I thought that I knew Fall Creek State Park, the Redwood forest that’s only a stone’s throw from where I live. Yet I recently uncovered a network of undiscovered trails, and so a week ago I went off the beaten path, then wound up off the path altogether. Eventually I came to a residential area and from the looks of things on Google Maps, I realized that I wasn’t far from the town of Ben Lomond, so I hiked down a very long, very unknown road, along the way encountering castles and copulations and, of course, a lot of redwoods.

The focus of the explorer, the truly determined hiker…to boldly go where no man…has…gone…before

That colorful castle in Ben Lomond. From the looks of it, the castle appears to be a private residence, however, there was no moat. 

Those crazy kids, but you know, trees will be trees