among giants

Last Saturday, we hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail off of Howland Hill Road near Crescent City. The trail sign showed the trail as being 5.8 miles in length. I’ve done a lot of hiking over the years and have to say that it felt like the longest 5.8 miles I’ve hiked, so I have to wonder a little about the stated trail length. There’s quite a bit of elevation change along the trail, but most of the grades are fairly long and smooth. There were a couple of wash-outs where the trail narrowed and you had to step carefully. Also, one section where a couple of smaller trees had fallen and there was some slash to climb over. It took us about 4 hours to hike the trail with brief stops along the way to shoot photos and video footage.

I don’t have time to write much today, but thought I’d post a few photos from the hike — click on all for larger views. The above two photos are scenes from along the trail.

This is a view of the foliage along the creek which flows through a section of the forest just before you arrive at Fern Falls, which is the turn-around point on the trail.

Above is the Boy Scout Tree — the main objective when hiking the trail. It’s close to the end but up a little trail that climbs up to the right. Wonderful hike and a terrific day.

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14 Responses to “among giants”

  1. Dave Says:

    Thanks for posting these pictures, Bev. Stunning!

  2. robin andrea Says:

    I love filtered sunlight in a redwood forest. There’s really nothing quite like it. Looks like it was a long, but beautiful hike.

  3. am Says:

    What a gift it has been to walk in the redwoods, sometimes in the sun, sometimes in the fog and rain, from my childhood on. To love and be loved by these trees. Thanks so much for these photos!

  4. Leslie Says:

    Those are spectacular photos. When I take photographs in the woods everything loses perspective and the lay of the land is totally lost. You managed to capture it all.

  5. barbara Says:

    These photo give a great sense to the majesty of the forest. Do you know why this is the Boy Scout Tree? Surely there’s an interesting story behind this.

  6. Clare Says:

    Wonderful pictures as always. I especially enjoy the sunlight streaming in. Takes me back to my one and only trip to the redwoods.

  7. Cathy Wilson Says:

    These pictures are wonderful. They make me want to travel west, again. I’ve never made it to California, but maybe it’s long over-due. Thanks for sharing the beauty.

  8. Mark P Says:

    I’ve been there, or somewhere very close. But my wife has never seen those magnificent trees. There are beautiful forests in the East, but nothing that can compare with them. I hope I can get her out there some day.

  9. pablo Says:

    Did you take your seal with you on the hike?

  10. bev Says:

    Dave – Thanks! I got fairly good photos of the redwoods this time — possibly because it turned out to be a sunny, late autumn day. There were a lot of really neat light effects.

    robin – It did seem to be a longer hike than we’d anticipated, or perhaps we just stopped more to photograph trees than we realized. In any case, it was worth the walk.

    am – Glad you enjoyed the redwood photos. I love walking among them, although did not meet them for the first time until 2000. I look forward to returning again – hopefully in the not too distant future.

    Leslie – Sometimes forest photos seem to work, and sometimes they don’t. I think a lot of that has to do with the light you have to work with on a particular day.

    barbara – My redwood hiking trail guide states that the tree was discovered by Sheriff Jack Breen many years ago and he also founded the local Boy Scout troop.

    Clare – I hope you have a chance to get back to the redwoods some day. It sure is a special place.

    Cathy – I believe you would love California. Yes, it’s a must do if at all possible sometime in the future.

    Mark – The redwoods are certainly very different than any other forests that I can think of. The scale is right off the chart, even including the ferns and other understory plants. You feel a bit as though you have entered some primeval lost world.

    pablo – Nope! The seal stayed behind, which was probably just as well as she had a very loud and penetrating cry for food! (-:

  11. Wayne Says:

    Wow. I’ve had to think about this, and of course I know of it, but everything you’ve presented in the last few weeks is so alien to my experience. I like to think that we have magnificent trees here but there’s really no comparison (not that there should be – we are talking different species).

    One of the things I’ve noted from your presentations is that despite the distance between our permanent residences, our ecosystems are very similar visually (although certainly not when viewed to any depth). The western continent is truly different.

    That would include those wonderful pseudo-tarantulas too. You did a marvelous job ferreting their identity out, and they are beautiful, despite their aggressive nature.

  12. Gina Says:

    Stunning photos. Maybe one day I’ll walk through there :O)

  13. bev Says:

    Wayne – That’s the thing with the PNW — some of the ecosystems differ vastly from anything in our experience. I see similarities in some species of insects, but am often confronted with species so different that I have no real idea what they might be — such as the pseudo-tarantula. I can only imagine what it is like to travel to somewhere with even greater differences such as South America or Africa.
    It was neat to get an ID for that large spider. Although they seem to have a reputation for aggressiveness, I have to say that this one seemed mainly intent on deterence through its strange rearing up display, so perhaps their bark is worse than their bite.

    Gina – Thanks. One day, I hope just about everyone will have a chance to walk in the redwoods. I think it might be good for most people to be among the giants and also to contemplate how mankind managed to decimate the redwoods in less than a century. It’s rather instructive.

  14. M. D. Vaden of Oregon Says:

    Cool – you got the burl in the shot. Most folks just fit the sign in. The big burl up high reminds me of the lips on one of the Simpsons characters. Awesome tree – marvelous trail.

    MDV
    Oregon

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