The California Redwoods

The California Redwoods are a rainforest thing, like the trees in Washington - They need a lot of rain and a mild climate. They are magnificent, in a different way than the giant Sequoias; the Sequoias overwhelmk you with their sheer size. The Redwoods just are - impossibly tall; not even trying to be majestic because they don't care whether anybody is in awe of them or not; silent and solemn. We found ourselves whispering as we walked through. They seemed holy... We got to camp in their presence.
These trees were said to be all more prevalent, both more trees and more and different species, during the last Ice Age. There are three trees - all of the Cedar family - left:
The Visitor's Center had a Dawn Redwood. They exist naturally only in China, apparently only because the Chinese preserved them for ornamental purposes.
While the Redwoods live on the coast, the Sequoias live inland, east of the California Cascade Range, and at rather high altitudes. They are the biggest living things: the Bristlecone Pines are the oldest; and the Redwoods are the tallest (although one sign we saw said there were a couple of Douglas Firs that were even taller - about 425 ft high vs 375 ft for the Redwoods. Never talk to two experts - stick to one).

There are about 150 groves of redwoods in the California State park system, almost all named after people. If you would like to be immortalized, you could buy up some forest land with Redwoods on it and donate it to the State, which will name it for you. Prices were quoted at about $30,000 for 15 acres. One guy was overheard to say: "Great idea; I'll do it. My kids are no-goodniks who don't deserve to inherit anything." Interesting adaptation: The twig on the left is cfrom down near the ground, where there isn't that much light but plenty of moisture. The one on the right is from the top of the tree, where there is plenty of light but getting dries out is a problem.
Big.


The groves vary: In places the woods are scattered and let lots of light and other species in...

in other places, very dense.

there are a lot of ferns

To look up, you really have to bend your neck.
Seeing a tree fallen down impresses you with how tall they are. Seems to go on forever...

Wood sorrel is another plant that flourishes here.
This tree fell halfway over; now there are branches all along it.

There is also considerable understory of small bushes, in addition to the ferns and grasses on the ground.
These trees aren't as big as the Sequoias, but they're big. The bark is thick and ridged...

Which helps protect the tree from fire.

They can be completely hollowed out by fire and/or rot and still thrive. They refer to these as 'goose-pens'.
The cones are quite small. These are the champion comes for size: Colter Pine (R) and Sugarcone Pine (L).
Colter Pine Cone.

As with the Sequoias, fallen logs can become Nurse Logs, hosting young trees.

But much more often, new trees don't come from seeds at all. Some trees develop what they call Root Collar Burls, and new trees develop as shoots from these.

Chapman's Gem & Mineral Museum and shop:

There are lots of geodes around, but this is pretty spectacular

Barb with friend. They said this is a replica of the terracotta warriors in the Ming Tombs of China.
Posters about a vaudeville star named Charles Kellogg. He got a single Redwood log and fashioned it into a truck, which he called the Travel-Log.Kellogg imitated all sort of birds and animals. He claimed to be able to sing tones too high for the human ear, extinguish flames by the strength of his voice, and be able to start the engine of the Travel-Log with his voice.

California: Russians, Ferns and Bugeaters

California - these are Monterey Cypress. Originally grew only here and in Monterey, but being a sort of charismatic tree, they have been transplanted all over the world. They were at...Fort Ross. it seems the Russians, under Peter the Great, got very interested in exploring their western end (partly, they were afraid the Chinese would get there first). They made something like 250 trips in the North Pacific, by Russians and hired explorers. One result was success in the fur trade; they got Chinese mandarins thinking fur coats were just the thing to show off superior status. So, they established fur-trading and -hunting posts in Alaska and this one, Fort Ross in northern California, partly to raise food for the other ones.
The big threat at the time was the Spanish; hence the armaments
General stores
Being Russians, of course a samovar
The Russians were as imperialistgic as everybody else: The Russiaan trading company had it's own flag; anybody else who had permission to visit had that or the Russian naval flag, the St Andrew's Cross:
The hunting from Ft Ross was done by Aaskan Eskimos, whom they inported here. They were made Russian citizens, sort of, which gave them a certain legal status; but they were still required to go out hunting a lot.

The church - they seemed to have pretty good luck converting native peoples to Russian Orthodoxy, more than American Protestant missionaries did. Interesting question why - maybe the ikons?

The bell, cast in Russia; you can see the words around the edge.
But, things eventually went wrong. The fort never did show a profit; they hunted out almost all the Sea Otters; the farming didn't go very well and they ended up contracting for food with the Hudson's Baqy Company. So, they abandoned the fort.

The Russian Orthodox crosses are sort of interesting. The two horizontal pieces are supposed to represent the fact that the crosses the Romans crucified people on actually had two crosspieces - one for the arms and one for the feet. The bottom, angled crosspiece represents the two thieves that were crucified with Christ. The one on His right hand said, "Lord, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom", so he was saved. The other didn't and went to Hell, so his end of the crosspiece points down.This is Fern Canyon: An extraordinarily narrow canyon, completely sheltered by trees, and wonderfully peaceful.

Lady Fern
Sword fern - about the most common out there. The commonest one on ther east Coast, which looks a lot like it, is the bracken Fern.
Deer fern

Five-finger Maidenhair fern
Here they are all together:Five-finger, sword, Deer and Lady fernsI n a couple of places the walls had absolutely no soil on them, so you get moss and lichens.

This was a place where the underlying rock was Serpentine, a greenish material which is very alkaline. Few plants can grow in it; one that can is Darlingtonia, aka California Pitcher Plant

.It needs very wet conditions...

The plants make up for the fact that the Serpentine is very short on several minerals plants need by getting the minerals from insects. The insects somehow get the idea that there is something good to eat inside the pitchers; once they get in, the sides are slippery and covered with hairs that point downward, so they can't get out again and the plants dissolve them.

Think about that. Aren't you glad you're a Human?