No traveling today for us as we find plenty to do here on our third and final day at Sue-Meg State Park.

Ceremonial Rock

The hike up Ceremonial Rock this morning brought to mind the opening Circle of Life song of Lion King. It’s a tall rock with the park’s highest views of the tree canopy, one open field, and only distant views of the ocean. It’s an ancient sea stack that time, and the ever-changing Earth, has reclaimed back to land. There are over 100 stone steps carved into the rock face to reach the summit.

Sumeg Village

From Ceremonial Rock we found the visitor center which has some displays of Yurok culture and the carving of new signs for the park. In the 1990s members of the Yurok tribe recreated some traditional redwood houses and other village structures to show a seasonal encampment that their ancestors used here. The houses are half underground for warmth and lined with rock. The doors are small and round (to help keep wildlife out) and lead to a storage level/crawl space, with the living level down below. Worn out canoes were given the place of honor across the top of the roof to allow smoke out while keeping rain from entering. Strips of willow were used as ties and “stitches” to hold everything together.

The Yurok canoes were different from others in that the builders honored the tree’s life that they had to sacrifice for the boat by leaving behind carved areas that represented kidneys, a heart, lungs and a nose.

Saying Goodbye to Sue-Meg

With the sunshine in the afternoon, we went for one last Agate Beach hunt for agates. We might have found some this time. The rocks were warm and it felt really good to sit on them and look for treasures.

We have really enjoyed this park. The hikes are fantastic, the beach is very long and not crowded, and the surrounding temperate rainforest is beautiful. We would highly recommend a stay if you have a tent/small rig and can survive being off-grid.