Climbing Redwood Giants.

[warrior1]

I recommend this program.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/episodes/climbing-redwood-giants/

[lamp_shade]

1. I watched it last night. Fascinating!!!

[warrior1]

2. what struck me

was the couple who walked from San Diego to Oregon to find the first and last redwood. Also, the gentleman said that it was better to wear sandals than shoes. It will re air in a few days.

[mike_c]

3. I used to do that....

Nearly fifteen years ago when I first arrived at Humboldt State I sat in on Steve Sillett's canopy ecology course, then he and I collaborated on several coast redwood canopy projects as well as some research in oak woodland canopies. That "secret plot" is called Atlas Grove in Prairie Creek State Park-- it contains the greatest volume of wood in a single hectare known on Earth. Among other things, we found harpacticoid copepods living in suspended soil deposits up to 90+ meters above ground. We have no idea how they get there, but since the trees are well over a thousand years old, we surmised that they simply swim up the stem flow during the wet seasons.

Atlas Grove is named after one tree in the grove (all the trees in Atlas grove were named for Greek mythology figures), which is immense. It's crown splits at about 50 m into five separate trunks, each 6-8 feet diameter at their base.

I stopped climbing eight or nine years ago when I started having some health problems, but I probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. The best climbers are people like Steve-- short and strong, with a high strength to mass ratio. I'm not built like that-- I'm a big guy.

[warrior1]

4. He is strong no doubt.

This whole program was fascinating.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

5. This needs smellavision

When I was younger, I used to go spelunking with the Cave Research Foundation in Lilburn Cave, California (over 20 miles long) in beautiful Redwood Canyon in the Sierras. Smelling the wonderful musky fragrance of those giants, strong pine smells mixed with earth, wildflowers, and decayed plants was as great as seeing them. There's nothing quite like the musty, damp, and moldy smell of a redwood forest. And there's also that churchlike silence with a vague faraway symphony of sound as the breeze rustles the tops of trees.

[lamp_shade]

7. Your words describe it all so beautifully. For a moment, I could smell the forest.

[warrior1]

6. I was wondering

if it snows.

and

They said that the larger trees wouldn't be able to draw water from it's roots but takes in an enormous amount of water from the fog that comes from the ocean. They create their own weather.

[mike_c]

8. in the coast redwood range snow is very rare...

...at least during today's climate. Lots of rain during winter and summer fog as you mentioned, but I've never seen snow worth mentioning in the fifteen years I've lived here. We get plenty of snow at higher elevations, just a 20 minute drive up the coast range, but the lower slopes where the redwoods live is largely snow free.

They do get lots of snow in the giant sequoia groves in the Sierra, of course, and those trees have a different growth form that sheds snow more easily than coast redwood would be able to.