Coast Redwoods

To walk among these ancient trees and camp beside their enormous trunks was an awe-inspiring experience. Together with my son Daniel, his girlfriend Chelsey, and her father Karl, I spent three days last week among the redwoods of northern California, the tallest trees in the world.

photo by Chelsey Burke

Wrapping my arms round a 50 foot tree trunk was a small step first to learning about these forest giants:

• they can live for more than 2,200 years
• they appeared on Earth over 240 million years ago
• they once covered much of the northern hemisphere
• today they grow only along the coast from Southern Oregon to Big Sur 
• their roots may only be 12 feet deep but their tops reach over 360 feet
• Redwoods capture more CO2 than any other tree

Read more about Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) here.

treetops reach into the clouds to gather moisture

Monkeyflower grows in a sunny spot

a male dark-eyed junco on the forest floor

ferns grow all year round in the redwood forest

Daniel perched in an upturned root

a giant in Humbolt-Redwood State Park

poison oak: leaves of three, let it be