Redwoods

We spent 3 nights at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, a few miles south of Crescent City, CA.  The park area was logged in the 20s; many huge stumps are still visible, some up 15’ in diameter.  The second night we had dinner with Roger and Lynn, friends from LHC who’ve spent the last 4 summers in this area.

This stump is in our campsite.  You can see where they cut notches to pound in the wedges and planks where the loggers stood to work their long crosscut saws.  The cuts were done just above the root flare, in this case about 12’ off the ground.

Sibling Rivalry

The suckers that spring up around the old trunks fight to gain the height advantage.  In this group, many of the also-rans have died.  The largest of the 2^nd growth trees are now 3’ in diameter.

 Redwoods and sequoias are closely related and are the largest living things in the world.  Sequoias reach 311’ tall, have diameters up to 40’ and can live to 3000+ years.  Redwood stats: 370’/22’/2000+.  Redwoods get 1/3 of their moisture from fog.  Scientists are studying the impact of global warming on these giants and are concerned that fog levels will be reduced to the point that the trees may die out - as they already have in most of the areas where they once thrived during the Jurassic period.

We’d planned to stay a week in the redwoods but grew tired of damp, dark, chilly and foggy.  So we headed across the coast range and are now in a county park near Grants Pass, OR - fondly known as Grass Pants to many Oregonians.

This is going back a few posts to Ice House.  This is the view from the highest point in the area, has a fire watchtower and helipad on it.  Awesome.