Category Archives: Photographs: Coastal Redwoods

Photographs from the coast redwood forests of California

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Trees And Ferns

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Redwood Trees And Ferns
Ferns and other vegetation grows among coast redwood trees, Del Norte State Park

Redwood Trees And Ferns. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns and other vegetation grows among coast redwood trees, Del Norte State Park

Having spent decades hiking all over California and elsewhere, I have been in a lot of different types of forest — the (usually) open forests of the Sierra Nevada, the scrubbier forest of conifers and oaks in the foothills, the oak/grassland of California valleys and coastal areas, aspen groves, the barely-a-forest Joshua trees, and redwoods in the Sierra and along the California coast. All are wonderful and each has its attractions, but there is nothing that can compare to an old-growth coast redwood forest.

Yes, the trees are immense, and the foliage is so thick that it often can feel almost like twilight even at midday. But the immensity is not only physical — there is a sense of immense time in these forests. These trees have been standing here for centuries and even millennia. And before the 20th-century depredations of out-of-control logging operations, there were perhaps twenty times as many old-growth trees as there are today. Walk deep enough into one of the remaining groves and ponder that thought.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Overlapping Ferns

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Overlapping Ferns
Overlapping ferns grow close together in the springtime redwood forest

Overlapping Ferns. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Overlapping ferns grow close together in the springtime redwood forest

Late in the day, a bit early for golden hour but late enough to start thinking about it, I visited a short trail in Del Norte State Park, along which there was the promise of a few rhododendron blossoms and many, many redwood trees. It was an easy trail, gradually ascending and traversing a low ridge through the forest, and then beginning a descent that led to the beach. Since I was interested in the redwoods and not the beach, I stopped just past the beginning of the descent.

The lighting conditions were just about perfect — thin clouds muted and diffused the light, and it came into the forest from the west at a low angle, side-lighting the redwood trees. While I mostly was there to photograph big, obvious things like blooming rhododendrons and the redwood trees, this forest was full of smaller details, too. As I started back up the trail to return to where I started I saw some thick groups of ferns and I stopped to take a look. This little scene immediately caught my attention, with its nearly symmetrical layers of fern fronds leading down toward the forest floor.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Redwood Forest Trail

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A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.
A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

Redwood Forest Trail. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet trail though old-growth redwood groves.

One of my loose goals on this trip to the Redwood National and State Parks was to scout a bit. This was such a new area to me that I did not have illusions about finding the very best subjects right away, and I regard a first visit like this one as being the start of a longer photographic relationship with the place. In other words, I wanted to photographer then and there, but I also wanted to start to know the place, with an eye to future return visits.

With that in mind I visited four of the parks that comprise the larger state and national park collective. Time will tell if my initial impressions are correct, but each park seems to have a different and somewhat individual character. My last stop in the area, on the morning when I began my drive to a locations further south, was the Prairie Creek State Park. The great old-growth redwood trees are impressive wherever you find them, but it seemed to me that here they were even more so. After photographing some alder trees along a roadway, I moved on and selected a trail to hike, making the choice based more on hunch than anything else. I wandered slowly up a canyon filled with the giant trees as broken clouds moved changing light across the scene.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Redwood National & State Parks

Ridges and Redwoods

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Ridges and Redwoods
Old-growth and second-growth redwood forests on successive ridges

Ridges and Redwoods. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Old-growth and second-growth redwood forests on successive ridges

The drive from my location in the San Francisco Bay Area to the Redwood National and State Parks is a long one. One can either take the slower, shorter, and arguably more scenic route up US 101 or the faster, longer, and less visually interesting way up Interstate 5. On this visit, my first serious foray into these parks, I went up 5 to Redding, then headed west for another 3 hours to reach the coast, and finally turned north towards the actual Redwood National Park.

I have previously mentioned that I usually don’t exactly over-plan when I visit a new location, preferring to give myself a chance to discover things on my own terms. (To be honest, I’ve been accuses — accurately — of under-planning!) By the time I arrived it was too late to do a lot of scouting, so I headed up into the park to a well-known grove, made a brief stop there, and then continued on up a tiny, twisting road. Eventually I arrived at a large hilltop clearing, probably the unfortunate left-over of decades-earlier clear-cutting but today offering an expansive view across valley and hills in the very late afternoon light. Just below me was a ridge topped by second-growth trees, in the middle distance was a less-accessible ridge with huge old-growth trees, and on the far side of the valley the effects of that old clear-cutting is still visible.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.