Redwoods

March 10, 2014

 


There are travelling days and staying days.  It took two days to reach our redwood destination, Crescent City.  For three and a half days we toured this region of redwoods.  The coastal redwoods span a range that begins in southern Oregon and end along the coastal region of California known as Big Sur.

In and around Crescent City is a dense area of combined state and national redwood parks.  The sun was shining when we arrived.  By the time we left an accumulated 6” of rain had fallen.  The heavy rain restricted some of our plans.  But, we were able to take a scenic drive which included a short hike as well as taking two very short walks in the rain through small sections of the forest.

 Various firs, hemlock and pine grow in the Washington forests.  These trees exhibit a self-pruning attribute where lower limbs fall to the forest floor while the crowns continue their upward growth.  The California redwoods, however, do not so readily self-prune. Fresh limbs can grow along the full length of the trunk throughout the life of the tree.  Looking up through the branches sunlight filters through the lattice work bringing light to the forest floor.  There’s a wide expanse between the crown of the redwoods and the vegetation of the forest floor.  Although there are multiple layers in the understory, there really seems to be but two layers of vegetation in the redwood forest.  Towering overhead and reaching crowns to the sky are the giant redwoods.  But, little grows in mid-level range of the forest until the forest floor is reached. 
 

Throughout the floor various wildflowers bloom alongside ferns that grow to three feet tall and branching out about three feet.  The streaming sunlight is soft and filtered and is weaves its way through this gap between the understory and the upper canopy.

 There is a sense of higher intelligence and connection to that ‘being’ that is the source of all things in the redwoods.  Being present with an ageless intelligence brings about a natural quiet.  Walking along simple trails we almost hear trees breathing.  Standing still at any point near trees that rise to over 300’ tall and 22’ in diameter you feel your own insignificance in the scheme of time, while at the same time you feel fully part of the moving tapestry of time.  Being out in the natural world can do this to us.  We felt that deep, clean, powerful and powerless connection to all beings in the contrail of time.