Stone Lagoon School | Trinidad, California

While blazing up 101 in rural Humboldt county a herd of elk suddenly caught my eye. They were placed to get you to slow down and motor into Stone Lagoon's tourist trap: gift shop, trailer park, museum, coffee hut, horseback riding, et al.

Stone Lagoon was strangely quiet: elk and dogs slept while rusting corpses of pickup trucks basked in fog. An ominous thought bubbled up to the surface: California's version of "Deliverance"?

The Stone Lagoon School, a one room school house, opened in 1893. Surrounded by towering redwoods and cannabis, one can only imagine the tradition of 4/20 originated at Stone Lagoon.

In 1958, this humble house of learning closed its doors forever. Most of the students from this school are now wind in the trees. The only other one room school house I've seen is located on Highway 14, heading east from Campus, Washington.

EOS 5D2 and EF 24-105 4L IS USM

Humboldt county is the weed capital of the USA, so Stone Lagoon is a fitting name. However, I was expecting new age hippies and tree huggers, not a rustic tumble down nook in the road with giftshop and a trailer park. Nevertheless, this is a photogenic tourist trap and I enjoyed squeezing that shutter button.

EOS 60D and EF 17-85 4-5.6 IS USM (photo by Seil Frary)