Just north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate bridge and up a narrow winding road with the occasional sheer drop and suicidal cyclist, is a National Park called Muir Woods. Okay, it’s not officially a National Park, it’s a National Monument, but that sounds kinda funny to this Brit.
Anyway, back in 1905, a far-sighted politician and philanthropist named William Kent bought 600-odd acres of the dwindling redwood forest on the northern California coast in order to preserve these majestic trees, and he generously donated nearly half of it to the Federal Government. This is Muir Woods, and thanks to Mr Kent, it escaped the logging which was widespread in those days and so it remains, cool and peaceful, and a haven for wildlife - among other things there are deer, and ten different species of bat, but surprisingly few birds and insects. I saw a Steller’s Jay, which was beautiful, but I have to admit I’m glad that I didn’t see a Banana Slug which sounds considerably less than beautiful. I have a thing about slugs, and not in a good way. A ten-inch long bright yellow slimy thing would not have enhanced my visit. Especially if I’d trodden on it.
The trees themselves, Coastal Redwoods for the most part, are simply incredible. To one raised in the UK, and used to England’s homely forest trees and a few varieties of imported pine, a tree which towers more than 200 feet above me, dead straight and majestic, is an awe-inspiring sight. And many of these trees are ancient. Ancient. As in ‘well over a thousand years old’ ancient. They have a slice of tree on display there to prove it, with the dates inscribed on the rings to show its age. One such inscription tells how old the tree was when Columbus landed in the New World.*
An interesting feature of the Coastal Redwoods is that they grow bumpy bits on their trunks, known as ‘burls’. These burls contain thousands of dormant buds and after a flood or a fire, each one is capable of growing into a new tree. That’s a burl on the trunk of one of the trees in the picture. I thought it was a wasps’ nest at first, but no, it’s the tree’s survival mechanism. Clever, huh?
*About 500 years old.
Oooh, we just saw two banana slugs hiking up a local mountain. They were in the middle of the path and so we rescued them and put them off to one side. Unfortunately, it was raining and so I din’t take my camera with me. Next time I see one, I shall make sure I get a nice close up shot for you.
I miss good old English woods - one gets a bit oppressed by conifer after conifer after a while. A good old oak tree or a beautiful, vibrant green beech tree would be a sight for sore eyes. Another case of the grass is always greener……
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You found banana slugs???? OK, if you take a picture, you have to let me see it - I don’t mind a printed version. I just don’t want the slimy reality. LOL!
This is another part of my country I’ve never seen. It must be amazing.
I think Hitchcock must have used Muir Woods used for a scene in Vertigo. It’s got that tree slice time line thing in it.
Interesting post. I didn’t know about the burls.
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Way back when I was a kid and went on the annual family trip every summer, we spent a few days at the redwood forest, and I remember being in complete awe over the size of the trees. There’s a picture of a few of kids spread out on the trunk of one that had fallen over, and it’s pretty funny, we all look like midgets.
As for the slugs, here’s a memory to be grateful you don’t have. When my baby brother was 2 (I was 13), we lived in Washington state, the NW corner, where slugs were very plentiful. My brother was teething and of course chomping on everything in sight. He was playing in the yard, and Mom sent me out to check on him. When I ran shrieking back inside, she of course thought something was horribly wrong and ran out there. Once she saw what I did, she about ran away shrieking herself. He had 3 slugs in his mouth, and one in each hand. Happily drooling, chewing as hard as he could, it took both of us to wrestle him down and dig them out. It was horrible, disgusting, and that kind of goopy, sticky slimey that’s just beyond disgusting. The really gross part was for the whole time he was teething, it was the only thing that made him truly happy, and after fighting with him several times a day for a couple of weeks, we gave up and let him have his slug teething ring. The only thing we could figure out was maybe they had something in their slime that made his gums numb, or that the icky texture felt good, cause once finished popping his teeth through, he never picked one up again except to hurl at people who made him mad.
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Banana slugs is an apt description of my family the past few weeks in this extreme summer heat. They eat a lot of bananas and we’re all totally sluggish!
Great pictures. It made me wonder if Burl=Burl Ives and if he too could sprout a tree.
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Ruth HC - I wonder? Now I’ll have to watch it again!
JT - Not listening!! La la la la la *fingers in ears and eyes covered* Not listening!! Nononononono! Lalalalala! LOL!
Elasticwaistbandlady - Hello and welcome! We had the extreme heat on holiday in Utah/Arizona/Nevada/LA. Now we’re back in the UK and it’s nicely warm without feeling as if we’re being fried. But I miss the frozen bananas. Are you freezing your bananas and dipping them in chocolate? YUM!
This is phenomenal really wow
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Wow … a 200-foot-high tree would be a pretty amazing sight I imagine! I’m so glad you got to see them, Jay! Nature is so fascinating. That burl thing on the side does look just like a wasp nest … a really big one!
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Yep, and 200 foot is conservative. The tallest in the park is about 250 foot, but they grow up to 300 and odd. Amazing, and beautiful!
wow. I want a built in survival mechanism like those trees
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Hi Jay,
Muir Woods is so beautiful. I think it’s from there that I have a photo where I was able to drive through the base of a tree. (they cut a square out of it). It was awesome.
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Meleah Rebeccah - Me too!! Wouldn’t that be great? Although I’m not sure I want to carry it around stuck to my side. LOL!
Barbara - I’ve heard about that tree!! OH saw it once but we didn’t spot it this trip. He couldn’t remember exactly where it was.