November 22nd, 2006
in the redwoods – part one
This is a continuation of the posts I’ve been writing about my recent trip out west. I’ve been meaning to post a few photos taken while in the Redwood forests of northern California, so I’ll do so over the next couple of days. I had the pleasure of spending several days camping and hiking in a number of groves of the coastal forests. The trees in that region are Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), which may be found in southern Oregon and as far south as central California. As stated on this Humboldt Redwoods State Park webpage:
They are the world’s tallest living things. Some of them tower above 360 feet. The name, Sequoia sempervirens, is Latin for “ever living” – an appropriate name for these trees since many are 600 to 1200 years old and some have lived more than 2,000 years! In fact, since coast redwood often reproduces by root collar burl sprouting, the genetic material that comprises some trees may be thousands of years old.
These trees are big, although not so large in diameter as the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. However, they are taller, and they certainly seem plenty large in diameter when you’re standing beside one. Many have large hollow areas that are the size of a small room. The above photo was taken in one of the groves along Prairie Creek.
The Coast Redwood groves have their own atmosphere. The first thing that I notice when among the redwoods is the silence. The thick bark of the trees and the heavy mulch of thousands of years of decayed needles absorb sound so effectively that spoken words seem to vanish as soon as they leave your lips. The light is everchanging and throws lacey shadows that remind me of being in a gothic church with tall stained-glass windows. The other thing about these forests is that everything seems large in scale — the ferns, the mosses, and the banana slugs and huge land snails. It makes you feel very small, and you spend a good deal of time looking upwards – unless you’re watching for banana slugs — something which I spent a good deal of time doing.
Stay tuned for more photos of redwoods later this week.