Redwood National Forest, California
On The Road With The Adventurers
Our visit to Redwood National Park in California could be summed up in two words: BIG TREES.
Of course, there is much more to see, but I couldn’t get my kids down off the 1,000-year-old tree stumps long enough to go anywhere else. They couldn’t stop climbing, exploring, and taking funny photos in this ancient climbing gym. My 12-year-old son reports this is our best National Park yet, as he struggled to stretch his arms around the thick, gray trunk of a Redwood giant.
My favorite part was camping under a canopy of Redwoods and Douglas-fir trees at Mill Creek Campground, with owls hooting at night and other mysterious bird calls lulling us to sleep and calling us awake in the morning. Huge ferns grew from the tree stumps that made it almost feel like a jungle.
The kids could.not.stop.climbing! We had several old-growth redwood stumps on our campsite that they turned into their own ninja warrior course, ancient tree style. Then, at night, they climbed to the top of the biggest stump they could find, searching for a wifi signal. What do you think the 1,000-year-old giant thought of that? Crazy.
We hiked along several trails while there, including Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Stout Memorial Grove, and (not surprisingly) Big Tree, which is along the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway.
An old-growth forest is home to very old and very large trees and shows you what a forest can become when left alone. The trees grow mighty and strong. One of the park papers described them as “timeless, persistent, patient, moving forward in time with or without us…” The coast redwoods you find here are not only the tallest trees on earth but among the oldest, too. I guess you could say they are vintage. That’s kinda cool.
I found this quote in my travel journal today. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” ~Henry Miller
Gazing up the immense trunk of a giant redwood gives you a powerful sense of your smallness, as one often feels when experiencing wide, expansive settings in nature. It made me think about the countless people through the years who have also gazed up at those majestic branches in amazement. Twenty human generations have passed since the tallest trees first emerged from the soil. Twenty more will come and go before current seedlings rise to take their place. That’s amazing. Being here somehow makes me feel connected to all who have come, or who will come, to gaze up in wonder.
Lots of people have asked about the wildfires that are tragically moving through California right now. I learned that “Fire creates, not destroys, the mosaic of life in the redwood forest. Fire plays a critical role by clearing dense ground cover and giving new seedlings the opportunity to grow. Fires can burn repeatedly through cracks in the bark into the heartwood but leave the outside growing layers intact.” (NPS visitor’s guide)
Wow. Something about that comforts me, knowing that even the worse fires can bring about new life and opportunities for growth in the forest. These trees are built to survive challenges of a millennium.
Being protected under the canopy of these giants left me feeling serene and happy, and not really wanting to walk away — one of the best gifts of this ongoing road trip.
