The Sky Trail, is a gondola ride that takes you through the treetops to an observation point. It's kind of like a ski lift but the gondolas are completely enclosed and there is no chance of falling, so everyone can ride securely and without fear, even Kathy felt safe.
The ride to the observation took us about five minutes. The gondola never stops, it slows down for people to get on and off, so you have to go with the flow. At the top you can see a great view of the ocean and surrounding area.
In addition to the ocean view, you have an interesting canopy tour of other redwoods in the area. Remember many of these trees have been here more than a 1000 years.
Click to enlarge this photo and find a very interesting fact. I did some surfing on the Internet and found the name of the newspaper. It's called "Cherokee Newspaper". Not quite what I would have called it. I'm thinking "The Flying Feather" or "The Straight Arrow". Get it hot off the press!
The Candelabra Tree. Rising from its trunk are three stems - each like its own sub-tree. The visual effect is stunning, and it is perfectly named. Now where did I put those matches!
The Cathedral Tree is nine trees in one. Worlds largest Cathedral Tree! Approximately 800 to 1000 years ago a very large tree stood in the middle of this formation. When it fell it didn't die. The roots and burls of the stump sprouted and these nine trees happened to grow together in a circle around the original mother tree's stump, which has long since rotted away. This tree is the site of Easter services each year and also many, many weddings.
The Trinity Tree is 297 feet tall and stands as the tallest Redwood in the Tree's of Mystery park. I have to take three separate pictures to get a complete, top to bottom, shot of the tree.
Nature's Underpass. An appropriate name for this tree. I'm sure many kids have journeyed through its under passages.
The World's largest Family Tree. See next photo.
The Bear Tree. There are many milled redwood carvings throughout our walk. Many of these are the largest in the world.
Here you can see the chronological history of this tree. Starting from the Crusades in 1096, to our Independence of 1776. We did not take the return gondola ride, we decided to hike the 1-mile trail back down the mountain. The walk was like a double black skiing trail and probably should not be open to the general public. If you have a bad knee I would not recommend this hike. There are some very steep grades along the route.
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