Mae's Real Stories

Memories for Miriam, Alice, Theo, Delia, Tessa and anyone else who would like to be here

Thursday, May 24, 2007

 

Giant Sequoias



At Big Basin Redwood state park in California, we took a walk to see the giant sequoia trees, also called coastal redwoods. This is one of the very good places to see redwoods as they have been growing for several thousand years. The first two photos show the largest tree in the park, "The Father of the Forest." One picture shows the base of the tree and the other shows the top of the tree. The "Mother of the Forest" is taller, but not as big in circumference or as old.
Many of the old trees have become hollowed out by fire and by decay. Because they are so enormous, you can walk into the hollow part, which in some cases is as big as a small room.

The bark of the trees can grow in a variety of patterns. Sometimes the bark shows the black soot from fires that burned long ago. A fire burned in Big Basin just over 100 years ago, yet many trees are still blackened. After a fire, the trees grow in new ways from the base of old trees, and redwood seeds begin to sprout. The forest comes back to life.

The redwood forest is very peaceful. In the morning, the clouds were low and mist and rain were around us as we drove down the winding road into the park. During and after our walk, we saw much more sunshine.

When we were young, Elaine, Arny, our parents, and I took a trip to California. We saw the redwoods that grow in the mountains in Yosemite National Park. We drove over a very steep, narrow, and winding road called the Tioga Road, which goes from Yosemite to Nevada. The road into Big Basin was a little like that, but not as long.

At that time, one hollow tree in Yosemite was so big that you could drive your car through the hollow part of the trunk, and we did that. Driving or walking too close to the trees turns out to be bad for them, so now you can't drive through the tree any more, and you can't walk into very many of them. I think the tree that many people drove through became so weak that it fell down.

Comments: Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

Archives

August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010   March 2010   April 2010   May 2010   June 2010   September 2010   October 2010   November 2010   February 2011   May 2011   September 2011   March 2012   April 2012   May 2012  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]