Sunday, July 22, 2018
Day 38
24 miles
On July 22 and 23, Daisy and I explored three additional coastal redwood sites, the first two of which were more commercial, but still intriguing and informative.
We visited Trees of Mystery near our campground in Klamath, California. This attraction has been operated by the Thompson family over 70 years. We lunched at at the Forest Cafe there. A woman and her two teen-aged grandchildren came over to our table after spying Daisy's VT t-shirt. They live in northern Virginia. The teens want to go to Virginia Tech just as their parents did and were pleased to find a graduate and educator during their travels in California.
Before the time of Christ, this “Fallen Giant” redwood in the photo below was but a seedling. For centuries it grew and finally fell. How long it was on the ground before these huge trees grew over it, no one knows, but it was long enough for trees over 10 feet in diameter to sprout and grow from the fallen log. Unbelievably, the root structure of the “Fallen Giant” is still sound even after being exposed to the elements all these centuries.
This tree, which has a height of 300 feet and a diameter of 19 feet, is called the “Brotherhood Tree,” dedicated to the common humanity of all races, creeds, and colors.
Coast redwoods are the tallest living things on earth. 95% of the world's old-growth redwoods are in California.
Several weddings take place each year before this beautiful grouping of redwoods above known as the “Cathedral Tree.”
The “Candelabra Tree” provides a spectacular example of redwoods’ tenacity for life. The horizontal tree has roots that feed the vertical trees and the branches of the vertical trees feed the horizontal tree by photosynthesis.
“Nature’s Underpass” and other trees here have been cited in Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.”
The “Lightning Tree” is named for its zig-zag shape, not what caused it. One theory is that Native Americans bent the young tree into this figure to serve as a trail marker.
This cross-section of a giant redwood has markers indicating the stage at which the tree would have been on key historical dates. From near the center to the outside, they are: the Crusades (1096), the Magna Carta (1215),
Columbus “discovering” America (1492), the Pilgrims landing (1620), and the Declaration of Independence (1776).
One of the features at Trees of Mystery is the Sky Trail gondola that we rode to the top of a nearby peak. The 10-minute ride climbs through the redwood forest canopy.
From the observation platform at the end of the gondola, we had a good view of mountains on one side and a hazy view of the Pacific Ocean on the other side.
On our hike back to the parking lot, I offered assistance to one traveler that seemed a little out of sorts. He just snorted and walked off. There are all kinds of tourists.
One portion of the return trail featured redwood carvings of the days when tall tales were the art of storytelling. A number of Paul Bunyan sculptures reminded me of these stories and his friends.
We went to our campground after picking up some brochures for our last day of coastal redwood traveling for this trip.
Monday, July 23
Day 39
35 miles
We started the day by driving a short distance north to the privately-owned tourist attraction called the Tour Thru Tree. The challenge on the brochure was: How often do you get the experience of driving through a healthy, living redwood tree?
Daisy took the picture of the Dodge Ram 1500 shown here barely fitting into the opening in the live redwood, so of course we didn’t even try with our larger Ram 3500 dually with a large truck camper on top! The opening is 17 feet wide and 9' 6" wide. The woman driving this truck into this position panicked realizing that she was in the middle of the tree froze and could not go any further forward. I helped her back out.
The tour tree is approximately 785 years old and at some time in the past was scarred by fire. Because of its giant size, it was spared when the area was logged in 1967. The tunnel through the tree was completed in May 1976.
Near the Tour Thru Tree was this 8' diameter rest room built into a section of a redwood tree. It may look like an outhouse...
...but it actually had a flush toilet and sink inside!
Our next excursion was a drive south on Highway 101 then north on the parallel Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.
This 10-mile route passes through the heart of the old-growth redwood forest in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.
One of the highlights along the Drury Parkway is what has been named the “Big Tree.” It is 286 feet tall with a 24-foot diameter and a 75-foot circumference, and it is estimated to be 1,500 years old. Its size and maze of broken and regrown appendages suggest that it may be one of the oldest trees in the forest. The black char on the outer bark is evidence of fire damage. Thick, insulating bark helps redwoods survive multiple fires throughout their lifetime.
As indicated by this signpost, the Big Tree isn’t the only huge specimen along this trail!
California coastal redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, often reaching heights of 200 to 300 feet.
For example, this double redwood also dwarfed us as we stood between the two trunks.
And they all started with roots in the soil or by sprouting from parent downed redwood tree burls as show here below.
We had a busy day.
Back in our campground along the Klamath River that evening, we were pleasantly surprised when another Host truck camper pulled in beside us.
Our camper brand is not very common, and we had a nice visit with Roland and Gabrielle, who live in southern CA now but are originally from Vienna, Austria.
Daisy and I took a walk amidst the flower plantings in this riverside campground before our meal preparations. This setting above was of special interest to her. Go figure!
The sunrise color, fog, and the previous night's moon rising over the Klamath River were beautiful bookend views from our campsite, and a great ending to our days of enjoying the coastal redwoods of California.
