#13 (giant tree), archival inkjet print, 15 x 11" (min. paper dimensions 19 x 16")
i have been waiting for this day. today i see the BIG trees! after a rather
pleasent widy road down from the mountain stream where i slept(brrr did it
get cold last nite). i took this rather little road into a state park expermental forest. this one got struck by lightning and someone carved a room into it ...that is a
full sized door btw. these trees are soooo hard to photograph. there is the old saying "you cant see
the forest through the trees" well you cant see theses trees through the forest.
if you get far back enough to get one of the trees in the frame there are 30
or 40 trees blocking the view. you really have to see these in person but to
try to make you understand go out and find the biggest tree you can find...
then try to imagine a tree that at the lowest branch starts at the top of that
tree. i saw fully mature pines and redwoods growing next to sequioas with burn
marks on them everywhere i went. at first i thought someone had tryed to burn
theses great treees down but then realized that these trees survived a forest
fire so long ago that the forest has fully regrown around them..amazeing. the downside to this experience was the realizeation that this was a graveyard of sorts.
a lumber mill operated until 1901. i saw some pristine big trees but the number of stumps
i saw was staggering. camping that night was also troubleing.. imagine a star wars ewok
village gone wrong. this is the only campground that had several chainsaws going at the
same time. the campground was fulled to the brim but i think noone thought about what
it could have been but i had no doubt that alot of them would have been happy to start
cutting a no not national but worldwide treasure down. i didnt sleep easy that night. i dont hug every tree around but i would have no problem with a death sentence for hurting
even one of those trees. something so rare, so old, if you ever get the chance visit this.
there are more diamonds the size of your fist then there are trees like these.