Montgomery Woods 12-29-12

 Took a trip up to Montgomery Woods yesterday. It's been raining like crazy around these parts lately. Yesterday was a welcome reprieve from the gray, wet days we've been having. There were a lot of visitors yesterday as well. The grove was filled with water. Steam was emanating from the barks of many of the trees that happened to have been hit by the sun beams.

 I want to share a bit of the parks history. This was written on a new sign that has been constructed near the parking area:

Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve (SNR) is named for nineteenth century pioneers Andrew and Elizabeth Montgomery, who homesteaded 160 acres here. In 1919, plans were made to harvest the trees in the Montgomery Grove. Ynes Mexia brought the grove to the attention of Save the Redwoods League. Within a year, the League managed to halt the harvest. It took another 25 years before the trees were permanently protected. Land owner Robert Orr donated 9 acres in 1945. Over the next 65 years, the park grew to over 2,700 acres. Today, California State Parks works with partners to restore the land and water that flow through the groves and protect the trees from ongoing threats.

I can only imagine what the forests of Mendocino County once looked like. It's still hard to believe that only a couple small, small groves exist here and that's all that remains of the original forest. Yesterday, I couldn't help get the feeling that watching all that water flow through the grove was fulfilling a very important task, that I can't even begin to understand. Like looking at a small part of a very complex machine that requires all of its parts to function properly.

My Top Ten Largest Redwoods of 2012

2012 was an excellent first year of tree hunting. What a memorable year it has been! Below are photos of my top 10 largest redwoods for 2012! Measurements were taken by tape measure. CBH means "circumference at breast height." Breast height is 4.5 feet from the base of the tree. All trees on this list are single stem trees.

1.) "Giant Tree" (Prairie Creek) cbh: 68 feet

2.) cbh: 56 feet, 1.5 in

3.) Since I could not measure this tree at breast height due to a burl, I took the average of the overhead and waste level measurement.
cbh: 54 feet, 5 in.

4.) cbh: 54 feet, 5 in.

5.) "Giant Tree" cbh: 53 feet

6.) "Taylor Tree" (I have dubbed the above tree the "Taylor Tree." It is the spot where I ran into Michael Taylor doing some measurements.
cbh: 51 feet, 8 in.

7.) cbh: 51 feet, 4 in.

8.) cbh 50 feet, 8.5 in.

9.) cbh: 50 feet, 4 in.

10.) cbh: 48 feet, 8 in.

Continental Divide Trail: Delorme Maps and Wolf Guides

December 20, 2012. Here we are, a day before the "END OF THE WORLD!" The fourth and final Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer arrived on my rainy doorstep yesterday. A shudder went through my spine as I contemplated the possibility of walking through these four states (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico) on the Continental Divide. The Delorme Maps have been recommended by past hikers to be used as an overview, or for planning alternate routes. The yellow books are the "Wolf Guides" I ordered a few months ago. They give very detailed instructions about where the trail is supposed to go. They are written from a southbound direction. It's a lot of information. There are more detailed maps to come. I have placed an order for Jonathan Ley's Continental Divide Trail Maps which will be the most trusted and detailed guide. A CD should arrive in the mail in February, and then I will need to print out those maps.

I am under the impression that preparation for hiking long distance trails is changing rapidly these days, as technology continues to advance and information is becoming more readily available. What I hope works for me this year may be completely obsolete in a couple of years. In fact, I am still finding it challenging how to sort through the confusing amounts of information out there at the moment. Some information seems recent and relevant while other information seems like it may be outdated at this point. I still feel like I am slightly behind the curve at my current planning stage as I fight with my two nemesis; sloth and procrastination. Those will be challenges to overcome in the next few months...

Montgomery Woods: December 16, 2012

 

Took a nice hike in Montgomery Woods yesterday to do some mushroom hunting. It was very cold and rainy this weekend, which kept the visitors away. I had the grove to myself. They have put up signs in the grove for the first time. Seven total. The water seems to have subsided a bit as well. The trail was walkable on the south side, where it was completely under water last week. Other than that, no major observations other than there seemed to be more mushrooms popping out of the earth this week than last for some reason. Very dark in the grove all afternoon as well.

Treasure in the Redwood Forest

 I went for a hike in Montgomery Woods on Sunday. What a difference a week makes. The grove looked really ravaged in places. Last Saturday night we had an intense rainstorm come through the area and it looked like the creeks around the grove flooded quite a bit.

 Along many of the creek beds, the orange layer of redwood needle duff had been completely washed away and all that was left was bare soil. In the grove itself, the same thing occurred in many spots. Where the water raced in, it washed away a path of redwood needles and left the ground exposed and bare.

 The trail on the southern side of the grove is pretty much under water now. As a result, the water forced me to walk in spots where I don't usually go. Again, many parts of the grove looked flood damaged. A lot of the redwood sorrel looked stripped and damaged from the water. It made me a little less cautious where I walked this time.

It seemed as though I walked on some spots for the first time. I found a geo-cache that had been stashed in the grove. There were some cool trinkets and other items in the container. I didn't take anything, just looked inside and put the lid back on and put it back into place.

 I saw one impressive tree which I've only really noticed once before several months ago. It's like it's hidden in the middle. Again, the water pushed me into places I don't normally walk. It's a great looking tree (below.)

  Near the tree was a little redwood sapling. It's rare that I see little saplings growing by themselves in the grove. Usually they are attached to the roots of downed logs or redwoods that have already been cut down. This sapling had found a great spot near the middle of the grove, where it should remain undisturbed. Maybe I will check on it from time to time. It's amazing to think that this could be the first year of the tree's life, and that it could potentially have a couple thousand more to go.

 Despite the ground looking disturbed from last week's storms, all the redwood trees seemed to weather it just fine as far as I could tell.

  Other than that, it was another quiet day in the grove. Many salamanders walking about again yesterday.

National Geographic: The President Tree

Redwood Perfection

6 Month Continental Divide Trail Countdown

Holy crap, it's December 1. Roughly 6 months to go before a possible push of the Continental Divide Trail in 2013. Am I nervous? Fuck yeah. I am trying my best to keep the worrying to a minimum. I think that's why I've been feeling so stressed lately. A couple friends told me to let it go a couple days ago. Let go of the hike. I was able to let it go for about five minutes, before thinking about it again. I know it's probably not healthy to put all your eggs in one basket. I am trying to detach myself from the trip the best I can. I am well aware that there are no guarantees of even attempting a long distance trail until you actually have both feet standing on the path. A lot can still happen between now and then. Financially, it looks like things are going to be tight, much tighter than I hoped. I got sick back in August and had to take almost a month off from work. I also had no health insurance. My working hours have been less this fall. I hardly saved anything since the summer. I had a bit of a health scare last week. Again no insurance, just a big doctor's bill waiting for me in the mail. Next week, my work hours pick up again. I am still hopeful, there is a lot left to do planning wise.