Hard to beat nature's landscape design: redwoods

[mdvaden]

The parks of the west coast are better than any landscape design I've ever done...

Took my mother for her first visit to the redwoods.

The log she is standing near to, is about 14' high along it's length, and bigger near the base. The old vegetation on top, like the deciduous and evergreen huckleberry plants, trees and ferns, makes a raised natural planting over 20' tall.

[FearThisDeere]

Those are some cool pics. Someday I want to go out there and see those in person.

[mdvaden]

It's probably the most serene forest I've ever been in, and so I wrote on a web page for that spot.

My mother said that you can "hear a pin drop".

If perhaps there is wind, it's unique. It makes the tree tops sound almost like the sound of the ocean.

If you even get through there, give yourself at least a full day, to stop at a couple of locations, and find one short hike. You don't have to go too far of the road.

The images above were just a 5 minute walk off Hy. 199 in the Simpson Reed Discovery Trail at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park - a few miles south of the OR / CA border.

I actually like that trail even better than Stout Grove off Howland Hill Rd. Although, I've talked to visitors from back east or from outside the US, at both spots, and they were dazed with amazement.

Its not just the size of the trees that's remarkable. The forest has a character of its own. A lot of unique forms, growths, etc..

[razor1]

Definitely on my must see list. When is the best and worst time to go?
Thanks

[mdvaden]

Definitely on my must see list. When is the best and worst time to go?
Thanks

I've been hiking in there almost every season, and enjoy all.

If you go in the fall, there are some interesting fungi, like sulfur shelf.

Late spring and early summer, the rhododendrons will be blooming and there is an iris native to the woods too.

If you could pick one season, I'd suggest maybe May - June as optimum. But if you had to go any month - even winter - you would still enjoy it immensely.

There are deciduous trees, but the bulk of the forest is evergreen: the redwoods, ferns, huckleberry, other conifers, moss, salal, etc.. So the foliage is thick all year.

Look how much evergreen is in the image with my mother - just a month into spring. The image below, was taken not far away, Sept. 23rd of last year - mostly evergreen foliage.

If my edit is fast enough, the second image is sulfur shelf I'm checking out last autumn (new Silky saws shirt).

[ericlemson]

Amazing photos. I used to live in Vancouver, WA. I only lived there for 9 months, but that was just enough time to see all of the volcanoes, some of the forests, ocean, etc. Definitely some of the most beautiful parts I have ever seen.

[ericlemson]

Nice photos on the website too!

[mdvaden]

Amazing photos. I used to live in Vancouver, WA. I only lived there for 9 months, but that was just enough time to see all of the volcanoes, some of the forests, ocean, etc. Definitely some of the most beautiful parts I have ever seen.

Did you ever have a chance to watch the World Windsurfing competition in the Columbia River Gorge?

You picked a good town. Vancouver, WA, is a nice place to live.

[ericlemson]

Did you ever have a chance to watch the World Windsurfing competition in the Columbia River Gorge?

You picked a good town. Vancouver, WA, is a nice place to live.

Never saw the competition, but went to the CRG several times. Again, that is a beautiful spot. I lived there in 1990. Went to Mt. St Helens several times. Back then, there wasn't any vegetation in the vicinity of the volcano.

I moved from FL to WA. I was pretty young and my parents decided that they were tired of the heat. Then after 9 months of rain and drizzle, we packed up and moved back to FL. Finally ended up in Greer, SC. I am thinking of going back to the Pac. NW on vacation in a year or two.

[thesargent]

nice photos, right close to where i live. i love the redwoods, as i grew up on the "Avenue of the Giants" in Humboldt County. nice to see someone else enjoying them too. hey mdvaden, next time your going to be in brookings let me know so we can grab a cup of coffee. just shoot me an email. thesargent@gmail.com

[mdvaden]

nice photos, right close to where i live. i love the redwoods, as i grew up on the "Avenue of the Giants" in Humboldt County. nice to see someone else enjoying them too. hey mdvaden, next time your going to be in brookings let me know so we can grab a cup of coffee. just shoot me an email. thesargent@gmail.com

Are you the man who pulled up near my truck when I was on a phone call parked by the garden club's botanical garden at the triangle?

I was also there a bit over a week ago, and will be back this Friday and Saturday. Will be camping at Harris Beach State Park. Last week, a lady in a Mercedes waved me down on the road for an estimate, and I'll be spending a few hours mid-Friday doing her Deodar Cedar about 7 blocks west of the DQ and car wash.

But I'll be in the camp ground a lot. Look for the White 4 door Dodge Ram with aluminum tool boxes and the arborist sign on the back window. Otherwise, if you buzz through the campground, look for this BLUE CARGO TRAILER or my truck and that trailer. I won't be in the campground all the time, but expect spare time to be spent in Fred Meyer, on the beach at the park, etc.. Fairly close to the park and the main-drag.

[mdvaden]

This picture has evidence in it :waving:

Check out the details - they tell a story.

It's a fallen Sitka Spruce at Ecola state park, between Cannon Beach and Seaside, Oregon. Odds are, a windstorm brought it down. I was there, so I know its laying toward the north to NW.

The prevailing storms winds of west Oregon in winter are from the SW. That's one reason I'm guessing that wind helped out it's fall.

Notice the tree that has a curve in the trunk. It's lower trunk is more closely aligned with the massive fallen Sitka, indicating that the Sitka's root ball lifted the smaller tree. Then the smaller one self corrected itself with new growth that curved upward.

Another smaller tree of the same size, is totally vertical, indicating that it germinated and grew after the big tree fell. The straight one is not too much younger than the crooked one, showing that the one with the curved trunk was a small tree when it went over - probably just a couple of inch diameter trunk.

Forests tell a tale. Reminds me of CSI Miami, where Horatio always talks about letting the evidence talk...

[mdvaden]

Here's the largest Sitka spruce, only 6 miles from the fallen one in the image above.

The largest one is still standing. The deck is to protect the root zone.

[thesargent]

yup, that was me, ill try and see if i can find you, somtime fri, or sat. nice looking pictures. love the blue trailer.

[mdvaden]

yup, that was me, ill try and see if i can find you, somtime fri, or sat. nice looking pictures. love the blue trailer.

Not sure if you came by the campground Fri. / Sat. - but my son had a cold, so we only stayed until Sat. afternoon.

I asked a tree service guy in a chip truck for directions to the dump, and he offered to follow me past the DQ and chip the stuff. What great timing !!

Offered him my dump fee equivalent though. It was only 5 minutes of chipping. Company name was Desi's Tree; clean shiny bucket truck and chipper.

Anyhow, we enjoyed the beach, campfire, and redwoods on the return trip home.