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| Magnificent. The Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. |
Our new world is mostly downward-facing, people continually checking their hand-held devices. But here among the old-world giants everyone is looking up, their faces wearing expressions of wonder and awe.
Perhaps strolling among these titans causes visitors to speak in hushed, murmured tones. Or maybe it’s the sheer mass of living plant material absorbing any noise. Whatever it is, the human presence in an old-growth Redwood forest is not an intrusive one.
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| Tim snaps a photograph in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. (If you're having trouble spotting him, he's to the left of the light-barked tree on the right.) |
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| Waist-high Sword Ferns grow beneath the Redwood canopy. |
In the 21st century we’re obsessed with bucket lists, with extreme sport, with triumphing over terrain when we set out for the wilds. But there’s no speed-hiking here. People amble about these trails with the care and deliberation of meditating monks.
Old-growth Redwood groves are places to slow down, to lose yourself in quiet contemplation and reflection. Visit Redwoods State and National Parks in Northern California. Look up. Be amazed.
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| Red-tinted fallen needles carpet the forest floor. |
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| Walking alongside the trunk of a fallen Redwood. Redwood trees always fall while they're still alive and this tree, with it's furrowed red bark and several green limbs still attached, looks as though it could have fallen only yesterday. |
