new thread
Justin's post about the huge dying Sitka Spruce up in Oregon inspired me to look at some of my pics I've taken of the Northern Calif. Redwoods. Then I got to thinking about a post card I saw when I first moved to CA in '77, which oddly enough showed a young bearded longhair looking up at a collosal specimen tree midst other huge Redwoods in the background. The words on the post card read: "Beautiful, weren't they?" Apparently that particualr Redwood grove had been cut down after the photo was taken...
California's Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), and it's inland cousin of the Sierras, the Giant Sequoias (Sequoia gigantea), are among the oldest living trees in the world. The Coast Redwoods have the honor of being the tallest trees in the world; whereas the Giant Sequoias (AKA, "Big Trees") have the honor of having the most massive trunks in the world. I believe the oldest of the Sequoias is estimated to be over 2,000 years old; but I could be wrong about that, as I can't find my favorite Redwood book right now to check out my fact statements... But, my point is this: they take a HELL of a LONG TIME to grow that tall, that big, and that old; but only a chain saw and a determined logger to cut it down within minutes. I am not against loggers, as they need to make a living, too; but I am against thoughtless slaughter of ancient virgin forests that have taken Mother Nature an eternity of nurturing to majestic perfection, only to see mankind ruin it in a day.
My parallel of redwood trees to growing one's hair long? Well, as a fellow longhair and former co-worker once said to me right after I had cut off all my waist-length hair in the summer of Y2K: "Easy to cut, hard to grow!"
- Ken
This photo, as well as the previous one, were taken at Humbolt Redwoods State Park, which is about 4 1/2 - 5 hours North of San Francisco. These are the Coast Redwoods, which are the tallest.
- Ken
Here is my brother from IL standing in front of one of the famous drive-through trees along far No. California's, "Avenue of the Giants"... Granted, the van we rented for the trip was quite a tight squeeze making it through the part that was cut out for driving through; but, hey, we did indeed drive through it!
Again, this trunk is an example of one of the larger Coast Redwoods. The trunks of the Giant Sequoias that grow inland up in the Sierras, believe it or not, get WAAAY bigger!!!
- Ken
Thanks for showing these great photos Ken. Unless someone has ever actually been in a Redwoods forest themselves, they could never imagine what it is like and the impact it has on one.
Back in the late 90's I made 4 trips to CA. and spent time holding up overnights in a cottage in Pescadaro which was located in a Redwoods forest as my main purpose of traveling down that way was to get to Santa Cruz and Davenport. How I loved those trips and how sad I was seeing on a map just spotty little places here and there that were all that was left of the Redwoods which if I remember correctly spanned a distance at one time of 500 miles long by 50 miles wide. And now? Barely nothing. I will have to say that in the forest that those Banana Slugs out-did anything we have here in OR. Perhaps the biggest and longest in the world? They were like snakes!
On one of the 4 trips I made, the aroma must have been at its peak as it was like being in Santas Xmas tree village. (Pollen from the trees?) Whatever, it was heavenly. I will never forget those stays in Ca. for as long as I live.
Around where I live, we have Redwoods also here and there in spotty places. Not sure if it is a continuation from Ca. or were planted by people back in the late 1800's. A block away stands a house circa 1890 with 4 hugh Redwoods surrounding it. One across the street from me towers like the Empire State Building above the small house that was build almost next to it.
Thanks again Ken for sharing what you have.
Justin~
ps: I have heard that in China there is also a vast Redwoods forest area similar to what we once had. Hmmmmm..........wonder why China and Ca. and not any other places?
Is that tree still alive? its hard to imagine it could survive a hole like that getting cut into it.
Ken ...
Thanks for posting. I couldn't agree more. These trees have "seen" alot over the years and deserve our respect. I believe our hair is really no different. It too deserves the respect and care that we take day in and day out ... After only just a little over a year of growth for me; I've actually learned alot about myself. Lately; I've had only passing thoughts about cutting my hair. The first I've had in a year; which have disappointed me. However, when I contemplate your Redwood tree analogy; it quickly reminds me of the disaster it would create both mentally and physically..
Again Ken ... thanks for posting. Your insights are a welcomed pleasure.
Be Blessed..
Tristan
From the Tuolumne Grove of the Giant Sequoias recently.
And not just the trees of course. :-)
That reminds me...I need to write up my metaphor/parallel to prairie grasses.
Hello
Tomorow i will grow a little tree on my balcony :)
i will post an update of his growing process when i will post update of my hair :)
Cya
Ken, I jus' commended you in a different post abt yr resolve to go to terminal length and posted to Justin abt HIS tree post and then there's YOURS here now! Spoken like a true fellow gardener, Ken, and, I daresay, someone with a special affinity for tress, too. It just LITERALLY racks me with pain, both spiritual AND physical, to see what "they've" done to these truly magnificent specimens of Nature.
Imagine, if you will, how the Sequoia wuzz at one time an abundant life form. Now, it has just dwindled down to . . . what? And most of Europe itself was a nearly continent-wide forest, a mix of deciduous and conifer both, one moreso in one particular region depending on how the environment wuzz more conducive to one type over the other.
May I reiterate, I'd had an epiphany wherein I'd "seen" the great similarity between the form of trees matching that of the alveoli in our lungs, the arteries, veins, and capillaries comprising our circulatory system, and the dendrites and neurons, miles and miles of 'em, that make up our nervous system. Couldn't trees themselves serve a similar function for Mother Nature Herself and the Earth on which we live? And yet they're regarded as expendable.
Thanks for your posting this, Ken. Another thing to ponder: look at the similarity between the name for the tree men of Classical Greek mythology, the Dryads, and the name for the ancient priest-kings who revered trees in what is now the United Kingdom, the Druids. They especially held the oak in high regard, which wuzz held sacred to 'em, as well as the mistletoe which grew on its highest branches, and then there's that whole tree alphabet of theirs. Lots abt this is to be relished in Robert Graves' scholarly tome, "The White Goddess". Over and out.
Yours for the Garden AND longhaired camaraderie,
Quenyan