We're set up at the campground and Grammie has a load of laundry in the machine so lets head out and check out Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. The main road through the park is a single lane gravel road which winds its way through these huge trees. Have you ever seen anything so big?
Check out this road. It was just like this for over 10 miles. Awesome!
Pictures don't show the height and awesome splendor of these huge forest giants. They're so tall their tops are in the fog when at the ground it's clear.
I bet you thought the one I stood beside earlier was big; so did I, but check this one out. No, this hasn't been photo edited (whatever that is).
We didn't do this, we found it this way. Have you ever used one of those stump grinders to get rid of a stump? Can you imagine using it on this?
I found a big one so Grammie had to find a bigger one. Showoff. Giant Redwood trees are the tallest living things on earth. The Giant Sequoia is bigger around but not as tall. Isn't this amazing.
After walking through the redwood forest for an hour or so, we came across this sign. I'm sure its a joke. We left shortly after.
Have you seen pictures of cars driving through giant trees? So have we, so when we found a tree like this we just had to drive through. Now that's a big tree.
Tighter than it looks. A little push and our car popped out just fine.
As we've driven along the Oregon and now the California coast, we've seen this sign numerous times. Its hard to make out but says Tsunami Hazard Zone. And people live in these areas. Brave souls.
Our next campsite is near Leggett, California. Now we've camped in a lot of interesting places like on the beach, in a meadow or beside a river, but I think this is the most awesome spot we've stayed. Surrounded by giants. The problem was, when it finally stopped raining, we didn't know it for an hour because of the dripping from the trees.
We are only a few miles from Humboldt Redwoods State Park so we drove through the park and stopped at the visitors centre. This is probably the worlds first motor home, called the Kellogg Travel Log. The wooden body was carved from a single redwood tree and mounted on a 1915 Nash Quad truck by Charles Kellogg. He drove it all over the U.S. inspiring people to help save the redwoods. It was fully decked out with a bed, tables and chairs and wash stand with sink, all made from the same redwood tree (not the sink, it was metal). He was most famous for his ability to sing the most accurate and beautiful bird songs and filled concert halls with his demonstrations. He did not whistle, he sang. A tape of his songs played as we walked around the centre; absolutely amazing.
A lot of effort was being made at that time to save the giant redwoods from being cut down. They were not protected then. About 10% of the original forests have been saved, a lot due to his efforts. This was one of the trains used to haul the trees from the forest. Each flat car had one log on it due to their enormous size. Laying on the flat car, some logs were twice as high as the train engine.
The drive through the park is called "Avenue of the Giants". It's 32 miles long and weaves through trees like this. No matter how many you see, they're still awe inspiring. This area of California had a huge flood in 1964 and this spot was under more than 50 feet of water. These trees are 250 feet high or more and probably didn't even notice their feet were wet. Redwood tree bark can be a foot thick and the trees contain tannin, both of which prevent insect attack. Even forest fires don't hurt them because the thick bark doesn't burn. That's why they live for 2000 years and grow so huge; nothing hurts them.
Even when wind blows them over, they're impressive. We've heard of the giant redwoods for years and have finally seen them for ourselves. To actually stand beside these giants and look up until you fall backwards is a thrill no pictures can duplicate. So far, this has been the natural highlight of our trip. Not that the ocean wasn't great too. Or the mountains....
No comments:
Post a Comment