Humboldt Redwoods State Park

[gnmcmartin]

Mark:

  I don't have any reliable source for the age of the smaller redwoods on the hillsides in Humboldt State Park, but I would guess that they are comparably long-lived.  One problem would be the effect of fire.  Fires have in the past, before the area was settled by Europeans, burned in the bottomland forests.  Now, I am making a guess, but they may have been much more devastating to the forests on the hillsides and ridges.  So, if that is the case, any studies of the ages of the trees on the hillsides may not reveal the potnetial life span of those trees, which I believe are growing in a more mixed forest that includes madrone, tanoak and maybe some douglas fir.  But it has been something like 50 years since I have hiked up onto one of those hillsides, and at the time I did not make a careful note of the associated species.

  Anyway, the hillsides of the redwood forests in the more coastal areas, such as Prairie Creek State Park and other places, are completely different, and support very large redwoods.  Humboldt Redwoods State Park is somewhat inland away from coastal fogs, and, I am guessing again, some of the rainfall.  Hence the difference between the forest on the hillsides vs the bottomlands, which are essentially floodplains.

  --Gaines

[mdvaden]

Thanks Ed and Bob, glad to share. Bob, sometimes I wish I had a prettier face than my own to put in the photos! Sometimes I'm all I've got, and you are right, without a person for scale, the trees can look rather ordinary in a regular photo.

Mario, it would have been a real treat to run into you at the park. I've been inspired by your photos and discoveries over the years.

Mark ...

Could be a toss of the coin on that this time around - lol

Visit #1 to the Grieg, French, Bell loop was solo, and the shot 2nd, below, was that day, along with a maple measuring. The top photo was the following day ... may or many not be your cup of tea. A networking photoshoot thing with a Eureka model.

Actually, I got a hoard of photography done the past few days. I did a bunch of photos with the model below at Avenue of the Giants, plus at a huge log stack in Eureka.

Then an arborist and his wife, came from South Africa, and I took a bunch of photos of them at Jedediah Smith redwoods and Prairie Creek redwoods. Just general redwoods and forest photos stuff. The weather and lighting was pretty darn good during the visit. It will be a memorable week, and with new friends.

[James Parton]

MVaden,

She's quite attractive. So is the place.

[mdvaden]

MVaden,

She's quite attractive. So is the place.

I've driven by the grove and loop several times, but never stopped there before. it's almost mesmerizing. Little rolling hills of redwoods and redwood sorrel that eventually meet some new growth. But an awesomely beautiful place. I think a few  TV commercials for pharmaceuticals have been recorded here, and I can see why. The location in itself is virtually healing.

This was only the second photo shoot where I've used flash on stands before. I prefer ambient light. Two Canon 430EX II flashes. Actually came out a bit better than I expected.

[mdvaden]

Here's one standing in a nice Redwood Sorrel area.

I'm beginning to like the Humboldt redwoods quite a bit more the past few visits, as I find more alternative spots for various kinds of weather.

[Mark Collins]

Mario, the only thing missing from your photo shoot is a tree measuring laser or two!  :)

[mdvaden]

Mario, the only thing missing from your photo shoot is a tree measuring laser or two!  :)

Almost got some photos of us measuring Arco Giant up at Prairie Creek, but we only had like an hour to spare before leaving to get back home. So I took the couple to see a special valley and got the rest of photos in there since they may not return for a long time. The husband, an arborist, helped me measure Arco Giant. I did Founders Tree on my own a couple of days earlier.

So definitely had the laser out there.

One of my favorite laser photos is one of Atkin's Impulse 200 LR with redwood tree reflections, from a couple of years ago.

[Joe]

I really like adding people to nature scenes and doing it artfully. Very nice!
Joe