Category Archives: Photographs: Coastal Redwoods

Photographs from the coast redwood forests of California

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Forest Ferns

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Redwood Forest Ferns
Redwood Forest Ferns

Redwood Forest Ferns. Muir Woods National Monument, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dense growth of ferns grows beneath the coast redwood trees at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

I continue my year end (though it new extends into the new “year beginning”) review of all of the past year’s raw files with this photograph from May 2010. In this part of California, May is a time of transition. Although the calendar still says spring, in the moderate climate of coastal California the wild growth of early spring is over, and many annual plants have reached maturity. To see these ferns in growth mode you would have to visit the redwood forest earlier. But by May, especially here where the forest holds the moisture longer and keeps the temperatures cooler, many plants have reached their peak of growth. These ferns were growing alongside one of the trails through the main, popular section of the park – though I avoid the crowds of tourists coming across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco and get the soft and beautiful morning light by arriving at Muir Woods very early.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fern and Redwood Log

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Fern and Redwood Log
Fern and Redwood Log

Fern and Redwood Log. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fern drapes across a redwood log littered with leaves and needles at Muir Woods National Monument.

I’m always a sucker for the interesting forms of the ferns in the redwood forest, here at Muir Woods National Monument and elsewhere. This curving example was lying across the surface of an old, dead fallen redwood trunk, and was accompanied by some brown ferns, a few odd redwood needles, and what I think may be a brown bay leaf.

Although this was shot near the very end of fall, the atmosphere at Muir Woods was very much that of winter. There was just a bit of thin fog floating around here and there, and on the forest floor beneath the giant trees it was very damp and quiet and dark. (If you want evidence of the low light… note that this was a 15 second exposure!)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Mushrooms, Redwood Log

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Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.
Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.

Mushrooms, Redwood Log. Muir Woods National Monument, California. December 16, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter mushrooms grow on a redwood log at Muir Woods National Monument.

Yesterday I decided to squeeze in a quick shoot in the Muir Woods area on a relatively nice day before what promises to be a week of substantial rain. So I was on the road early, stopping at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge to photograph the San Francisco Bay at sunrise before continuing on to Muir Woods. I arrived pretty early – I know I’m there early when I get the very first parking space closest to the entrance!

This is a beautiful time of year in the redwood forest, but there seems to be a smaller number of visitors. I suppose the wetness may keep them away – there is mud and water everywhere – and not everyone is willing to deal with the cold. The main grove at Muir Woods sits in the bottom of a canyon that doesn’t get a whole lot of sun this time of year, especially very early and late in the day. Combine wet with cold and low light… and you can understand why it was a fairly quiet morning there, with only a few other people wandering about.

I know that winter is the mushroom season in places like this, but I was very surprised by the number of mushrooms growing there yesterday and my the astonishing variety of types. There were the large curving brown ones (sorry, I’m not a mushroom ID expert, to say the least!) clustered in the upper area of this shot, the brightly colored yellow ones, tiny white ones, and many other shapes and colors and textures. I wish that I could have stayed longer to photograph more of them, but I think I’ll try to return after the current cycle of storms ends.

I’ll add a couple of photographic observations here, too. First, this is another shot that demonstrates, I think, the usefulness of the 70-200mm zoom lens. Working here at close to minimum focus distance, the longer focal length gave me a bit of working room and still provided a nice background blur. Second, the redwood forest is a very dark place! I don’t know how you could shoot these subjects handheld – this shot used a 6 second exposure!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Autumn Leaves, Redwood Creek

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Autumn Leaves, Redwood Creek
Autumn leaves float in Redwood Creek at Muir Woods National Monument.

Autumn Leaves, Redwood Creek. Muir Woods National Monument, California. September 26, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn leaves float in Redwood Creek at Muir Woods National Monument.

I suppose that this is really my first “official” autumn photograph of the season. (I did post recent Sierra photographs that show “autumn” conditions, but they were made just prior to the equinox.) One of the reasons I went to Muir Woods today is that I know that the understory trees are some of the first in the area to show fall color, and I thought that the transition just might be underway. Indeed, the color change does appear to be starting, with these large yellow leaves starting to appear along with the brown needles that have fallen from the redwoods, the turning bay tree leaves, and some ferns that have many brown leaves.

I photographed these leaves floating on and near a log in Redwood Creek. The creek runs through the main valley of the Monument, and I made this photograph from one of the many bridges that cross it. One challenge here is trying to find a time when other visitors are not tromping across the bridge and vibrating the camera – especially important in the very low light which necessitates long exposures! (This was a five-second exposure.)

I had not been to Muir Woods for a few months, so it was interesting to see how the conditions have changed in the late summer and early autumn. Many of the plants that I photographed as they emerged in spring have now stopped growing, and in some cases are starting to die back. The lush and moist green quality has slipped a bit towards drier and slightly dusty conditions in places. One thing that hasn’t changed is that this redwood forest is a very cool place – although temperatures in the Bay Area today were into the 90 degree range, I had to wear a jacket when I arrived at the redwoods.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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