Man! Across the country and the world, it has been one sweltering summer!

Here in LA, I try to get my neighborhood walk in early. Even in the morning though, I still need the hat and the water and the pauses under sidewalk trees for a little cooling shade. I sure appreciate a nice tree in these moments – but I actually always have! It’s the result of both nature and nurture, I expect.

And trees figured heavily in my summertime travels this year! On a nostalgic tour up the Pacific coast, I made stops just to renew my acquaintance with some old trees – like, seriously old ones! Other forests I got to enjoy because of the special (and much missed) travel magic that can happen when you let serendipity take the wheel!

For starters, about four hours north of the Bay Area (and just south of the town of Garberville), is a spot that lives in some of my oldest summer memories – Richardson Grove State Park! 

My family, along with colleagues of Dad’s and their clans, would meet up to camp there among towering coast redwoods. I’m not sure this was 100% vacation-y since, for Forestry and Plant Pathology professionals, hanging out in a forest might sort of be like taking your work home. (If I had a nickel for every time Dad pointed out Annosus or Verticicladiella in what I’d thought was a perfectly happy tree…) Shop talk aside, this was where we kids got to dream up adventures in a great expanse of atmospheric forest, to frolic in the nearby Eel River, and to gobble up meals that somehow just tasted better at a picnic table!

Being the youngest, I do remember suffering the FOMO-inducing indignity of being first to have to go to bed. But at Richardson Grove, that meant getting the temporary run of our five-person tent filled with comfy mattresses and sleeping bags – perfect for executing Olympic-caliber gymnastic moves instead of going right to sleep as instructed. The trees I wandered through just a few weeks ago may have been some of the very ones that witnessed my anti-winding-down antics decades ago – but they’ve always kept my secret!

And since I couldn’t get enough trees, I made a great slight detour off Interstate 101 in the same neighborhood onto the Avenue of the Giants! This scenic road is shrouded by miles more of those majestic coast redwoods that can make a person feel so small, but so inspired too! There seems to be a continued push to widen the highway through the area – which would mean the loss of many trees. As practical as that might be, I’m rooting for the forests to continue to be preserved!

On a second Bay Area trip, I came across trees in quite a different state of preservation!

I had all day to make a relatively short trip from Walnut Creek over to a friend’s in Guerneville – so first I passed some time with a drive among Napa’s gently rolling, grapevine-graced hills!

Um. A little tip here. Maybe think twice before doing a mid-morning wine tasting without bothering to eat beforehand. Because I did that, and somehow this 6-pack got into the trunk of my car:

Anyway, I was continuing on from Napa to Calistoga when I stumbled (figuratively, despite the breakfast of sparkling wine…) onto The Petrified Forest – a privately run California Historical Landmark. 

Here I wandered a loop lined with examples of trees that were “petrified” after the eruption of nearby Mt. St. Helena over 3 million years ago! As I understand, being covered by volcanic ash creates an oxygen-free situation where organic material can be replaced with minerals – and can basically turn a tree to stone. So you have these ancient trees frozen like toppled columns right where the ash mowed them down. Kind of a Pompeii for pines – and solemnly impressive!

Having still made it to Guerneville too early (I tend to do that), I happily whiled away the last bit of uncalendared time with a visit to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, home to giants like the Parson Jones Tree that’s over 310 feet tall and estimated to be about 1,300 years old:

Age-wise, this tree isn’t even the local winner! The Park’s Colonel Armstrong Tree is thought to be over 1,400 years old! For perspective, growth ring measurements on this downed tree show what was going on in the world while it once continued its climb to the sky:

It’s humbling to think how a whole lifetime of ours amounts to just a fleeting breeze through the branches of redwoods like these…

Yes, I do think I’m predisposed to favoring the company of trees. I got to spend so much quality time among them as a kid – plus, maybe a nature-loving gene is just part of my family’s own “tree”! Dad had many interests, but he decided his calling was to work first for the Forest Service, and then as a Plant Pathology professor. So basically, he was a tree doctor! I don’t know where Dad came across this sentiment (or if it’s original) – but it’s in his own handwriting and kinda sums things up:

Yup. Christopher Wren can have his London buildings, Duddy – I’ll take a nice stand of pines!

So, next up on my 2023 Tree-a-Palooza Tour will be to reconnect with the lovely trees around Pinecrest Lake in Northern California’s Stanislaus National Forest – and of course to reconnect with some lovely people too! What was once another childhood playground and later a meet-up spot for family and friends, Pinecrest is now an annual pilgrimage to which I look forward all year!

Sometimes in fellowship – and sometimes in solitude – I do love spending time among trees like these! I appreciate their stately beauty. And I sure admire and envy their ability to adapt, to thrive – and sometimes simply to endure.

I’ll get to greet them soon when I take my customary walk around the lake! Truth be told, the walk takes longer than it used to – in fact, it’s become more of a plod. And I seem to opt for an awful lot more pauses to cool down and catch my breath. But that’s okay –

I’m sure the trees will keep this secret too.

Cheers!