Strange creatures lurk among the redwoods, which is no surprise for forests with giant trees that date back 2500 years. Maybe even more so for trees whose ancestors were around in the age of dinosaurs. The dark eyes, nose with a nose, and gaping mouth suggest this might be a creature of your nightmares. Do you ever gaze at the clouds and see animals or dragons or weird people? How about rocks or driftwood. Peggy and I let our imaginations run wild and see all sorts of fantastical creatures. Looking at this tree, it’s easy to imagine beings lurking among the burls. How many can you see? I’m sure that ancient peoples who wandered among these groves had no problems spotting otherworldly animals and incorporating them into their world. While it may look like this tree is sick, burls are actually a woody material full of bud tissue that serves as storage compartments for the genetic code of the parent tree. Young trees can actually sprout from the burls.Peggy and I found a number of creatures on various redwoods, such as this diving dragon. Following are a few of our other favorites.Scary fellow with wart on his nose.Devilish? Note the baby redwoods growing out of its head and making up its hair.Have trunk, will travel.Tree climber. Only 350 feet more to go.Reach out and grab someone. Not a hugger!Daliesque dragon with horns and a melting nose.We think it’s friendly. Maybe…..Smiling turtle?You name it. Next up, given all of these creatures, we will visit Fern Canyon where parts of Jurassic Park 2 were filmed in the redwoods.We didn’t find T-Rex, but we did find Number 42 with a tracking collar.
23 thoughts on “Strange Creatures Lurk among the Redwoods: They’re Burly… The Pacific Coast Series #13”
I’ve seen some fine woodworking done with burls, but until looking at this collection of images, I’ve never thought of another similarity. Most of them look like they could be piles of dung left by Jurassic Park-sized creatures!
She might like the novel ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ by Shelby Van Pelt. The more I learned about real life octopuses, the more realistic the novel became.
I smiled at this post, Curt. I have a bunch of photos of redwoods trolls. There will be some poetry to go along with them when I finally post them. 🙂 We LOVED the redwoods. I can’t say it enough. So beautiful and utterly silent. Thanks for sharing your tree creatures. Endless amusement!
Our thoughts exactly, D. Over and over and over, we are impressed with the incredible beauty of America’s National Parks and the Redwoods are right up there at the top.
I’ll look forward to your photos and trolls.😳
Wandering through Time and Place 
I’ve seen some fine woodworking done with burls, but until looking at this collection of images, I’ve never thought of another similarity. Most of them look like they could be piles of dung left by Jurassic Park-sized creatures!
Laughing. Yeah, they’d make pretty big piles, Linda. The elephant poop in Africa was large, but mere child’s play in comparison.
The burls make the forest even more magical. Although, I would be okay during the day, not so much at night. Yikes!
I imagine a flash light and shadows would bring them even more to life. Grin.
I never realized the trunks were so warped!
Not all of them, G, but there were enough of them to keep us busy!
These are all amazing and imagination-inspiring. I liked the devilish one and the tree climber, that seriously looks like a gecko. ha ha!
You can imagine how much fun Peggy and I had wandering along looking for them, Crystal. Thanks.
The burls are great. That last one could be a wombat.
And now it’s an octopus and wombat. Love it!
“We think it is friendly” is Marcellus the Octopus.
We should have seen that! Thanks. Peggy is reading a book on octopuses.
She might like the novel ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ by Shelby Van Pelt. The more I learned about real life octopuses, the more realistic the novel became.
I passed it on. Peggy says, thank you.
Amazing! I can see it!
Some fun! Thanks… I see you were just at the Sunken Gardens. Peggy and I were there at the beginning of February. Weren’t the Flamingos fun?
Absolutely! I think that’s where we spent most of our time. They were fun to watch!
We did too!
You guys have such wild imaginations. I’ll never look at a burl the same way again.
Alison
Having fun, Alison. There is always something new to see… And different ways of seeing it! 😊 –Curt
I smiled at this post, Curt. I have a bunch of photos of redwoods trolls. There will be some poetry to go along with them when I finally post them. 🙂 We LOVED the redwoods. I can’t say it enough. So beautiful and utterly silent. Thanks for sharing your tree creatures. Endless amusement!
Our thoughts exactly, D. Over and over and over, we are impressed with the incredible beauty of America’s National Parks and the Redwoods are right up there at the top.
I’ll look forward to your photos and trolls.😳
🙂