Our
Trip West
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Flora
Mojave
California
Cactus
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The day began, as usual, with breakfast at McDonalds. Today's stop was the second oldest McD. It has been redone and is very cool. |
| Even though it was the end of April, there was snow. The temperature was around 35 degrees. This is the entrance to the visitor center. There is a tunnel to keep snow that slides off the roof from causing problems to visitors. |  |
| These were the first trees we saw. They seemed huge. Note
the regular, full size pine tree. It's a big one, and the sequoias
next to it are so much larger.
These are tiny compared to the ones we will soon see. Some of these trees are 1700 years old! |
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| These trees can be 40 feet across at shoulder level.
My house is 40 feet on the long side - this trunk could not fit into my house!!!  |
To get a hint of scale, notice the top of the railpost at the bottom left of the picture. Also notice the rail in the back of the tree on the left. You can't get within 20 feet of the trees because they have shallow roots (3 feet) and the park service is concerned about compressing the soil. |
| This tree trunk has been down for at least 100 years.
Redwoods are relatively insect and fungus proof. A hundred years ago, they used this space to serve refreshments to travelers. This is the small end of the trunk. |
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This picture helps give an idea of scale. |
| Keep in mind that these rails are about 20 feet from the tree.
We were awed. These do not fit into our concept of "tree".
The fallen sequoia log is in the background. |
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This double tree was damaged by fire. As you can imagine, there have been many forest fires in the life of these trees. We had read about the forest service doing controlled burns. This trip helped us understand why. In every forest, there is undergrowth. If protected from fire, the undergrowth grows ever taller. Then when there is a fire, there is a lot of tall burning material and the fire can get very hot and burn even the tallest trees. If there are frequent controlled fires, the underbrush is kept short and cannot burn hot enough to damage the big trees. Now you know. |
