Redwood Splendor in Humboldt

I've been hanging out in Humboldt County for the past two days, traipsing around in the redwood forests.  This is as close as I come to going to church...and it's very close indeed.  The redwoods are both tranquil and awesome, two vibes only occasionally triggered by the same setting.  The virgin redwood forests of NW Cali do the trick.  This redwood in Humboldt Redwoods SP is named...Big Tree.  Not much of a stretch...it's 363 feet high!  I'm privileged to be visiting the redwoods only nine days after roaming among the sequoias...both magnificent.  The redwoods are taller...the sequoias are more massive.  Both live for millennia...the sequoias can survive for three thousand years, the redwoods for about 2K.

The root network of a downed redwood.  Like the sequoias, redwood roots are extensive but shallow...going down only about ten feet.

The Bull Creek redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods SP make up the largest old growth grove on the planet, and they have some of the largest trees.  The grove is sheltered from coastal winds by the King Range, protecting the trees from windfall or at least losing their tops to the gusts.  The inland location means these trees get more warm sunshine than their counterparts closer to the ocean.  And the rich alluvial soil in the creek floodplain makes the trees happy.  I should also mention that old growth redwood forests have the most biomass per acre of any ecosystem on the planet.  As may be obvious from the many massive trees in the vicinity.

A tributary stream gurgles into Bull Creek.  A lot of these tributaries usually dry up during the summer, but last winter was very wet and there's more water in the forest than usual.

Another fine group of trees.

On the coast north of Eureka, I visited Stone Lagoon.  The ocean was behind me as I took this picture.  The decaying driftwood log is far from the lagoon, even farther from the open sea, and a good ten feet above high tide.  How did it get here, and when?  A guess might be the 1963 tsunami, triggered by the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska.  The tsunami wiped out much of downtown Crescent City.

Fern Canyon, between the redwood forest and the beach in Redwood NP, is a symphony of greenery.  This is a canyon wall.

Going up the canyon, you pass through a gauntlet of ferns on each side, and may have to do a bit of wading.

A wall of ferns rises above the creek.

This bridge over Prairie Creek in Redwood NP is slowly being swallowed by the lush forest.  Notice the moss draping the branches.  It's amazing to me that this scene...and the stark desert landscape of Death Valley, are not only both in California, but are well within the state!  I live in one of the most diverse areas on earth.

I found what looked like an old bench hewn from a log, reverting to forest.  I could lay back on the seat and look straight up.  This is what I saw.

And what would a visit to a rainforest be without...a nurse log?  This one, several centuries old, has nurtured a substantial tree at least 100 feet tall.  The tree got its start taking root in the nutrients of the decaying log.  As the new plant grew, it sought out more substantial soil, and spread its roots down the nurse log to the ground.