Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Friday, May 29, 2015

We have a big day planned for today.  We got up about 7am, had breakfast, packed a lunch and took off.

The redwoods are our first adventure for the day.

On Hwy 199 from O'Brien, OR and just shortly after we crossed the state broader into California we came upon this tunnel. 

To our surprise, this picture inside the tunnel came out.
 

When we turned off Hwy 199 into Jedediah Smith Park headed for the Stout Grove this covered bridge greeted us.  It is made complete of wood.  The curvature of the wooden arch is intriguing.

Along the way we followed a stream.  These flowers were growing along side the stream. See the closeup below.

This is a closeup of the flowers above.  Look at the tiny tubular flowers.
 

Several places in the forest were these flowering plants.

Here's the closeup of the flowers above.  Aren't they pretty.  You didn't think I'd have a post without flowers did you.

This tree was along side the road before we got to Stout Grove.
 

Here we are in the parking lot of Stout Grove.  We've read that the redwood tree's roots are shallow.  Many times redwoods grow close to each other so their roots intertwine and help support each other. The tree Dusty is standing by looks like a single base and divides into 4 separate trunks above my head. 

We are walking a path through the Stout Grove.  Look at the density of the redwoods.
 

Look at this huge burl that has spread probably along a root.

Look how long this fallen tree is.  Dusty is stand were it broke because of a hill.  Tic is standing at the end where it was cut to clear the path.
 

Look at the size of this tree that had to be cut to clear the path.  

Here is another area with fallen trees that have been cut to clear.
 

This is a fallen redwood.  The root system looks almost as big as some of the sequoias we saw. (Isn't Dusty a cute model? Hee Hee)

Here's a huge tree that is down.  It's diameter is bigger than Tic is tall.
 

This is another downed tree.  Notice all the new growth sprouting from the trunk.
 

This is a closeup of some of the new growth coming from the downed tree.
 

Now we are driving on through the Jedediah redwoods.  Can you see the size of the trunk that had to be cut to clear the roadway?  

This is on down the road.  See the bicyclists?  They give some perspective as to the size of the trees.  Amazing!
 

This is to show the moss covering the red alder trees and the density of the forest in places.

I decided that this post is long enough soI will make new posts to cover the rest of our day.