A giant of the forest: “an ambassador from another time.”
“The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It’s not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time.”
John Steinbeck
Like John Steinbeck, I am in awe of the Redwoods. These giants of the forest can live for two thousand years and grow to over 300 feet tall. The so-called Big Tree in Redwood National Park, for example, is 304 feet tall, has a circumference of 68 feet and an estimated age of 1500 years.
Our home in Southern Oregon is a short three-hour drive from the coastal redwoods of Northern California so Peggy and I have visited them three times in three years. My first visit to the Redwoods was as a child and it is still a clear memory. Our last two visits we had our grandkids with us. My hope is that their memory of the visit will be like mine– and pull them back, time and again.
Peggy provides a perspective on the actual size of a giant redwood.
Redwoods National Park is located along California’s rugged North Coast. Stormy seas had left behind piles of driftwood.
Among the driftwood was this large redwood tree root.
Most of the driftwood was small but also quite attractive. It was easy to imagine the various shapes as creatures…
I thought of this piece as a wood duck.
Back to the forest, my friend Ken Lake and I stand next to another massive root. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
The moss growing on this tree is a reminder that Redwood National Park receives 60-80 inches of rain per year, thus making it a rainforest.
The size of clover is another reminder that things grow big in Redwood National Park– as my favorite model demonstrates below…
Beautiful Foxglove is also found growing among the redwoods. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
Another perspective on the rainforest look of Redwoods National Park.
Two final views of the magnificent redwoods.
NEXT BLOG: Wrap up of park series (for the present) with photos from several different parks.
Wandering through Time and Place 
Majestic. You don’t see driftwood that size often either. Love the duck 😉
The duck was one of many “creatures” I found. 🙂 And that happened to be the biggest piece of driftwood I’ve ever found, other than whole trees. –Curt
Awesome. Not as the word is used these days. Truly awesome.
Yes they are Bruce.
Even though I live in California, I have been to the Redwoods but once – perhaps more than fifty years ago. Now, I yearn to go back after seeing your marvelous pictorial…
Highly recommended Koji. Load up your buddy and go for a drive! –Curt
I have never forgotten the great slice through a redwood trunk I saw as a child in the 1958 Exhibition in Brussels.
Was it one that showed when various events happened according to the annual rings. I always find that fascinating. –Curt
No doubt your grand kids will remember and want to return again.. The sheer height of these trees is dizzying.. Love all that driftwood.. One of my most prized possessions is a piece of driftwood given to me by my Dad!
Neat on the Dad part! As for the grandkids. I do hope so. I’ll make sure they get back there next year. –Curt
Awesome! And I mean that in the true sense of the word, not the over-used term that bounces around today. Even looking at pictures or film, it’s hard to imagine.
I didn’t know about the giant clover… who would have thought…
As Steinbeck said, it is like you are stepping back in time. And there is a reason why they have a Cathedral Grove. –Curt
Oops… Sorry Bruce — I should have finished reading the other comments first! But it is worth repeating, isn’t it. Awesome.
Nothing wrong with two awesome-s!
When I think of the things I loved about California, the redwoods and the “lost coast” constantly fight each other for the #1 and #2 positions. What I remember most about the redwoods is the combination of size and silence. And sometimes, it seemed even the air was green – probably all that dissolved chlorophyll. 😉
I like the green air thought, Linda. It truly does feel that way. –Curt