Some Californian Giants

The coastal redwoods of California once covered many of the hills around San Francisco. They are slow growing and the timber they yield is hard and extremely durable. These characteristics led them to be logged extensively.  If you drive over the Golden Gate bridge and for about 45 minutes north  you will find the Muir Woods. In a sheltered valley, you can walk through old-growth forest. It is truly the land of the giants and is so significant it has been declared a National Monument. 

Enormous in height and girth, they are quite shallow rooted and would make a mighty noise when they fall. California has a small rainfall, these trees, rely on the coastal fogs which roll in from the sea and are able to absorb moisture through their leaves. 

It is sobering to think that the many bald hills traversed on the way to Muir wood, would have been covered with these colossal trees.

Too small to read, the labels on this cross section of a log which fell in 1930,  indicates it was 'born' in 909 AD and has various events marked.  Interestingly only the bottom four, near to the edge of the circle,  occurred after european settlement. 

Who has the tallest trees?

Redwoods are often awarded the title of the largest trees in the world, and they are. They are conifers, meaning they are non-flowering. However, Australia can lay claim to the largest flowering trees - mountain ash in Tasmania. 


My bucket list isn't very long, because having an actual list can limit one's experiences. I like to see what comes along and then act on it. However, there are a couple of things I hunger to see. One is to see water on Uluru (I came pretty close a few weeks back and I am still hopeful) and another is to see the salmon running in northern America. Apparently, the quiet meandering stream in Muir Woods becomes a torrent at a certain time of the year and the salmon swim upstream to spawn and die. A month or so later, the trout do the same.  I hope I have the chance to tick off both of these.