Tuesday, November 9, 2010

October 9. Oregon Coast To California. Redwoods.

We left Gold Beach, Oregon, and headed down the coast.
What a gray day.
Pebble-strewn beaches.
More strange formations.
Lots of rocks.
We're up in the clouds.
Hello, California.
It's getting lighter. I want my sunset. Now we're entering redwood country. Humboldt County, California, is home to the legendary California redwoods. The Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is native to the Pacific Coast from southern Oregon to central California, extending not more the 50 miles inland. Coast redwoods follow the fog and grow best at less than 2000 feet elevation in areas of heavy winter rains and moderate year round temperatures. They are the world's tallest living things, some of them towering to over 360 feet. The name, Sequoia sempervirens, is Latin for "ever living" - appropriate since many of these trees are 600 to 1200 years old and some have lived more than 2000 years. Coast redwoods often reproduce by root collar burl sprouting, so the genetic material that comprises some trees may be thousands of years old. Coast redwoods do not have a single taproot. Instead, they form a shallow network of relatively small roots that extend radially up to a hundred feet from the base. The ends of the roots are fibrous, allowing for maximum surface area to obtain water and nutrients.
Don't know what this is growing on the tree.
Have you hugged a tree today?
And we continue down the California coast.