Tag Archives: redwood

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

Ferns, Creek, And Forest

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Ferns, Creek, And Forest
Ferns growing along the banks of a redwood forest creek.

Ferns, Creek, And Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Ferns growing along the banks of a redwood forest creek.

One of my goals on this trip to the Redwood National And State Parks region was scouting. I often arrive at a new location — and this are was new to me — without doing a whole lot of advance research. This means that I’ll engage in a bit of semi-blind wandering at first, but it also means that I get the thrill of discovery instead of going just to well-known spots. I knew that Jedediah Smith Redwoods Park was supposed to have rhododendron blooms and, of course, redwoods, but I wasn’t quite sure where to look. So I poked around a bit.

The first “poking” was unsuccessful, and I ended up at a locked gate on a gravel road. I could have walked further, but on this first visit I wanted to cover more ground than walking would allow, so I back down the road and wound around to the other side of this park. Before long I did find redwood groves with blooming rhododendrons, and I spent a bit of time photographing there in morning light. As the sun rose higher the light was less agreeable, so I began exploring again, eventually ending up at another dead-end road. This time I loaded up my pack and started walking, eventually arriving at a beautiful old-growth redwood grove. I passed this little vignette of creek, ferns, and light along the way.

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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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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.
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

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.
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

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.
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.