Today we moved down the coast about 60 miles to Brookings, the last town on the Oregon Coast. This is supposed to be their "Banana Belt." Hah! That definitely does not mean it is warm enough to grow bananas here. It is foggy, damp, and cold; about 60-ish. We did not see much of the coast coming here as the following picture shows.
Despite the depressing condition, we walked around some ending up at their beach and then the harbor. The fog and clouds actually add a mood to the scenery, don't you think?
September 13, 2013 - Friday
It rained a bit overnight and was still very foggy, so we decided to go look at some big trees. We headed down to Crescent City, CA which is the northern end of the Redwoods National Park. After stopping at the visitor center to get maps and info, we traveled over to Stout's Grove in Jedediah State Park. There is a cooperative agreement between the California State Parks and the National Park Service in running these parks.
The Redwood's Forest is an area designated to protect the last 4% of the remaining old growth redwood trees. The park stretches down the coast for about a hundred fifty miles. It was designated a national park by Johnson, although Nixon actually signed the bill. Since only 4% remain, you can see much of it was logged out. We plan to move down here in a day or so to see the central and southern parts.
You may recall we saw some big trees earlier in our trip, at The Grove of the Patriots in Mt. Rainer NP, but these redwoods are REALLY big! Check out the next couple of pictures.
As we learn more about these trees we will pass it along. What we know so far is they have an extremely thick bark, which protects the trees in fires; there is also no resin to support burning. The 6-8 inches of bark can eventually be destroyed if subjected to fire frequently enough. That can allow subsequent fires to burn near the base of the tree which will merely cause a "burn hole". Fire may enter through this damaged area but does not harm the growth of the tree. The Indians used to burn the forest regularly to open the canopy so the hemlock could grow straight for their arrow shafts. The burning also renewed the ground vegetation needed for food, baskets, and various building materials.
The problem was that the "burn hole" would weaken them. They are relatively shallow rooted anyway (6-10 feet), so when big winds came they would often fall over. That's why you see so many knocked over. The other interesting thing, there is no lichen, mushrooms, or any other fungus growing on them. The tannin in these trees causes the wood to appear red in color and will not support fungus growth. That's why they make good wood for weather exposed areas; like decks.
They grow very slowly, so re-foresting is not practical. Old growth trees are two thousand years old. So once they are logged out, they are gone for many generations even if replanted. That is why it is so important to save what is left. Many of the ones we saw todaywere not old growth, those are further south, so I guess we're going to see some real giants in the next few days.
Redwoods are conifer trees, and do not loose their leaves; similar to an evergreen. Their "leaves" are similar to pine trees or yews as you can see in the following picture.
The amazing thing is they produce a very tiny cone; we have not actually found one yet. It is slightly larger than an acorn in size. You would think they ought to be the size of basketballs!
Time to talk about the wildlife. Check out the banana slug. This guy lives on decaying stuff on the forest floor, but does not damage the redwood seedlings. Their excretions provide nutrients to the soil. This guy wanted to be a movie star, everybody was taking his picture.
And then there are the sea gulls....
Well what would a post be without a lighthouse. Hey, California has them too. This one is called Battery Point Lighthouse. The interesting thing is you can only get to it at low tide, the path to the island is covered over at high tide. This one was built in 1856. It had a 4th order Fresnel lens and was automated in 1953. It was decommissioned in 1965, then re-lit in 1982 as a private navigation aid. It got its name from three cannons mounted on the point of land taken from a sunken ship, the America in 1855. Although no fort was there, the three cannon battery created the name. The cannons are long gone.
Tomorrow will likely be our last day on the coast, so we're hoping the fog lifts such that we can see what we've missed. From what we have seen, it is really different than what we saw up north. The sand is dark and there are huge rocks poking up. The whole area from Gold Beach to Brookings is a scenic corridor.
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