mdvaden

... Pertaining to seeing trees, the end of this month will be unique for me. I'll be going to "see" the Giant Sequoia forest of the Sierra Nevada for the first time. When I was showing Leon & Tracy the Coast Redwoods this week, I had a flashback to the first time I saw them myself. I recalled my first drives in, and how foreign the area felt. Now I'll be going to another forest and getting to have the same kind of experience. Looking forward to it.

So the quote below is what I asked also at the UBC botanical forums. I briefly mentioned finding a tall maple in the redwood thread just started, but thought the maple question was worth it's own small topic.

They're waiting for you too, mate, lol Hey ... here's a couple more photos from the past week and recently.

A few more. The Founders Tree is a popular tourist attraction at Avenue of the Giants, but a lot of visitors find as much interest in the fallen Dyerville Giant a few minutes away.

A few days ago, I met a couple (Leon & Tracy) from South Africa, for a tour in the north California redwoods. Leon later came up to Portland, for the ISA conference and to watch the ITCC at the urban Laurelhurst Park. Two days before meeting them in Crescent City, CA, I was down at Avenue of the Giants, and found a Bigleaf Maple that is roughly 155 ft. tall. (47.2 meters). That was a crude preliminary. It should be between 152 to 160 ft. The may be a taller top. This week I bumped into researchers VanPelt and Sillett at the ITCC, and they seem to know of no other maple in the USA that tall. Will Blozan wrote of specimens in the east USA in the 140 ft. to 144 ft. range. Also measured the "Founders Tree" and learned that it's really more of a 325' tree, rather than the 346' on the sign. Been years since that was measured. That was just a fun measure. It's more of a significant redwood, not really a super tall one compared to the tallest. One other day, I networked with a local model to experiment with some photos at Avenue of the Giants in a redwood grove, and farther north in Eureka at a stack of logs.

Mt. St. Helens will probably take up most of a day going there and back and sightseeing. You might possibly be able to squeeze in some of the Columbia River Gorge between Washington and Oregon for the waterfalls at the historic highway, on the same day. Depends on whether the mount is just a drive through or something a bit longer. As for the redwoods, once there, you could merely drive through a bunch of the parks in a single day. That would be a tourist version though. Two days with some hikes would make a lasting impression. Not sure what else you want to see along the way. Parts of the Oregon coast are nice, but that detour can affect time and distance. I think Oregon has a bit nicer coastline, but northern California would still have some comparable and impressive coastal scenery, right at, and near the redwoods, and then plenty more. So Oregon is not an essential for ocean sights. For comparison, attached is one Oregon shot, and one photo from Trinidad, California, about 20 minutes south of Prairie Creek redwoods. In either state, the highway is not in view of the ocean at all times, but wanders in and out. ...

If you take Interstate 5 from Seattle down to Grants Pass, Oregon, then 199 to Crescent City, for Highway 101, Avenue of the Giants will be right in your path. But Prairie Creek Redwoods which will come first with an exit onto Drury Parkway near Klamath, is better yet, if you plan to hike. Each park has it's own feel though. I'd do them both. You may as well include Jedediah Smith redwoods too. Basically, it's very streamlined. The highways virtually take you on the very edge or right through the best parks with little fuss for directions or navigating. Two photos from last week. One of a woman in Prairie Creek, the other a couple in Jedediah Smith. And a Roosevelt Elk. ...

That's the Carson Mansion in Eureka. Built by a lumber baron years ago. Now belongs to the Ingomar club. There's also little boy redwoods too - lol

Few more ...

Just went down there last week to guide a family from the east USA, do photography, measure the Big Tree, and do some hiking. Did some sort of portraiture in Prairie Creek redwoods, but can't post all of the images on here.

That's about $110 dollars US At my end, my minimum for anything is $80 (51 Pounds). Don't know how type your currency symbol. Anyway, if I just do one 15 foot tall Japanese maple, that's at least 51 pounds. If I do consulting for an hour for drainage or design ideas, that's at least $80 US, maybe $100. Most Scots / Scotch Pine I end up doing are at least 20 to 30 feet tall, and I'd be in the $150 range at least. Maybe $175. That for mostly dead wood and light corrective pruning. They get pretty grubby inside and I don't like the beginning to start. But it gets more fun toward the end, and I typically manicure the tree so far as rubbing the bark flake off with my gloves to make it look finished. I find that leaving the smallest deadwood that are pencil thickness leaves a better more natural look.

I think that in light of what scientists know about real climate change, we are experience next to nothing in historical perspective. What's going on in the last 10 or 100 years is a drop in the bucket compared to the climate changes of past. So in that regard, I would say we have little to worry about right now. Our insignificant level of climate change in a way, would be normal in historical terms: even slow maybe. Historically speaking, to prevent climate change could break the bank for every person in the world, and still not prevent it. The real question then, may be what will it take for people to adapt to the inevitable changes? Will farm land areas shift? Will coastal properties diminish in one area and pop up in another? Should be plant new rainforests in the next century in Spain, or Kentucky in the USA? The head-scratching for most people is probably that they can't tell if we are really causing something we can change or not. Because the changes are small enough to be expected historically speaking.

Mentioned it in other forum categories in part or whole, but I like hiking in the redwoods, exploring for trees, and doing photography: with portraiture being the latest addition. Practice is mostly with models who need pics, but I'll gladly "shoot" shots of male models, or, like tree guys below. The one photo is Andrew Joslin, who illustrated for The Wild Trees. Another, is Will who climbs with Ascending the Giants, and does stuff like Oregon's Big Tree program nomination climbing needs for verification.

Bigfoot ain't over there. He's over here. Covers up with moss and hides during Oregon nights. The more beers you have, the easier it will be to recognize.

There is so much here along the west coast, that I find little need to travel elsewhere. I do get down the redwoods about every 8 to 10 weeks. Next visit will be the last half of June. Probably going to the Giant Sequoias around next August.

Nice shot. Can you make it in B&W and post that version too?

Like the comment quote about global warming potentially being good for more redwoods. Although, they seem to need a certain amount of moisture and other conditions to reproduce. Because I know they can be planted and survive in like southern Oregon which reaches 100F several times each summer.

I've done this twice that I can recall since 1988. Both times, just flushed the tank with fuel and refilled it properly.

Here's one more spot I like a lot, in Prairie Creek

A couple of pics below are coast redwoods I've shared below. But one photo is something I spotted for the first time. At Prairie Creek redwoods. It's base may even be wider than the redwood known as Screaming Titans, but this one is more colossal up overhead. See the man in the top photo? Did a tour for a guy from the east coast the past two days, and his photographer. We managed to dodge what the storm threw our way, but had to look overhead every time the wind blew. Leaving one park, had to take out the Stihl to cut a small redwood off the road. About 3/4 of a meter diameter. Lots of flooded rivers. It was awesome to visit redwood country during a brutal weather event.

To learn of this was interesting. I was looking at my website stats back in February, and wondered, how the heck did my page views double from 1500 page views per day, to near 3000 page views per day, for a day or two. So I started searching coast redwoods and that date in February, and found a few references to the broadcast. Guess it generated a lot of interest in the species to get people web surfing so much about them.

If you are still on track with the time table, you should practically be there, or have been there? Make it to the redwoods? I'm slated for next weekend if everything clicks.

That looks very similar in size to the Santa Clara Moreton Bay Fig. I took a look at it several years ago when the train stopped there. Moreton Bay Fig Tree (Santa Barbara, California) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's one of the nicest looking bottles I've seen. The man Fay, who did the 1800 mile redwood transect a few years ago (Nat Geo magazine article) posted an image of a bottle he found in the middle of one redwood park. Possibly from the early 1900s prohibition days in the USA. Not nearly as nice as your bottle though.

Coming to a theater near you ... Recently sent photos to a photo retoucher, for models. I like the results so much, I asked him to make a movie poster as if there was a movie about the discovery of the world's tallest tree: redwood Hyperion. Discovered by Atkins and Taylor. I submitted a winter top to bottom image of Hyperion, and a shot of Taylor, which the retoucher used for the project. Although he has never been there, he captured the feeling perfect, of overlooking Redwood National Park from Bald Hills Road. Although Hyperion is technically hidden on a hillside, this is sort of what the view looks like from the hill above. Fog and mist often sits low blanketing the tree tops.