Return to the Redwoods
I spent the next few days revisiting the Redwoods – specifically Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and Redwoods National Park – soaking up the stillness of the forest and the magical mists that frequently envelop the towering trees. The Redwoods was the first place I had been in the past week that felt like it wasn’t teeming with people, and I took advantage of the space and the quiet to enjoy some thinking time.
It rained for many of the daylight hours I was there but when the storms blue over, I witnessed hour-long windows of spectacularly blue sky and warm sun. It actually worked out perfectly since I hiked when it was raining or drizzly and spent most of the sunny hours on some of the beaches. This time I hiked a few of the trails I had not previously been on such as the Damnation Creek Trail in Del Norte Coast, the South Fork and Rhododendron Trails in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and the Tall Trees Trail in Redwoods National Park, but ended up revisiting Orick and Wilson Creek Beaches for cooking lunches and stretching/yoga/exercising rather than seeking out new ones. I also spent a fair amount of time watching the elk graze off Davison Road and Highway 101; they did not make any appearances in the meadows at the south end of the Newton Drury Parkway. One morning I even accidentally got within 5 feet of some elk who were grazing around a telephone pole though I only took a few snapshots through the car window and didn’t approach them or exit the car.
The photo of yours I like best, happens to be the one with the Elk and some reflection in the water.
The coast redwood forest is amazing. Between 2010 and 2016, the 1321 point General Sherman was unofficially surpassed by coast redwood, by no less than 40 points.
As of of the past few years, S. sempervirens exceeds S. giganteum for total AF points, making it the actual “Big Tree” in the USA on the AF point rating scale. Coast redwood now has the greatest girth / circumference at both ground level and dbh. And there is now coast redwood with 19 ft. diameter at 50 ft. above ground level. Some updates are added to this page as they come to light.
The new finds are more beautiful than their dimensions though.
http://www.mdvaden.com/redwood_year_discovery.shtml
Thanks! Interesting info.
The trees in the mist are awesome!
Oh, thank you! I took about 200 pictures of fog and trees!
You’re pictures could have been taken in a mystical land!
The Redwoods are seriously magical, Janet. The air is so still and hushed too in addition to it being misty.
Wow, absolutely incredible. Hope we’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to Redwoods during our California trip this year.
The Redwoods are inspiring and definitely worth seeing, Oleksandra!