May 22-23 - 2018 Crescent City, California

Tuesday and Wednesday (22nd and 23rd) were all about big trees - The Coast Redwood.
The Coast Redwood is a distant cousin (grandfætter) to the big Sequoia that we saw a couple of weeks ago. The Coast Redwood is not as big in volume as the Sequoia, but it is taller (højere) – the tallest trees in the world. And as the name implies they live on the coast. The only place you’ll find them is on a narrow strip along the Pacific Coast (Stillehavskysten) of California and Oregon. They need abundant moisture (en masse vand), and the seedlings are frost sensitive (tåler ikke ret meget frost). This coastal climate is perfect for them, with mild winters and lots of rain and fog. They get as tall as 380 feet (115 m) and as wide as 30 feet (9 m) in diameter!! And get up to 2000 years old!

We are camped near the Redwood National and State Parks (a joint venture between the National Park Service and the State of California). A huge area consisting of several redwood parks.Tuesday, we went to the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park which is bordering our campground. There are two things in particular that strike you when you walk in the woods: The massiveness of the size and number of the redwoods and the quietness. 

There is an old Danish song: “I skovens dybe stille ro” (Something like: “In the forest’s deep quiet tranquility”) That is here!!!

Wednesday, we went to the National Park part.

We went to a part called “Tall Trees Grove” (skov).
You can only get there with a permit (tilladelse). They only let in 50 cars per day.
After a 7-mile (ca. 11 km) drive on a gravel road (grusvej) there was a 1½ mile (ca 2,5 km) strenuous (anstrengende) walk to get to the grove. But it was worth it.

It was very lush (frodig). And VERY green. The ground was covered with big ferns (bregner). Trees, other than redwoods, were covered in moss and some had ferns growing on them. Wild rhododendrons and azaleas grew here too.

 

 

But the main attraction was the redwood trees. The grove has a lot of redwood trees that are over 325 feet (100 meter) tall. The tallest tree is called “Tall Tree” 😊 and used to be the tallest tree in the world at 368 feet ( 112 meter). In 1998 it lost 10 ft. (3 m) of its top in a storm and dropped a number of places on the tallest tree list. But at 358 ft/ 109m it is still pretty tall for a tree. (Only 90 feet lower than the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis) (2½ gange Rundetårn).

This guy could stand inside this hollow tree, with outstretched arms,
and not touch the sides.

This is the BIG tree.

 Written by JJ