A Trip to Visit the Whales

Since June 25th,  there has been a grey whale swimming in the Klamath river,  a river north of us.  This is very unusual behavior for a whale, actually it was a mom and new baby whale.  They swam in where the mouth of the river meets the ocean.  The last time this had happened was in 1985.

There is a lot of speculation as to why they may have taken to the river, but no definite reason.

I have a strong liking for whales so I had to go see them.  The river is about a 1 1/2 hour drive from where I live.  My sister and her daughter were visiting at the time so we all went together.

A lot of the drive is right on the coast so there are some spectacular views of the ocean and the redwoods along the way.  We also saw some majestic Roosevelt elk.  They stay together in large groups and I always have to stop and watch them for a while.

Then we drove further north to the Klamath and found a camping ground right on the river, and the whales were swimming back and forth in a large circle there. Amazing. Gorgeous. What a wonderful treat.

These are the best pictures that I could take. In this one, the light spray of water you see in the air is from the baby's air hole.

I took some other unspectacular photos of the whales but I thought barely seeing the whales in 2 photos is enough.

This video is a better look at the whales.

The baby whale swam back to the ocean about 2 weeks ago. The mother whale is still in the river. There have been many efforts to try to steer the whale back to the mouth of the river, but to no avail.

It was wonderful to see the pair together. Just a special sight.