10 Things I Learned in the Redwoods

Yes, we are back home.

1.  The State is closing only one of the seven State Redwood Parks and that one, Standish-Hickey is really designated as a "recreational area" rather than a park so we can grant them that one.  It is a small little area on Hwy 101, so small that I unknowingly blew right on by the closed entrance which would have made a good photo for this post. So I present you with this plaque instead which I rather liked.

2.  Photographing redwood trees is futile.  There is no way a camera can capture and convey the immense size and beauty of these giants.  They really need to be seen in person to fully appreciate their grandeur.  I pretty well gave up until I took a photo with the road, The Avenue of the Giants, which I felt did the trees some justice.  

3.  If you do not care for being in the sun, the redwoods is the place to go.

4.  Camping beneath these trees seriously disrupts satellite radio reception.

5.  Kids make for good size references.  This is an slightly above average diameter for the coastal redwood.

6.  Birds and other wildlife are not fond of redwood forests so you must look where you walk for critters to photograph.  Good luck with the poor lighting and ultra slow shutter speed needed.

7.  Flowers too do not do well within the redwoods.  It might have something to do with the sun...?  So step outside the redwood grove into the sunlight to find your flowers.

8.  The redwoods is not a place you want to be when the Eel River floods.  Notice the striped board at the top of the pole - that is the high water mark when in December 1964 with a heavy snow pack in the mountains coupled with a 32" (81.2 cm) rainfall in three days caused the river to flood, devastating the little town of Weott.  It is said that the out pour of water at the river's mouth in the Pacific surpassed the average flow rate of the Mississippi and Columbia Rivers combined.

9.  Thank goodness for women in large groups.

10.  There are 135 known redwoods that tower more than 350 feet (106.6 meters) with the tallest at 378 feet (115.2 meters).  The giant sequoias grow larger in diameter with more bulk but not as tall as their cousin the coastal redwood.  They can live to be more than 2000 years old but average around 500 to 700 years.  The trees have no known killing diseases and insects do them no harm.  Fire is their biggest enemy usually doing in the young trees that have yet grown the thick protective bark.  The fact they have a shallow root system, wind is their next biggest problem and topples many mature trees.  

More photos to come, just a few.. not as many as there was for Bodie Ghost Town.