We Saw REDWOODS!

My husband drove us several hours to see what was the high point of the trip for me: REDWOODS.

I have wanted to see Redwood Trees my ENTIRE LIFE.

And the road to get there was CRAZY scary, but we got there safely, and we saw them, and I am SO HAPPY.  That was Highway 4, and I’ll have to post some photos from it later.  *smile*

We actually got to walk on a redwood stump!

Here it is… the stump is taller than I am and has stairs leading up.  See the tiny people in the background?  The top part of the tree is lying beside it, and that’s a very large tree standing next to it by our standards:

The sign says it is 33 feet in diameter.  I can believe it!  I couldn’t get the whole stump in one picture!  And look at how small the people are:

Big chunks of plywood covering where the wood is breaking down.  Everything was super dusty… it’s so dry there right now!

This was taller than my husband!  Tipped over tree:

This one had a tunnel throughout… it was big enough I could have fit through, but the poison ivy everywhere discouraged me from trying.  *smile*

A fallen tree with a cut through:

This tree is called the Queen of the Forest.  She was the second largest in this park.  In the 1800’s, they took the bottom 8 feet or so of bark off her truck so they could send it East for people to see.

It killed the tree, and later a fire gutted her.

Looking up at the Queen of the Forest:

Who does stuff like that!?!  The sign said she was over 2,000 years old.

An informational sign: we saw Giant Sequoias – we were in the Sierra Nevada.  Not as tall but a lot wider!

And to give you an idea of their height, looking up:

And up:

And up!

It literally hurt my neck to crane it far enough back to see the top!  And I was NOT close to the tree… I backed up quite a bit for the shots.

This was the best part of the entire trip, and I LOVED it!  And the sassiest little old lady scolded me for not wearing sunscreen at that altitude. *smile*  I didn’t get burned, thankfully, although there was more sun than I expected in the grove.  It was a 1.61 mile walk, the second shortest trail, and it was a bit rough at that altitude, but I had so much fun!

And… I bought a redwood growing kit.  Two in fact, so that I can try twice.  I am SO EXCITED!  You’ll get tons of photos when I try it.  It’s a ridiculous dream of mine to grow one in our backyard and annoy people generations from now.  *wink*  It’s the troll that keeps on trolling!

For your information, we went to the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.  You can find info on it here.

Have you ever gotten to see Redwoods?  What did you think? If you haven’t, do you want to?  Inquiring minds want to know!  *smile*