2020 Feb 17 | Trees of Mystery

It says shoe shine, but the guy isn't here.

All these sub-gates, KLMN.

San Francisco financial district.

With the bridges.

Awesome bench made out of marble.

All-you-can-eat buffet for $10; that sounds good.

But it's not Tuesday, so I guess I'll try an elk burger.

Would be a great flop for Ogii.

That's a good flop for aces.

Tough break for him. He was really fun to play with, too.

I didn't think there was any way I was getting paid when I flopped quads, but he flopped a jack and rivered another, so that worked out.

All in, pair vs AK, and I flop a set.

This was a crazy hand. I raised with A9 suited and got two callers. The flop was 984 with two hearts. The first guy bet, the second guy called, I shoved all-in, and they both called. The first guy had JT for an open-ended straight draw and the second guy had QT of hearts, so a gut-shot straight draw and a flush draw. Even though I have a made hand, QT of heards is actually ahead equity-wise; I win 32%, JT wins 19%, and QT wins 48%. Thankfully I got lucky and neither of them hit any of their draws on the turn and river.

After that hand I was the large chip leader. There were a total of five players left. It was a satellite tournament, so the top four players received a $350 buy-in to a bigger tournament plus $80 and 5th place get no buy-in but $200. I wasn't going to be around for the bigger tournament, so I said I'll take fifth place for $200 and they can all have the buy-in and $80. I could have either played for the buy-in and then sold it or argued that they should all pay me some of their winnings to accept fifth place, but I was feeling nice and wanted to keep it simple, so they all agreed.

Adventure of the Giants; that sounds neat.

Except it's hours south.

Some redwoods are just a few minutes south, though.

Info area.

The harbor from this lookout.

Yep, looks about like the picture.

Tall trees.

One-way road for a bit due to construction.

Nice view of the ocean.

A beach.

I was planning on eating at this restaurant at 1pm before hiking, but it was closed. Guess I'll have a much later lunch than intended.

Indian on a horse.

Paul Bunyan and his blue ox.

Neat jigsaw puzzles.

Indian museum.

Arrowheads.

Tools.

Shoeshoes and bear skins.

Old boat.

A nice sign.

Trail entrance.

Elephant tree.

Upside-down tree.

Giant tree that was cut down.

Octopus tree.

A massive fallen tree.

A tall redwood.

Burl growing on the side of the tree.

3-in-1 tree.

This feels like an entrance.

Cathedral tree.

They have weddings here.

They plant a tree for the couples.

The couple on the right were married in 1968 and had a 25-year anniversary there in 1993.

They're creating a walkway above us.

A tunnel of branches.

Brotherhood tree.

I did not know that.

I did know that.

The bottom of the gondola.

Inside.

Looking up.

Looking down.

Lots of trees.

Uh oh, there's a spider inside. Thankfully he kept to his corner and I kept to mine.

It would be a tiring walk up or down those stairs.

The top of the gondola.

A lookout area.

With binoculars.

Trees this way.

The ocean this way.

Smoking area.

Advanced hikers only? I've heard that before and the trails were pretty easy still.

Lots of signs.

This was my favorite.

Hmm, the trail is quite steep.

With lots of scattered rocks.

It was so steep here I had to go down sideways.

More rocks.

Better not go that way.

Under this tree.

It was very muddy and slippery here.

Here as well.

Had to jump over this mud puddle.

Lots of tall trees.

Lots of green clovers.

Uh oh, a fork.

Good thing someone put a map in this stump.

Although it doesn't indicate where I am on the map.

So I guess I'll go this way.

And down these stairs.

Aw, the two routes meet here again anyway; I just took the longer one.

Yes, exit, that sounds good. I'm actually very tired; my legs are shaking a bit. They weren't joking when they said for advanced hikers on the sign at the beginning.