Redwood National and State Park

The park grounds are jointly operated by the National Park Service and the State of California.  The unique nature of redwoods hasn't always been cherished.  There were times when forests of redwoods were clear cut by logging companies.  The trees are truly different.   Not only do they grow tall, they "live" for as long as 2500 years.

Once their beauty and value to our ecosystem was established groups started buying up groves of the trees to preserve them.  Some were state.  Some were private.  Some were federal.  Ultimately, the state and federal government decided it was in the best interest of the public if the parks were operated jointly.

Redwood National and State Park has other parks inside it.  All of them have redwoods.  There is a distinction made between old growth and new growth redwoods.  Old growth are trees over 1000 years old.  New growth are usually about 200 years.  Redwoods do most of their vertical growing in the first 200 years of their "life."  After that they grow wider -- sort of like humans.

Jan wanted me to make it clear that the juxtaposition of the joke about humans growing wider over time and the image of her trying to hug one of the giant redwoods was not meant to imply that she is one of the humans that has grown wider.

We hiked a few trails.  The longest one gave us the best look at grove after grove after grove of these trees.  The bottom picture is of something named "The Big Tree."  It is.  The tree towers over 300 feet.  The base is easily 8 foot wide, probably more.

The park is also a habitat for wildlife.  There is plenty to eat.

We hiked in an area where Elk frequent this time of year.

And as I promised, we returned to our "estate" to have dinner and watch the ocean.

We enjoyed our first day in the park despite a day long fog.  It was predicted to lift by 9:30 in the morning, but it never did.  There were times when it got brighter, but ultimately the fog won the day.  The trees are happy about that.  They actually draw 30% of their water from the fog.  One of the reasons Redwoods flourish in this region is their proximity to water (the ocean) and the fog.

Incidentally if you are wondering about our nearness to the fires that are raging in the state, we aren't near them.  We are nearer than most of the people reading this blog, but we aren't near them.  We'll be closer where we are headed next, but the fires aren't near Lassen National Park either.  They are between us and Lassen NP and we will have to plan a new route to get to that location.