We spent a couple days on the Mendocino coast, exploring Russian Gulch State Park one day and Hendy Woods on the way back inland another. Between hikes we relaxed at an excellently peaceful spot in Elk with a hot tub, aaahhhhhh.......
In Russian Gulch we found a dampened wonderland of layered growth. I have had an increased interest and appreciation and awe for our coast redwoods Sequoia sempervirens after reading the non-fictional book, The Wild Trees, recommended to me by my dad, in which some interested young botanists in the 1980's explore the canopies of old growth redwoods, collecting previously-unknown information about the types of life (lichens, ferns, huckleberries, etc.) that live over 300 feet in the air in platforms of actual soil that had accumulated there over hundreds of years. Old-growth Coast Redwoods that were passed over by the devastation of logging in the last couple centuries have been verified to be 2,000 years and older. Here is a young up-and-comer riding on the shoulders of a fallen ancestor (or could it possibly be a basal resprout of that same ancestor? I do not know!).
In Russian Gulch we found a dampened wonderland of layered growth. I have had an increased interest and appreciation and awe for our coast redwoods Sequoia sempervirens after reading the non-fictional book, The Wild Trees, recommended to me by my dad, in which some interested young botanists in the 1980's explore the canopies of old growth redwoods, collecting previously-unknown information about the types of life (lichens, ferns, huckleberries, etc.) that live over 300 feet in the air in platforms of actual soil that had accumulated there over hundreds of years. Old-growth Coast Redwoods that were passed over by the devastation of logging in the last couple centuries have been verified to be 2,000 years and older. Here is a young up-and-comer riding on the shoulders of a fallen ancestor (or could it possibly be a basal resprout of that same ancestor? I do not know!).
An Arboreal Salamander Aneides lugubris patrolling for small insects, enjoying the dampness of November. Lacking lungs, the Arboreal Salamander breathes through its skin, and so is dependent on high humidity levels. When the seasons become dry again, these little fellas take up hiding in damp tree cavities, which they can climb up in to.
We saw many micro mushrooms popping out of just about everything around us, even little tiny twigs were bursting with fungal fruiting bodies.
We took the Fern Canyon Trail, which rewarded us with this little waterfall.
The next day at Hendy Woods, we took a short cruise through some old growth redwoods, which were quite spectacular. I don't think I had seen one for many years, probably since living in Santa Cruz and visiting Henry Cowell Park about 10 years ago...
The way any living organism could be so clever and resourceful as to find a way to grow so massive and survive all variety of obstacles (fire, wind, rot, seasonal drought) and live for literally thousands of years, is incredible.
Also in Hendy Woods is the lean-to shelter of the now-deceased "Hendy Hermit" or "Boonville Hermit", a Russian immigrant that inhabited these woods through the 1960's and 70's. He had no immigration papers and a strong distrust and fear of any authority. He was described as quiet and gentle, apparently subsisting off gifts from campers and "farmer's back rows". I recalled my middle- and high-school days with my old friend Lucas when we daydreamed of escaping the nonsense of civilization and living as underground hermits... with internet, of course, to play our video games.
I remember when you and Eddy escaped civilization one evening in the hills above Yountville and seemed thrilled to come out alive!
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