What else is in a redwood forest?

As magnificent and overwhelming as the sequoia sempervirens are in coastal redwoods forests, if that's all there was the groves wouldn't be nearly as interesting or photogenic.

Some of the most fascinating items in the forest are the smaller things that grow on or around the big trees.

Like the mushrooms you sometimes see (as on the right).

Or the flowers and berries that manage to thrive, despite the small amount of sunlight that filters through the boughs of their larger neighbors...

One of the prettiest plants we saw was the redwood sorrels. Their clover-like leaves provided a lovely contrast with the massive tree trunks, and they especially seemed to like the downed trees that I loved taking pictures of.

We saw a very few little buds and blooms on some of these plants, and wondered if we'd missed their

flowering, or come to early for it. Or, if they just put out a small number of blooms each summer.

Even without blooms, they're very pretty plants. The bright green of the topsides of their leaves is contrasted with a maroon-y-purple underside. I hope the photo on the left gives you some idea of the beauty of this colorful ground (and trunk) cover.

But of course the trees still provide the most photogenic elements in the forest, but not always just the sheer mass of their trunks and upper branches.

Here are some more mushroom-type growths I spotted...

this is a closeup of the delicate white growths you see in the photo just above

Downed trees, as I've mentioned often, provided some of the most gorgeous photo opps...

But the standing trees also display some great micro-ecologies that beg to be photographed...

...not to mention the many burls that, not surprisingly, adorned many of the trees...

Some of these growths could easily be mistaken for animals, or at least totems, especially given the magical vibe the groves give off...

Which brings me to my last category of forest "microscenery." Especially in the very old parts of the forests that we visited, where there was lots of moss, we "saw" all kinds of strange creatures and structures...

a dozing monkey

a downed log being slowly enveloped

a more snake-like protuberance (or is it "Stumpy," from Tremors?)

wild boar? unicorn? a yacht's prow?

But no matter how old the forest, there's always new growth to notice and celebrate:

And, of course, photograph!

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Next up: "micro" scenery along the coast.

Redwoods, Part 3

As spectacular as we found the hikes in Jedediah Smith State Park, it's possible the walks we took on our last day in the redwoods might top them.

We ambled on down the 101 to the Prairie Creek section of the Park, and took two longish hikes, which produced just under 200 pictures. Whew! I'm so glad I have a large capacity camera card!

First up was a loop which took us along the park road to some more heavily-visited groves that were nonetheless breathtaking.

One of the main attractions is just off the road, the so-called "Big Tree," which you see above. It is quite impressive, and sort of off by itself, which also makes it look extra big. (I made a video since still photos, even with people in the frame for scale, don't really convey how big these magnificent trees are.)

I should note, though, that some of our party thought it was a bit presumptuous to name it the "Big Tree." However, it does have a rather interesting history, which we read on the informational panels. (As well as some very big statistics.)

Apparently at one time, an enterprising soul sought to saw it down and open a dance floor on its stump! Fortunately, smarter heads prevailed and it's still upright, in all its magnificence.

Our loop also took in part of the Cathedral Trees trail and that's where we saw the most wonderful scenery of the day.

If anything, this section of the park feels even older and more magical than Jedediah Smith.

Although it also has its share of younger trees, like the one above. You can tell it's not an oldtimer since it still has parts of its lower branches, although they are getting kind of mossy.

There was a lot of moss in this section of the forest...

...as well as all kinds of other interesting understorey growth...

I was particularly taken with the "nature's planterbox" effects that many of the trees exhibited, even 'way up in the air:

We also saw several examples of redwood family groupings, which are common in the old growth areas. New saplings can spring from their parents' roots, and in time, they can make gigantic gatherings like this one:

Another super-duper beautiful forest!

And even though we felt like we'd spent the last 3 days getting cricks in our necks from looking up...

...we still had one more hike to take.

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Down the road a bit further, in Elk Meadow, we took another loop to Trillium Falls. Here's the falls itself, which was more of a real falls than the one we hiked to before:

And along the way, of course, were more and more and more marvelous trees.

I'm going to try and restrain myself and show only a few photos from this hike, trying to choose some that display different kinds of features of the redwood forest:

I was always taken by the fabulous ferns, perfect complements to the big trees

also endlessly interesting were the holes

some holes were more than large enough to get inside and look up

some more low bridges

and more of those incredibly impressive roots

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Now you've seen most of the best of the more or less 500 redwood pictures I took! I still have a collection of redwood micro scenery (flowers, berries, roots, etc.) to show you. But I think I'll take a break for my next post and move on to the other big northern California attraction: the coastline. Stay tuned!

Redwoods, Part 2

As impressive as the trees are in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, we have to concur with folks who said the best is further north.

Heading north on the 101 from Fortuna, Redwoods National Park isn't too much further*. The weather was cooler (if also a bit foggier) the road itself was even more scenic, and it was less crowded (although, for people used to Colorado and west Texas highways, there were still a lot of people!).

The Park is an interesting cooperative effort between the state of California and the National Park Service. It's composed of several older state parks, augmented by additional land that was added for preservation when the National Park was christened in 1968.

Our redwoods experts (Hal and the website he referred us to) said the Jedediah Smith section of the park was the gold standard, so we headed there first. And it was phenomenal.

The trees are probably a little bigger and taller here than in Humboldt...

...but what really makes the hiking better here is the lushness of the understories.

There's also a lot more moss on the trees, making the whole forest feel much older and more venerable.

I found myself channeling Legolas often as I looked around and marveled at the sheer volume of biomass on display. (I tried to find the quote of his I wanted, but couldn't...it's when they enter Fangorn and he comments on how old the forest feels. Tolkien would have loved these forests!)

Our first and longest hike in Jedediah Smith was to Fern Falls, which, as a falls, wasn't that much to write home about.

But the journey there and back certainly was! Here are some selected scenes...

again, the downed trees were every bit as marvelous as those still standing

Joan points out a particularly attractive and gigantic specimen

low bridge!

an example of the very well-maintained trail, flanked by the most magnificent gates ever!

Steve provides scale in this redwood family grouping

note the tiny sibs up the trail

this spectacular specimen made us think of the prow of a clipper ship!

Such a wonderful, magical place! And we weren't even finished with Jedediah Smith!

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We had to take in the short hike through the Stout Grove, one of the most famous sections of the park. Although more crowded than the other hikes, since it's right off the road and short, it also has some advantages: level ground and a reasonable distance. Both important factors for sore feet and tired legs.

And the trees are incredible!

Joan provides scale for this "woodpile"

a particularly photogenic example of a downed tree's roots

a really old fellow

Such lovely woods! And we'd really worked up an appetite for an Oregon dinner. Since one of us needed to add that state to his life-list, and since we were so close to the border, we struck out for the frontier for our evening sustenance.

We needed not only to replenish the calories burned today but to ready ourselves for tomorrow. More of the National Park, and more fabulous trees, beckoned.

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*We recommend, if you only have time for one view of redwoods, to skip the Avenue of the Giants, stay on the speedier 101, and just head up to the National Park. Fewer people, better trails, and more scenic forests.