Over the last few days I’ve seen a lot of extraordinarily big trees, from Vancouver Island to our current location in far north coast California.
We’ve driven through forests and walked under towering canopies – today absorbing the mighty presence of California redwoods (sequoia sempervivens), which are said to be the tallest living things on the planet at 300-350 feet tall and 16-18 feet across. Some specimens have been recorded at 360 feet.
These measurements don’t really tell the story; what’s more important is the feeling that the trees evoke, such as, awe. Even to say that these Titans are awesome doesn’t sum up their impact. They are great silencers. They quiet the mind, reduce our hubris, and put us in our place.
Spending time in the redwood forests, or with the Douglas firs or Sitka spruces, as we’ve been doing has been a meditative experience for me, and, I believe, the rest of us.
John Steinbeck, American novelist, has summed it all up nicely:
“The redwoods once seen stay leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always….the most irreverent of men, in the presence the of the redwoods, goes under the spell of wonder and respect”.
Here’s the little tiny figure of Heather in the foreground (purple blouse) and what my little camera could take in of the trees.