After visiting Shelter Cove we continued our day by driving to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The park encompasses over 53,000 acres, including 17,000 acres of old-growth coast redwoods and contains the Avenue of the Giants (32 miles of Redwoods. of which we drove part).
Now, there is no way (as far as I am concerned) to fully capture the size, the magnitude, the wonder of the redwoods with a camera. What follows is an attempt, just an attempt.
As we drive the trees are frequently close to the pavement. This photo, with glare (red-ish stuff included), is looking out of Jolly's front windshield. You can see the side view mirror down in the lower right corner, if you look at the base of the tree, you can see the pavement, almost touching the tree.
This photo is an attempt to show the size of the bottom of the tree, reference the guardrail, which looks pretty small.
We made stops along the way, of course, this is Chimney Tree, in 1978 it was 78 feet tall, with a circumference of 504 inches. The signage stated the center was burned out in 1914, and the diameter of the room is 12 foot 6 inches. Surprisingly, the tree still lives. I am not sure how that is possible - -
Stepping down a few steps, Man already inside taking a good look.
This is what you see if you look straight up!
Back on the road, another tree close to the road, in fact, the reflector is placed so as to protect the base of the tree from vehicles that come just a tad bit toooooo close!
When they fall, they must make a racket, eh?? Covered with ferns and flora and a path up the middle. We did not take the path, wonder how far it went and where it took you??
And, of course, one must try to capture the height, I do so by turning Sony Too on its side and using the panoramic. Fun to try. Many of the photos have weird curves in the middle of the trees! LOL And, still I cannot get ALL of the trees, base missing here.
The "Shamrocks" are large here, this photo does not show off how large they are, enchanting. I know there is probably a perfectly good official name for this three leaf clover, which, obviously, I do NOT know. Shamrock will just have to do. Seems they were over an inch in diameter, maybe 2. They were lovely.
Jolly sneaks through two redwoods.
At a visitors center they had this tree. If I understand the signage correctly the tree fell in 2006, and these tags are placed at a cut that was 70 feet above the base?? WOW!
The tags read left to right:
1000 Vikings discover North America
1096 Oxford University founded
1160 University of Paris founded
1218 Genghis Khan conquers Persia
1368 Ming Dynasty begins
1453 Renaissance begins
1486 Printing press invented
1521 Cortez conquers Aztecs
1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1773 Boston tea party
1850 Humboldt Bay discovered
1928 California State Park system established
A bit closer, of some of the tags!
We drove a few more miles in the park along the Avenue of Giants, and took a short hike. More on that next time.
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3 comments:
Beautiful! Such extraordinary trees, and to imagine so much history in the world as they silently grew. I love the shamrocks, too.
I envy you getting to visit the Redwood Forest. Of course, my children know I might get lost there and never be found again. So beautiful! Thanks for sharing, something so beautiful
Growing up in California, I have a passion for the Redwoods and Sequoias. They are fascinating and just awesome!
Here is some info on the chimney trees that you might find interesting. http://www.shannontech.com/ParkVision/Redwood/Redwood2.html
They can survive because the center heartwood is not the functioning part of their vascular system.
I can't wait to get back to see them again. Thanks for the journey.
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