coastal redwood report

“Have you ever hiked among the redwoods? It's a very unique experience. No matter how hot the day, it's always cool in the forest. You leave your sunglasses in the car, because you know you won't need them for the next few days.

As you step into the woods, a shift occurs that almost all your senses can detect. The air gets cool and moist, the shade of a green forest calms your eyes, you smell the tang of wet, living wood...
Your footsteps fall silent on moist pine needles. There is no sound but the burble of a stream somewhere. There's always the sound of water in the redwoods. Sometimes it's dripping, sometimes it's rushing, but it's always there.

You hike along, staying warm, but never too much in the damp air. The enormous amount of oxygen gives you a rush, and the air, thick and moist, is enough to keep your lungs breathing freely--so much so you have to remind yourself to take sips of water.

And every time you start to get used to the size of the trees, you round a bend and get a different perspective. Maybe it's a distance shot, and you see the trees in their entirety. Or maybe it's blowdown, and the log you have to climb over is almost as tall as you are. Or maybe someone cut through the log for you, and you don't even bother to try to count the rings. It would be dark before you were done.

How old are these trees? Impossibly tall, reaching up to poke holes in the California sky and allow big, fat drops of sun to fall to the Earth, making, for a moment, a fern into a glistening emerald.

And do they even know I'm here? These skyward giants, who were still living before Michelangelo even knew how to finger paint? Or do they look down and smile, and say "welcome, baby boy, to my home. Please, stand with me as long as you wish."


My first attempt at hyperlink:
redwoods”

“Wow, Tommy. That was a beautiful portrayel. The pics are great too(congrats on the link!). One of these days I'll get out there to see for myself.
Thanks for taking me along.
:o)”

“oh yeah...I didn't see no steeenkin' newt! >;oP”

“I can see the newt! thanks for the photos, they take me back to my years in that part of the world. Nothing like banana slugs!”

“Nice pictures.”

“AmyG, you're newtless? Sans newt? Newt-free?
He's there...his head is dead center if you draw an "x" through the corners of the picture.”

“I agree.. I've walked amongst the giants several times. Its awe inspiring. These trees are, at an average, 1500 years old--I think Big Tree is. Hiking down to Tall Trees Grove with the world's three talest trees is a wonderful experience, too.

I do love the giant redwoods. They are majestic creatures.”

“try climbing 'em!”

“Great report Tommy! Felt like I'z there.”

“Tommy, that's an amazing area. Thanks for sharing your thoughts & feelings about it with us! I love the pics too!! :-)”

“Tommy, I've done the same hike some years ago, Berry Ck Falls is one of those picture perfect cascades. Sometimes, but only rarely, those forests can be sweltering, but that's on those occasions that SF hits the 90's or more. I was out at Pt. Reyes last weekend and took some pics of Newts, hopefully I'll have time to post them.”

“You reminded me of some great walks through the giant sequoias at Sequoia National Park. Thanks!”

“I see him, I see him!!
I was at school when I looked the first time...must have been a dark monitor or sumtin'. yeah, that's it...that's the story.

Cute newt, ya got there, Tommy. ;o)”

“Thanks for the pics, tommy. You did a great job with the link! I particularly liked the hike on the sloping rock because bushwacking is one of my favorite things to do. Regarding the banana slug advise...are you speaking from personal experience???? YUK!”

“Um....rumor..........yeah. Probably just know that because of rumor. Sure.

AmyG--thanks. I'm quite proud of my newt.
But if I had a nickel for everytime I heard a girl say "where is it? I can't see it?".....”

“Right after high school I got a job with the California Conservation Corps, and spent over half a year building trails and doing other conservation work in redwood state parks. It was awesome. (The other half year I spent at a Fire Center in the Sierra Foothills near Auburn, so I could fight fires in the summer.)

The CCC itself was pretty cool, a jobs program for youths in which we were assigned to co-ed camps in remote areas throughout the state. I spent a few months during the winter rainy season in Big Basin State Park near Santa Cruz, where we'd build trails, clear brush and so forth. Very fond memories of those huge redwoods in during the winter rainy season, haunting beauty.

Big Basin is something else, BIG redwoods, and very remote when you get up into the park.

Then I transferred a few miles up the peninsula to near La Honda, in the mountains between Redwood City and Halfmoon Bay. AWESOME views and scenery in this area.

Also we'd frequently go up the North Coast to Mendocino and Humboldt counties to work in the redwoods up there. The whole experience is kinda surreal when I think back on it, here I was a kid just out of high school living in some of the most beautiful areas of in California because I happened upon this job. There are many areas accessible to the California Dept. of Forestry that you wouldn't know existed, prime wilderness.

Then after I finished with the CCC (it's a one-year job), I went bushwaching up in Humboldt for awhile along the Eel River. (Posted this on another thread.)

Those redwoods are something else, and if someone else doesn't do it I'm gonna arrange a WCT there within the next year or so.”