The Redwoods

Forests of Giants

Three large redwood trees grow close together in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Where's Boolie 2009

This year’s version of Where’s Boolie comes courtesy of a large redwood tree in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park. This was my first morning in the park and the tree sits right off the Prairie Creek Trail with a cavity in the middle suitable for housing an entire bigfoot family.

I had to smile when I heard a distant hooting that morning, probably an unfamiliar owl or other bird, but it also reminded me of the supposed bigfoot calls from I show I watched a while back. I hoped with camera in hand to get some nice high-resolution, in focus, non-shaky bigfoot pictures but it was not to be. It would have been the perfect time to prove my theory on the true nature of bigfoot.

It is not a popular theory and has put me on the fringe of the lunatic fringe. I believe that they are not some form of ape running undiscovered in our forests — I mean seriously — but that they are in fact Wookiees. My critics are quick to point out that Star Wars is fictional. I know it’s fictional, but how is it relevant? To Kill a Mockingbird is fictional. Are mockingbirds fictional too?

Treehugger

The land down under Oregon that is. Not the land where women glow and men plunder. We were shutdown at work last week and I turned the unplanned vacation to my advantage and headed south to Redwood National and State Parks for a few days. My wife and I visited for a day on our honeymoon ten years ago but I hadn’t been back since. I tried to go a few years back but was halted by a nasty snowstorm followed by a nasty ice storm. My original plans were to visit from Wednesday to Saturday, but I enjoyed myself so much that I extended the trip by a day. Sunday I meandered up the Oregon coast to Newport before finally crossing over to the higher speeds of I-5 and arrived home Sunday night to an enthusiastic welcome from the home crowd. It was a splendid little trip and I came home relaxed and refreshed, hiking from sunrise to sunset in the forests of giants, watching deer and elk browse and play in the meadows, gingerly walking among the little creatures of the tidepools, watching harbor seals in the heavy surf.

These treehugger pictures were taken just before sunset on my last full day in the redwoods. It was pouring rain and I didn’t want to stop, but when a passing bigfoot offered to hold the camera I couldn’t resist. I wanted to retake the pictures in the morning since I made some mistakes but was cursed with a beautiful sunny day and the wrong light for what I wanted. I had the camera set to ISO1600 (a fast speed) and yet the pictures still took 6 and 8 seconds. I was using a polarizer which didn’t help matters, but unfortunately it was so dark through the viewfinder that I didn’t get it turned just right to completely remove the reflections in the ferns. To make matters worse, my favorite pose is the top picture but by that time the rain had splattered the front of the lens but I didn’t realize it until it was too late.

Nevertheless, a fun end to a fun trip.

Rick Cameron hugs a large redwood tree in Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

A fallen redwood lies among ferns next to the Hatton-Hiochi Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Falling into the Arms of God

Redwoods have a shallow root system and fall over more than you might think, such as this tree that fell off the Hatton-Hiochi trail. I visited early enough in the spring that winter blowdown still blocked some of the trails, fallen giants that weren't so easily bypassed as the trees of my youth. When one tree blocked the Prairie Creek Trail I had to climb up the debris field to get across the trunk whose diameter greatly exceeded my height. I had an easier time of it further on where a tree lay beside the trail and only its branches blocked the path. As I carefully made my way through, a trickster unseen grabbed my right ankle and sent me tumbling.

Even when I stumble, I have a pretty good sense of balance and so rarely fall when hiking. But not this time, the grip on my ankle was too strong and unexpected and I fell face first. Miraculously I stopped just above the ground, suspended in mid-air, and in that moment of confusion my mind went straight to divine intervention. But my guardian angel and trickster demon were one, for one branch had tripped me while another held me aloft.

God helps those who help themselves, so I felt for the ground with my feet and then eased my weight off the branch, collected my wits, and continued down the trail.

Ferns line the forest floor underneath redwoods of various ages along the Simpson-Reed Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

A Floor of Ferns

One thing I hadn't remembered from my previous visit to the park were the magnificent ferns that filled the forest floor underneath the towering trees, the forest feeling at once magnificent and ancient and certainly unlike the deciduous forests of the east that I loved to wander in my youth. I have never been a big lover of ferns, but I came away so impressed that I wanted to come home and create my own floor of ferns in the backyard.

While I did resist that urge, when I found a scraggly fern hidden down in one of our wildflower gardens, I cleared out an area around this hardy survivor and hope it will grow and remind me of this spiritual place.

A mixed-age redwood forest in Redwood National Park

What's Old is New Again

While I loved the largest of the trees and never tired of seeing them, I suppose some of my favorite forest scenes were of the mixed-age forests. Old veterans scarred black with fire, hollowed out even but still standing, damaged by winter storms through the centuries. Beside them healthy young trees or spindly saplings, some from the logs of fallen trees, a variety of shapes and colors and textures between them.

Little Landscapes in Big Trees

A close up view of a large redwood tree on the Simpson-Reed Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the left half showing moss-covered bark with the right half showing the exposed red pulp

A Change of Plans

On my journey to the redwoods, I expected to work mostly with the widest angles of my lens, highlighting the immense size and height of these ancient trees. However, my plans changed instantly the moment I stepped on the trails. I was struck both by the myriad colors and textures of the trees as well as their tenacity in hanging onto life despite fire and storm damage. This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip and also one of my earliest, I stopped off for a quick hike around the Simpson-Reed Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park before continuing on to my hotel in Crescent City.

The bark of this redwood was colored green by moss, while on the right of the picture where the bark has been stripped away, you can see the red pulp that gives the redwoods their name.

We Three Kings

Three giants growing close together, redwoods all with the two closest colored green by moss. All trip long I enjoyed studying the old trees up close due to the wonderful character of their bark. I took these pictures in my first few minutes in the park and wanted to retake them to get more sharpness in the furthest tree, but I had so much fun in other parts of the park that I never was able to get back before it was time to head for home.

Three large redwood trees grow close together on the Simpson-Reed Trail in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

The bark of an old redwood shows many colors in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Big Trees, Little Landscapes

I was a little concerned when visiting the redwoods since I didn’t have a wide-angle lens for shooting the tall trees, but with layoffs looming I wasn’t about to spring for a full-frame camera or wide-angle digicam. There were definite times I wanted a wider lens, but I spent most of my time either shooting with my telephoto lenses or at the long end of my wide-angle zoom.

My wife and I had visited the redwoods on a day trip a decade ago and I was struck by the tall trees in the fog. I didn’t get much of the fog I hoped for on this trip but I had no shortage of subjects to photograph. The biggest surprise to me was the mesmerizing colors, shapes, and textures of the redwood trees and I spent more time zoomed in for intimate portraits of their bark than zoomed out for pictures of their girth.

I first got interested in shooting little landscapes like these in Yellowstone years ago, and this shot of the bark of an ancient redwood reminds me of my favorite spot in Mammoth Hot Springs.

The bark of an old redwood is covered in green moss in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

The bark of an old redwood is covered in green moss and blackened by fire in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

A redwood tree without bark shows both red and green in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

The gnarled bark of an old redwood tree in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

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