April 26th: Henry Cowell Park Redwoods

The mountain redwoods are the most massive; the coastal redwoods are the tallest. We are near the coast so search out a coastal redwood park to visit. We thought we’d come to the wrong place when we arrived because next to the redwoods car park was a small reconstructed cowboy town with a railroad station.

Next up, the train arrives, an old wild west steam engine. I’m now half expecting a re-enacted Indian attack, but disappointingly the train puffs and hisses to a halt with its load of tourist coaches. It’s a great sight nonetheless.

A yes, nearly forgot, we came to see some redwoods. The grove starts on the other side of the car park. It’s a sunny day and the light shafts shining through the big trees makes a lovely picture.

You can’t really give the true impression of the height of these trees, some reaching 300 foot plus. 

It’s easier to convey the size at ground level with a person in the frame. The figure is a woman in white in the gap, dwarfed by the tree.

Some trees had apparently harmless carbuncle-type growths on the base. In this case it looks like a monster’s foot from a horror film.

A lot of trees had multiple trunks growing from one root system. Here’s Jane modelling as a forest gnome standing in front of one such example. 

Although we’ve seen quite a few huge redwoods in different places, they never fail to impress. 

We're now leaving for Santa Margarita Lake where there's no phone signal or wifi, so we'll be out of contact for a time- just like it was in the old days before mobile phones and the internet. You remember, when you used to send postcards.