In the land of the giants!
Watch this video clip to get an idea of what the Redwood forest looks like. This scene from Star Wars was filmed right here in the Redwood Forest!

May the forest be with you

Guess which tree seeds this tiny pine cone holds??

The pine cone are getting smaller and the trees are getting bigger.

This tiny pine cone holds the seeds to the some of the biggest trees on the Earth, the giant Redwoods! I cried when I stood among these wonders of nature and I cry every time I think about them. Walking on the trails in these ancient forests made me feel like an ant in the grass or a spec of dust on a rug. Humbled and reminded that I am just at a visitor for a short time on this Earth. That it was here long before I was and will be here long after I am gone.
The ancient forests we walked in were 2000 years old. Many of the tallest Redwoods have had their canopies hit by lightening but they simply begin to repair themselves.  In the words of environmentalist John Muir, "as soon as any accident happens to the crown, the branches beneath the wound seem to be excited, like a colony of
bees that have lost their queen, and become anxious to repair the damage. Limbs that have grown out for centuries at right angles to the trunk begin to turn upward to assist in making a new crown."
An ancient Redwoods bark can be 2 feet thick. They reproduce by seed and by sprout unlike the Giant Sequoia which reproduces by seed only.

trunk with new sprouts

Thick Bark

       

While driving at night, we did have an owl swoop in front of our car. In my heart, I  hope I it was a Northern Spotted Owl. This owl lives ONLY in the old growth forest of Northern California. Before the late 1960's and early 1970's, these forests were being cut down at an alarming rate.

I try to wrap my head around what the mindset of a person was who took a chainsaw to these groves. I can only think that this was their job, their bread and butter. They couldn't have been really thinking about what they were doing. The Spotted Owl is endangered and only still in existence today because of brave people who stood up and asked the difficult questions about what we were doing to our planet. I thank GOD for those voices just as I am thankful for today's Earth advocates. I teach my second graders to be "wildlife warriors" and advocates for people, animals and the natural world that cannot speak for themselves. Instead of telling people to stop, explain why it is important that they do. Teach by doing, by explaining. Educate! Knowledge is power!

I am a fern lover.....I get delight in watching them curl upward in the spring to greet the warmer weather. The floor of the Redwood forest is covered....I mean covered in ferns, big ferns, small ferns, tall ferns and short ferns.

I will leave you with more of John Muir's eloquent words and some beautiful pictures.
"There is no absolute limit to the existence of any tree. Death is due to accidents, not as that of an animal, to the wearing out of organs. Only the leaves die of old age. Their fall is foretold in their structure; but the leaves are renewed every year and so are the essential organs, wood, roots, bark and buds. Barring accidents or human intervention the big trees seem to be immortal."
If you haven't been to see these trees, put it on your bucket list...

For now... revere the trees in your yard, your neighborhood, your town....

red wood

ferns....ferns....ferns

they covered 1/3 of the trunk

 tree canopy

very dense foilage

standing inside of what was a trunk