest. (In the picture to the left.) In contrast to the rest of the hike,the path from one water body to the other was steep and it was protected with ropes and poles and wooden platforms. I saw some horse riders along the way. I also spotted some black lizards in the water. I was freezing too much to take pictures of them. But I will get some next time. Because, it was also my first time to see lizards swimming. I know they crawl and slither around but I dint know they swim! Apparently their black skin was poisonous.  

Up to the falls and back was an 11 miles distance and it took a good 6 hours to get back to the parking lot. It got pretty dark at the end of the path. I remembered to snack and eat my spicy vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches on our breaks and yet at the end of the day I was ready to reload. White Elephant a decent thai restaurant fed me some prawns with noodles and I felt the skin on my face give out a ton of warmth. It felt like steam was being released from all my pores. This is when I knew, the long hike, the body heat and sweat, the cold and the consistent fueling of food, put my body through pure euphoria.