A Short Walk Amongst Tall Trees
Redwoods Road Trip blog #5
Saturday, 24 Sep 2016. 6:30pm.
In my previous post, Driving The Avenue of the Giants, I wrote about the importance of flexibility in road-tripping. Well, thanks to a mindset of schedule flexibility, we were able to turn driving amongst the giants turned into also hiking amongst the giants.
Though it was getting on toward 6pm at the time we stopped at one of the trailheads to take a short walk amongst some tall, tall trees.
With dusk settling around us we set off into the deep woods surrounded by... a few dozen Chinese tourists freshly disgorged from a tour bus, most of them with selfie sticks at the ready, except for the few stumbling around in a half-daze playing Pokemon GO. We feared this noisy and heedless crowd might ruin the tranquil forest experience. Fortunately, it was loop trail and we could simply go the opposite way around the loop to avoid them almost entirely.
I mentioned in my entry about hiking Grizzly Creek Redwoods that these trees are very hardy. Fires that clear out underbrush and kill ordinary trees don't necessarily kill redwoods. They are affected by it but they adapt and survive. In a way the elimination of other trees benefits them in their competition for sunlight and water, and the burning of those trees returns nutrients to the ground.
Okay, so that's a textbook-like description, but what does it look like?
This tree is still alive. Its core has been burned out enough for several adults to stand inside it, but it has lived for decades beyond that.
Redwoods are not immortal, though. Fire that's intense enough can kill them. Soil erosion can kill them. When they die, sometimes the tallest tree in the forest becomes the longest tree.
Even in death these trees retain an aura of awe.
Saturday, 24 Sep 2016. 6:30pm.
In my previous post, Driving The Avenue of the Giants, I wrote about the importance of flexibility in road-tripping. Well, thanks to a mindset of schedule flexibility, we were able to turn driving amongst the giants turned into also hiking amongst the giants.
Though it was getting on toward 6pm at the time we stopped at one of the trailheads to take a short walk amongst some tall, tall trees.
With dusk settling around us we set off into the deep woods surrounded by... a few dozen Chinese tourists freshly disgorged from a tour bus, most of them with selfie sticks at the ready, except for the few stumbling around in a half-daze playing Pokemon GO. We feared this noisy and heedless crowd might ruin the tranquil forest experience. Fortunately, it was loop trail and we could simply go the opposite way around the loop to avoid them almost entirely.
I mentioned in my entry about hiking Grizzly Creek Redwoods that these trees are very hardy. Fires that clear out underbrush and kill ordinary trees don't necessarily kill redwoods. They are affected by it but they adapt and survive. In a way the elimination of other trees benefits them in their competition for sunlight and water, and the burning of those trees returns nutrients to the ground.
Okay, so that's a textbook-like description, but what does it look like?
This tree is still alive. Its core has been burned out enough for several adults to stand inside it, but it has lived for decades beyond that.
Redwoods are not immortal, though. Fire that's intense enough can kill them. Soil erosion can kill them. When they die, sometimes the tallest tree in the forest becomes the longest tree.
Even in death these trees retain an aura of awe.