Sixteen miles north of Santa Cruz; California, nestled deep within a thick forest of hundred-foot-tall redwood and Douglas fir trees, under a blanket of needles, fallen limbs and pine cones, clean, clear springs gurgle to the surface in the wilderness areas of Big Basin Redwood Forest. Bubbling down dark, lush gullies, they merge into a growing matrix of silver veins as they spill westward, down into a valley stream where salamanders slither about in the decaying foliage. Slowed by fallen trees exploded in half by bolts of lightning, the stream forms pools of chilly water which serve as cooling ponds for hikers and the nursery grounds for thousands of tadpoles that dart in schools away from every passing shadow. The stream of fresh water continues growing as it slips downhill and out into the barren sand, eventually pouring it's life into the salty brine of the Pacific Ocean.
This is Waddel Creek and the story of it's growth from a tiny spring-fed creek to a beach considered one of the best surfsailing spots on the California Coast.