See how densely covered that distant hill is and this park is so lush and green.
And redwoods are growing right along the road and basically in the yards of the people living along here. It's strange - these are obviously not the homes of wealthy people - made me think, in fact, of some of the homes in the hollers of West Virginia, and yet they have all this magnificence at their doorsteps.
Heading deeper into the woods here...
I got to the Big Basin State Park and talked with a very young and pleasant girl in the visitors' center who had moved here from New York about 18 months ago. She showed me a map with some of the trails and it was so cold I decided I would get my jacket out of the car before I started out. Don't remember why I opened the trunk but I did and there was no suitcase in it - nor was there one in the backseat of the car!! Horrors!!! I really did just about lose it at that point, but after taking deep breaths and putting my jacket on to warm up a little, decided that I was here to see redwoods and I would at least do the one short trail which would take me past their two "famous" trees. I did but I know I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't made my discovery until after the hike! But I took a lot of pictures and was coherent enough to realize that these trees are truly wondrous. Not only are they huge, but the whole area seems to have such a feeling of non-awareness of the trivial - it's like the trees are living a life we can know nothing about - they grow so close together, their tops intermingle so far up there, forming a canopy over everything, as do their roots for that matter, that I got the impression that somehow they were aware of each other. They were together somehow. Very mysterious and very wonderful. Anyway, a puny point and shoot camera certainly can't capture the size of the trees so I uploaded a video at this You Tube link. And here are the photos I took for what they are worth. I even took a cheesy, delayed timer, shot of me standing by one for an impression of size. :)
The fallen trees were just about as impressive as the standing ones!
The literature I had said redwoods are just about impervious to everything - termites, fungus, winds, and even fire. And there are many standing, living trees that prove the fire claim - you can see where they've been burned black but are still going strong.
Just a pretty stream...
I took this close up shot because of that stick of wood that has found its way in behind the bark of the big tree.
Another interesting base...
And little ol' me
Unbelievable but it's alive.
A fallen giant - the ends aren't visible here but I got in as much as I could.
Thought this sign was interesting. Big Basin is coastal redwoods,
Note that the mother is taller and bigger around the bottom
3 comments:
Wow! Now I want to go back and see those redwoods. Don't know that the ones we saw were considered costal plus it's nice being in a park with paths and trails. Glad you stayed to see them and trust you got your suitcase successfully -- I've heard that when you leave something behind it means you want to return but I think one item would do the trick. :)
Wowza - those are BIG! Does look like a spectacular place to roam around.
You never said -- what happened about your suitcase? (Obviously, you're back home now, so I assume that meant you just left it at a hotel?)
Glad you had such a pleasant trip, full of timeless ocean and redwoods!
I love all the pictures! So glad you decided to go for your hike anyway :)
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