Our visit to Stillwater Cove Regional Park was one of the very best parts of last week’s coastal trip. I wanted to hike to the historic Fort Ross schoolhouse, and even though the trail wasn’t very long, we got a pretty good workout climbing down one side of the Stockhoff Creek ravine and up the other. I also struggled because, although we didn’t smell any smoke, the lovely greens around me displayed on my LCD as sickly yellow no matter how I played with my camera settings. In the end, I shot most of my photos with the more-accurate mobile phone camera; and I’ve tried (sometimes with a bit of creative license) to correct the color of the other exposures using editing software.

Creekbed through the trees

The trail took us back and forth across the creek — which was mostly dry in early September — but it seemed that at some point the bridges had been washed out, so we detoured slightly to find the best crossing points.

From the parking area, visitors also can access the 1.6-mile Canyon Trail loop along Stockhoff Creek, which supports coho salmon and steelhead trout and curves through a canyon of towering redwoods filled with ferns, rhododendrons and other riparian plants, including the swamp harebell and fringed corn lily native only to the Sonoma-Mendocino coasts — Sonoma County Regional Parks

Keep an eye on the leaning tree as you cross this bridge!

Another broken bridge

When I look at this mossy stump, I see a couple of bear cubs playing with a stick

Coming soon: A visit to the historic schoolhouse.