Wild Trees Redwoods - "It's a Wrap"

[M.D. Vaden]

Just finished my last visit to the redwood forest, until possibly next autumn or winter. Just bought a house in Beaverton - north Oregon - and will hike local, plus a few times in the Olympic National Park.

So far, I found and got lots of photos in both the Grove of Titans and Atlas Grove, including Lost Monarch, Del Norte Titan, Iluvatar, El Viejo Del Norte, etc., etc.. (SIGNATURE LINK)

What the exploring showed, was that someone can be within 100 feet, and still not know for certain that the tree is one of the titans. You almost have to be right next to them, and measure to be certain.

On the other hand, the exploring showed that these Titans - and other impressively large redwoods - are scattered among Jed Smith and Prairie Creek redwoods parks, and that off-trail bushwhacking eventually leads to some very nice trees not marked on maps or trail guides.

Just saw the Corkscrew Redwood for the first time, and it's quite cool looking.

From the "Big Tree", I noticed that a huge broken chunk on the ground missing bark, has a wavy pattern in the wood. Apparently, the well-known Big Tree, may be one of the uncommon "Curly Redwood" trees with the wood grain sought by wood workers. There is a Curly Redwood Lodge made a single one of those trees in Crescent City. The Big Tree is among the largest of redwoods. If it's both a Titan and a Curly Redwood, that may make it even more special. Having it's own path, and being but a minute from the road, it's very easy to see. Just down the path from Cathedral Trees, and not far from the Corkscrew Redwood.

I have no plans to look for Hyperion. A bit farther south than I want to travel. Maybe one of the California arborists would like to seek that tree and reply back with a report of the find. Apparently, it's both a Titan and a Tall Tree.

Next year, I'll revisit those groves briefly, but will focus on enjoying a few Prairie Creek redwoods trails that I have not hiked on yet. There are near 70 miles of trails in that park.

But for this spring and summer 2008, looks like "It's a Wrap" for my redwood adventures.

Attached image of Iluvatar trunk base

 

[buzz sawyer]

Nice post and very cool pic. I have to get out there one day and see these trees for myself. I don't believe I've heard of corkscrew or curly redwood - I'll have to do some searches to see what the grain looks like. Does the grain make it harder than normal or more difficult to work with due to tear out?

I have worked with some corkscrew willow - named for the spiral leaves and twisted limbs. Is the redwood similar to this?

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Nice post and very cool pic. I have to get out there one day and see these trees for myself. I don't believe I've heard of corkscrew or curly redwood - I'll have to do some searches to see what the grain looks like. Does the grain make it harder than normal or more difficult to work with due to tear out?

I have worked with some corkscrew willow - named for the spiral leaves and twisted limbs. Is the redwood similar to this?

The "Corkscrew Redwood" is a single tree specimen, not a type of grain or variety. It's a single twisted tree about 2 minutes off the paved road in Prairie Creek redwoods. In my signature page, see an included link for Redwoods Album #2 for a photo of the Corkscrew Redwood.

Now, the Curly Redwood is a type of grain. I know very little about using it, but if you search for it with Google, several search results and photos appear.

In Crescent City yesterday morning, I drove by the Curly Redwood Lodge, and the support posts in front of the units were beautifully refinished and gleaming. More is on the inside.

The attached image, is a small part of the exposed wood on the ground, beneath the Big Tree. The wavy pattern runs for a length, not just one spot. Most logs I see, have just straight or partially spiraled wood grain showing.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Again, great info, thanks!

+1

 

[OTG BOSTON]

Good stuff Mario, thanks for posting those pics!

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Here's a souvenir from one Titan grove - a white rubber tipped arrow I found hiding in some ferns.

And the other photo is a 3' to 4' thick chunk of canopy soil that fell from a Titan during last winter's wind storm when a big limb broke loose. That's the canopy soil like described in The Wild Trees. And it is indeed several feet thick. Rocking this chunk, it seemed to weigh about 400 lbs. I was suprised to see it laying intact.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Here's one more photo of Lost Monarch from a different angle - not sure if I put this in my album. Took it the day I found the arrow. The arrow was near El Viejo del Norte which I think is the 5th largest.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

El Viejo del Norte was hard to photograph due to shade and location. This image here is to illustrate a point about why these Titans are not all that easy to spot. This is El Viejo del Norte Titan. The trunk does not look tremendously large does it? But from another angle, it looks massive. This trunk is almost as large as that of the Del Norte Titan, and if you've seen my image of that, it looks enormous compared to me. Now, this image is taken from like 20' away, and shows how another fifty or two hundred feet of shrubs, ferns and trunks can cloak the immensity of a redwood Titan. El Viejo del Norte just looks "big" until approaching within about 30 feet. Then at that close distance, it's evident that it's a Megatron of a redwood. It's trunk flare view is buried behind a large fallen log.