Tag Archives: fern

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

The Forest Floor

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The Forest Floor
Ferns, redwood sorrel, other plants, and young redwoods deep inside the coastal redwood forest.

The Forest Floor. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns, redwood sorrel, other plants, and young redwoods deep inside the coastal redwood forest.

Here is another photograph from this year’s late-spring foray to the far Northern California redwood region — the National and State Redwood Parks. It may surprise you to find that this almost-native Californian didn’t really start to get his mind around this region until fairly recently. While I’ve know the redwoods closer to the San Francisco Bay Area nearly my whole life, the parks in the northern reaches of the state were not part of my experience aside from driving through a few of them. Over the past few years I have been exploring them and I am now starting to feel like I know that part of the state a bit better.

This scene comes from one of the state parks. Which park is perhaps not that important, given that you can find scenes like this one almost anywhere. One differentiating factor among the parks seems to be how far they are from the coast — wetter and lusher closer to the coast, warmer and a bit more open further inland. This scene is perhaps more representative of the near-coast forest, with extremely thick and lush undergrowth and green things growing everywhere. (That “green things” comment may seem odd to those who aren’t familiar with much of the rest of California, where things are distinctly not-green during most of the year.)

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Spring Green

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Spring Green
Spring foliage growing in the hills of Santa Clara County.

Spring Green. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring foliage growing in the hills of Santa Clara County.

This little intimate landscape vignette comes from a rural county park not far from where I live. I’ve hiked this location for several decades. It is one of my go-to places for quick doses of nature, as I can go there and get in a good hike between breakfast and lunch. Most of the park consists of rather open oak and grassland country, but there are places in the lowlands where things can be quite lush and green at the right times of the year, especially during California’s early spring “impossibly green” season.

I love traveling to more distant landscapes as much as anyone — going to places that seem more rugged and further from the civilized world. But over the years I’ve come to treasure the more local landscapes, too. Admittedly, I’m blessed by living less than an hour from redwood groves and the Pacific Ocean, and only a few hours from the Sierra. But much closer and seemingly less spectacular locations abound here, too.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Fern Vortex

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Fern Vortex
A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

Fern Vortex. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spiraling arrangement of fern fronds in Northern California redwood forest.

We did not get back to the Redwood National and State Parks this past year — the time we would have gone coincided with that period when we were all locking down in response to the pandemic. In retrospect, it was perhaps starting to look like camping might have worked, but things were still in too much of a state of flux at that point. So this photograph comes from the previous season, back in June of 2019.

Late in the day we decided to head to a spot where I knew from experience the tit might be possible to find rhododendron blossoms growing among the redwood trees, a place where the normally dark forest tends to pick up a bit more light from the west in the late afternoon. We wandered a trail and eventually descended into an area full of ferns. Here I turned my attention away from the huge trees and looked downwards to find compositions among the ferns.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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 Understory

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Redwood Forest Understory
Smaller plants grow on the forest floor beneath the canopy of North Coast redwoods

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

Smaller plants grow on the forest floor beneath the canopy of North Coast redwoods

This has become a bit of a repeating theme here recently, but this is another photograph of the dense vegetation of Northern California redwood forests — this scene is in Del Norte State Park, part of the Redwood National And State Parks system that I visited earlier this month. During my visit I was looking for rhododendrons — I found some, but it turned out that I was probably just a bit early. This trail is known for the flowers and they were there, just not in great numbers quite yet.

Sections of this trail traverse a ridge, but on either side the forest grows in coastal canyons. Here, especially early and late in the day, the light is soft and muted a lot of the time — often the ideal conditions for photographing this subject. The trees are varied, including both massive old-growth specimens and some younger trees fighting their way upwards for a bit of sun. The understory is lush, with ferns, bushes, rhododendron plants, and much more.

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.