I took a number of hikes during this year’s trip to the coast redwoods; one of the most memorable was on a rather rainy and muddy day. I was so excited that I’d seen British Soldier lichens! and Andrews’ Clintonia in bloom! and all the flowers had raindrops on them!
I didn’t give my photos a good look until I arrived home about ten days later, and was shocked to realize they told a dramatically different story than the one I remembered.
A good third of the photos from that wet and muddy hike were of a little bridge and two fallen redwood logs. I’m pretty sure I took the first few photos in an attempt to show the massive scale of the redwoods: tiny people next to trees so tall that you can see little more of them than their trunks.
But apparently something else was going on in my subconscious, because I took numerous photos of this one small area both early in the hike and on the way back.
I was (and continue to be) fascinated by the two young trees which were growing from the lower redwood log. These photos show the roots of one of them cascading down and over the log. The top of the lower log came to just below my shoulder.1
The photo below shows the two trees. I couldn’t include the roots because the scene was way too big to fit into a single photo frame, even with a wide angle. I’ll simply point out that, although they look like two modestly small trees in the image, there’s no way I could’ve touched even the bottom of that upper log — not even with my fingertips, not even while standing on tiptoes. Unfortunately, while I’d now love to know what kind of trees they were, it never occurred to me to look closely at them that day.2
The photo below once again shows the upper log, this time with its upturned roots dwarfing the people about to pass them on their way to the bridge.
While forest trails in New Mexico occasionally feature bridges over arroyos and/or streams,3 they seldom include railings, and they’re clearly made out of whatever type of wood happened to be easily available and inexpensive. Perhaps my New Mexican experiences explain why I took so many photos of this little bridge, which blended in so well with its surroundings. It was a simple yet elegant novelty.
Despite my efforts, all of these photos put together still can’t even begin to capture the beauty and grandeur of this one little scene, let alone the forest itself.
I can’t get enough of the coast redwood forests and am already plotting planning my next visit.
I’m about 5’ 6”.
I would love to believe they’re baby redwoods. They are rather tall.
Generally the most you can hope for at New Mexico stream crossings are some flat rocks or a handful of smallish logs.
I've yet to see the grandeur of the redwoods - thanks for giving us another glimpse of what I'm missing!
Wow! Bucket list!