This Week in HRSP

Tea Pot redwood: cbh 43 feet, 8 in.

 Here's a few photos from Humboldt Redwoods State Park taken this past week. I try to get an hour of exploration time before work twice a week.

 Found a couple of burled beauties. It's going to be some tough walking come spring time along the Avenue of the Giants. As you can see in the above photo, there is so much poison oak growing on the trees here.

Thankfully, we are getting a lot of rain this weekend, at last...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Drove up to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park again today to get a little more acquainted with the place. Hiked along the James Irvine Trail for most of the afternoon. I must say, this place is not like any of the other redwood groves I have hiked in to the south. It is down right dangerous to hike off the trail in many of the places in this park. The forest literally swallows you up. A beautiful day overall though...

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

 Drove up to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on Monday to take another look around. I'm still barely getting my bearings, and haven't really begun to see what all is here. You can get lost all day in one small spot.

This monster had a circumference of 56 feet, one inch. A family could live on the inside.

Found these acorns deep inside a fire cave in a large redwood. Reminded me of the acorns I saw in the caves in New Mexico. Left by a human or rodent?

I don't even know what is going here. An enormous cluster of redwoods.

View of cluster from the opposite side.

View from inside of a redwood tree, looking out.

Giant, recently fallen Douglas Fir.

Someone took the time to count the rings. One estimate puts the tree's age at 670 years old. Another estimates 1,049 years!

Great news, we are finally getting some rain up here. It's been an unbelievably dry winter so far. We are going to need a lot more in the coming months...

John B Dewitt Redwoods State Reserve/Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

50 feet, 7 in cbh (John B Dewitt RSR)

 Here's a few photos from this week's redwood adventures. I decided to check out the John B Dewitt redwood grove just outside of Redway after work on Tuesday. I got there just as the sun was setting and was surprised to see two very large redwoods growing there. The grove is very small. It's hard to believe that even in such a small grove, enormous trees still exist. It blows my mind to think that these forests and trees covered much of the northern California coast not too long ago and that the surrounding area has been completely logged.

47 feet, 5 in cbh (John B Dewitt RSR)

 I drove up to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park on Wednesday to check out the area a little more. Driving in a vehicle from town into the heart of the forest makes the contrast almost overwhelming. It is another world. I didn't really have a plan, just decided to wander around a bit.

46 feet, 11 in cbh

An interesting looking redwood that appears to be growing on a giant burl

Cathedral redwoods: I'm in there somewhere

Massive sitka spruce: cbh 26 feet, 11 in.

Another goliath of the forest. Cbh 60 feet, 10 in!

Corkscrew Redwood Tree

Looking forward to many more days exploring this place...

HRSP January, 2014

cbh: 47 feet 9 in

cbh: 40 feet, 11 in

Small old growth redwood grove located outside of Benbow

Rockefeller Tree, 16th tallest at 366 feet, 5 in.

Here's a few photos from this past week in HRSP. I was able to stop by a couple of times before work and visited and explored a bit on Saturday as well. The top two trees are the ones I photographed a couple of posts ago. On Saturday, I wanted to visit the Rockefeller Tree. I had been wondering about this tree the last couple of years, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it since I'm pretty sure I've visited every large tree that exists in this particular area. I thought maybe I had a picture of it, but just couldn't find the match. As it turns out, I had walked right past it several times and didn't even know it! That's what can happen in this awesome forest of ours. Again, no rain to be seen anywhere this week...