Morning in the Woods

I awoke in the Redwood Park’s Elk Prairie Campground; stepping out of the Revel van, I was immediately entranced by this scene:

What a great way to wake up!

There was a good deal of moisture in the air.

Walking toward the redwoods, I noticed many interesting forest details, such as this spider web, glistening in the morning sun.

The redwoods were shrouded in the morning mist:

Redwoods occupy a coastal niche: they can not be too close to the sea, because saltwater damages them, but they need to draw a significant amount of water from the morning fog.

Finally, the mighty redwoods:

I found it impossible to truly capture the majesty of these mighty trees in still images—a difficult problem of scale and perspective. The feeling of being in the presence of these giant old trees is very powerful and can be almost overwhelming.

Stout Grove

The center of this grove consists of more than a dozen large trees reaching for the sky:

At ground level it is clear that this is a grove of battered survivors, still standing tall.

A creature seems to be emerging from the burls at the foot of one of these trees:

I Counted the number of rings visible in the cross-section of one of the logs:

It was more than 700!

Grove of the Titans

In this grove, I saw six of the largest trees that I have ever seen (after a lifetime of wandering in many forests)! Here is the base of one example:

Note the 20-oz bottle in the image for scale!

Conservation

Wandering amongst these mighty trees inevitably stimulates thoughts of conservation. Many of our other natural wonders, like Crater Lake, are pretty robust and human impact can be ameliorated fairly quickly. However, a grove of these trees, if cut down and reseeded, takes more than 250 years to reach full stature and more than 700 years to fully mature. Thus, once we lose trees, we lose them for a lifetime.

Beaches, Elks, Lakes

The redwoods are the centerpiece of this park, but the coastline (partly enclosed by the Park) is also strikingly beautiful.

I never seem to tire of the waves of the mighty restless ocean crashing down on the beach:

At Fern Canyon Beach, I had a close encounter with a couple of elks:

There are also a number of beautiful rivers, such as the Smith River:

I was reluctant to leave this magnificence but it was time to push on towards the Lassen Volcanic National Park.