Redwood Fix

Every so often I feel a need to visit the Big Kahuna redwoods.  For this, I have to venture far to the north of Monterey, into the coastal counties from Mendocino north.  There are redwoods within a few miles of my hometown, and they are nice; but they're Triple A...to use a baseball term...compared to the big leaguers in the old growth forests of far northern California.  Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and Humboldt Redwoods SP are the best places to go.  Here, a massive redwood towers over 300 feet into the mist.

The forest floor is equally enchanting.  Ferns and redwood sorrel make a nice combination.

Sorrel envelops a nurse log.

Another Majestic redwood soars.

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built many trails and bridges in national and state parks around the nation.  Here's one of their bridges, in Redwood NP.  Simple but elegant.

Abstract sorrel pic.  The infinite shades of light on the forest floor are forever stimulating.

The Foothill Trail, Prairie Creek Redwoods SP.  I had never hiked this trail!  Wasn't planning to do so this time either, but the Drury Parkway was closed for construction, so I couldn't drive to my desired trailhead and made alternative plans.  Serendipity.  Fine trail.

A very fine nurse log.

I have passed this plaque numerous times...it's on Brown Creek trail, one of my favorites.  This time I Wikied Robert Gordon McKay.  Turns out he was born in the east, and was an All American football player at Harvard in 1908 and 1910...second team AA in 1909.  He lived in Seattle for awhile, and made a career in investment banking, retiring in 1937.   A widower late in life, he married Alexandra in January 1957, and died in New York,  in November 1958.  I found nothing indicating that he was a conservation activist, but he obviously loved this area.  My mind wandered...did Alexandra come back to this spot in later years to reminisce?  Did she love it too?  If she was a young bride, does she come here still?

It's interesting to observe the plants that glom onto a nurse log.  This tree has sent out roots which search for the ground; some, like the one on the left, find it.  Others, like those on the right, find enough nutrients within the nurse log.  Nurse logs are so cool! 

Here the park folks have broken out their Poulans and sawed a path thru a downed giant.  Artistry can be found in many guises in the redwoods...some at the hand of nature, some from the imagination of humankind.