Saturday, February 25, 2012

Humboldt Views

Fog is pervasive on the Humboldt coast.  It's most common in summer but occurs year round, as seen here in February at Patricks Point State Park.  These trees, only a couple hundred yards from the ocean, are Sitka spruce; they're salt tolerant, unlike redwoods which grow farther inland.

Winter reveals the gnarled branches of the coastal shrub trees.

These are homes in a reconstructed Yurok village at Patricks Point.  The Yuroks still use these structures for ceremonial occasions.  The entrances are the holes near the ground...you have to crawl into the structure.  Not easy if you're fat and/or old...I guess the Yuroks are in good shape. 
Arcata, like many towns in Humboldt county, has many cool Victorian structures that have been nicely maintained in recent years.  This home is a B&B.

A nurse log provides a home for redwood sorrel in the forest of Humboldt Redwoods SP.  This log has gone down fairly recently, so doesn't have many plants growing on it yet.

The trail winds quietly through the majestic forest.

The redwoods in the state park are protected, but before the park was established a few of the huge trees were logged.  For perspective, this stump is about ten feet high.  In the days before mechanized logging, to cut down a massive tree more easily, loggers cut notches in the base and inserted planks.  The loggers stood on the boards and sawed higher up, where the stump was much narrower than at the ground..

A towering redwood soars into the mist.


The wild northern shore, shrouded in fog and mist. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Mystical North Coast

I'm on the Humboldt coast in far Northern California.  It's one of my favorite places.  The redwoods are majestic.  The country is serene.  Fog, mist, and rain add an ethereal, surreal aura to the scene.   And...then there are the elk.  These critters have just gotten out of school for the day.  But before returning home to fire up their laptops and write research papers, it's time for a late afternoon snack.

I visited Lady Bird Johnson grove for the first time in a decade or so.  It was a great morning with a combination of fog and sun...perfect for fine pix of the majestic old growth forest.

Redwoods grow very fast, reaching heights of 200 feet in less than two centuries.  In fact, in 2000 I visited a grove near Rotorua, New Zealand that had been planted only 100 years earlier and the trees were at least 200 feet high!  After the tree gains the forest canopy, it grows more horizontally than vertically.  Thus, the fat redwoods are the oldest.  This tree is most likely at least 600-700 years old.  It was already growing when Columbus reached the Bahamas.

There is great beauty and diversity in the forest floor.  Ferns abound.  From here clear up through the Alaska panhandle, over a thousand miles to the north, coastal rainforest abounds. 

A mossy shrub fronts the giants.

A day with some sun and some fog provides infinite combinations of light in the primeval forest.  Such days are common here.

In winter, the deciduous trees of the forest are revealed as shrouded in moss.  Again, this pic could be taken anywhere from California to Alaska in the lush coastal forest. 

Trillium Falls, in Redwood NP.  The falls are accessed by a fairly new trail, only 15 years old at the most.  I just found out about the trail yesterday and hiked it today...a fine stroll of 2.7 miles, with enough climbing to make a decent workout for the Venerable Pinniped.

This large driftwood log indicates the occasional ferocity of nature in these parts.  The log is separated from the redwood forests by flooding rivers, filled by massive storms carrying moisture from the tropics.  The log is swept out to sea, then deposited high up on the beach by huge waves spawned by the same massive storms.  Huge driftwood like this can be found on all the pacific beaches from Sonoma county north to Alaska.
Another intriguing spot on the Humboldt coast is Big Lagoon.  This is it, with fog shrouded hills in the distance.  Again, the misty weather of the North Coast provides superb lighting.  The ocean proper is to the right of the picture, separated from the lagoon by a large sandbar.  During big storms, either the lagoon or the ocean overflows, and the two bodies of water meet. 

Friday, February 03, 2012

Winter on the Sonoma Coast

I'm currently up in Sonoma county, staying with friends who rented a house at the Sea Ranch.  The dry winter continues, with high clouds, sun, light wind, and strong surf...ideal winter weather, I reckon.  This pic was taken near the mouth of the Russian River, near Jenner.

Big surf and soft, filtered winter sunshine are a good combination.

The Sonoma coast is made up largely of sandstone, which erodes into neat forms.

Winter surf at Walk on Beach.

Driftwood, Sea Ranch homes, redwoods in the background.  Viewed from Walk on Beach.  Conditions were perfect on this day...bright sun, no wind, big surf, no people.

It wasn't windy on this day, but it usually is, as this cypress tree shows.

A heron patrols the shore in late afternoon.

The trees above Gualala beach are sculpted by the wind just a little bit.

The coastal sandstone is fashioned into exotic shapes by wind and water.  Another spot with similar rock patterns is on the southeastern coast near Cape Otway, near Melbourne.

Looking through a hole in the sandstone reveals...more eroded sandstone!

Sunset at the Sea Ranch.