Redwood National Park
Seeing the redwoods here was one of the main reasons for my trip to this part of America. Several years ago I read an article in the New Yorker about a man who climbed the redwoods freestyle (without the aid of safety net .. essentially an extreme sport. While I did not plan to follow his example,. I was captivated by the description of the redwoods in this remote part of Northern California (closest town is Crescent City). Previously I'd only seen the redwoods in Muir Woods outside San Francisco and the giants sequoias at Yosemite National Park.
i can truly say that visiting these woods (compared to the Muir Woods) is like the difference between going to a zoo and being in the jungle. This huge area of natural forest operates under several names, Jeremiah Smith Redwoods National Park, Del Monte Coast Redwoods National Park. There is some type of federal government involvement as well and the Visitors' Center in Crescent City is staffed by U.S. Forest Rangers. They were not particularly helpful when it came to the question of how to visit the redwoods without the benefit of a car .. like most Americans, the idea that a person did not have a car seemed to raise questions if not downright suspicion. i won't go into the long sage of getting to the redwoods but luckily a young French couple were also travelling without a car and we teamed up to overcome the odds.
I'd planned a two hour walk in the redwoods but in the event it turned into a (for me) near-marathon. I walked over 8 miles up and down the hills (mountain?) alongside the Smith River. There was a vast forest of redwoods towering above me. The trees were largely bare up to several stories with foliage at the top. This meant that there was a canopy similar to that of the rainforests in Costa Rica and the plants at ground level were highly specialised due to lack of direct sunlight. In this case, ferns were the primary growth with some other varieties of small trees close to the river banks.
I soon lost track of time and after a three hour walk decided that it was wiser to carry on and meet a paved road rather than go back over the somewhat arduous trail I'd been following.
I met the French couple at a crossing where the park service (in their wisdom) had removed the 'seasonal' footbridge so we had to ford the shallow (10 inches deep) stream. I was happy to have company in case of any problem. We then walked on to the highlight of the area, Stout Grove, then by paved road back to the bus stop. I was even happier to find that the market there sold beer so i treated my French friends to a bottle of beer while we waited for the bus.
i can truly say that visiting these woods (compared to the Muir Woods) is like the difference between going to a zoo and being in the jungle. This huge area of natural forest operates under several names, Jeremiah Smith Redwoods National Park, Del Monte Coast Redwoods National Park. There is some type of federal government involvement as well and the Visitors' Center in Crescent City is staffed by U.S. Forest Rangers. They were not particularly helpful when it came to the question of how to visit the redwoods without the benefit of a car .. like most Americans, the idea that a person did not have a car seemed to raise questions if not downright suspicion. i won't go into the long sage of getting to the redwoods but luckily a young French couple were also travelling without a car and we teamed up to overcome the odds.
I'd planned a two hour walk in the redwoods but in the event it turned into a (for me) near-marathon. I walked over 8 miles up and down the hills (mountain?) alongside the Smith River. There was a vast forest of redwoods towering above me. The trees were largely bare up to several stories with foliage at the top. This meant that there was a canopy similar to that of the rainforests in Costa Rica and the plants at ground level were highly specialised due to lack of direct sunlight. In this case, ferns were the primary growth with some other varieties of small trees close to the river banks.
I soon lost track of time and after a three hour walk decided that it was wiser to carry on and meet a paved road rather than go back over the somewhat arduous trail I'd been following.
I met the French couple at a crossing where the park service (in their wisdom) had removed the 'seasonal' footbridge so we had to ford the shallow (10 inches deep) stream. I was happy to have company in case of any problem. We then walked on to the highlight of the area, Stout Grove, then by paved road back to the bus stop. I was even happier to find that the market there sold beer so i treated my French friends to a bottle of beer while we waited for the bus.
Smith River
The window to the right should have a slide show. if not, click here to contact to it
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The fine print
Website for the redwoods park is http://www.nps.gov/redw/
