J. Allan Miller Photography

This post is dedicated to @traciyork my treehugger, uh tree-loving HIVE friend!

Here, sown by the Creator's hand,
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

This is their temple vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal.

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveller, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.

Poem by Joseph B. Strauss,
October 2, 1932.

Sequoia sempervirens of the genus Sequoia, of the cypress family Cupressaceae, or more commonly known as the California Redwood or, coastal redwood. It is an evergreen tree that can live 1200-2200 years or more! These giants are found along the coast of the northwestern United States starting just north of San Francisco, California, and can be found in abundance all the way to Washington state. Some of the "Old Growth" trees even have their own names they are so old and large!

A few years ago my daughter and I visited many of these giants on a road trip. That's her standing next to the Grandfather Tree, it is so large it takes more than twenty people holding hands to encircle it!

How would you like to be able to build a log cabin and only have to use ONE LOG! Well, that is exactly what they did here.

This was built back in the 1940s-50s I believe before the laws went into effect protecting the old-growth trees from logging and harvesting.

Well now, this brings a new definition to the term "drive-thru"! Wonder if they have a Starbucks inside?

Sadly, the Chandelier drive-thru tree was struck by lightning in the early part of 2018, the strike, and the ensuing fire destroyed the tree. Thankfully it was well photographed so we can continue to share its wonder with generations to come.

Driving through this incredible valley of giants along California Hwy 101 is truly an amazing experience. Each turn reveals a scene more beautiful, and trees more majestic than the turn before.

To really experience these gargantuans, you need to find a place to stop and walk through these woods. There is the feeling of something ancient here, from a time before modern man came to walk here. The eerie quietness sings a song of things forgotten. It is like stepping from the land of mortals into the land of the fae when magic was alive in the earth. Every tree you pass, every corner turned, one half expects to meet a fleeing dryad or flitting sprite.

To walk through this legendary realm is a privilege everyone should yearn for, it is an awakening of the spirit.

Ferns blanket the forest floor along with soft mosses, and the lazy sunlight drifts down in glinting beams dancing with the shadows below.

Bilbo Baggin's walking song seems a proper fit for a journey here.

The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

--- J.R.R. Tolkein, The Hobbit

Hope you all enjoyed my adventure thru the Redwoods and especially @traciyork. I got a bit side track along my path somehow and crossed over somewhere else along the way, but that is much like what a walk in these woods is like.