College Cove is a very secret beach, not least of all because it is hard to reach. Entering upon the parking lot you are immediately faced with potholes the size of ponds and the trek on foot can be very precarious if you take the wrong path. You may find yourself crawling horizontally like a crab with your feet first, but hopefully you can find the stairs amid the maze of beautiful cliff-side trails that beckon you. Once your feet have reached the sand it is tempting to stay put, but at the very end of the beach, past the rocky shore-line to the even more secluded beach on the south end, there is a rocky island that juts out into the ocean and a foot-worn path that brings you to an extraordinary look-out point at its pinnacle. 
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This is the south end of College Cove and the aforementioned path begins on the rock formation to the right.
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This is a view from the secret, hidden beach
    At the apex of the rock formation was a Humboldt moment just waiting for us. Three separate branches at the highest points were adorned with colorful yarn for a mysterious purpose. All we will likely ever know is that somebody went to the effort of putting it there, but whether for spiritual, emotional, or some other reason, we can only imagine.
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Driving North on 101 on our way to the trail, we spotted many elk from the window and I snapped the following shots on the side of the road. We saw for the first time a young elk feeding from its mother and a couple males in a sparring match.
The West Ridge Trail is a 6 mile loop at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
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The corkscrew tree is at the end of the trail... 15 trees wound together.
On our way home we were blessed with magnificent hot pink streaks across the ribbon of sky above the highway and we were so taken with it that we pulled over somewhere with an ocean view until all the glory of the sunset had faded.