Redwoods

Last week we took a very long drive to the Redwoods forests of northern
California. I have seen big-ass old growth trees here in the forest of
Washington, but could not imagine what a redwood would look like in person, even
though I had read up on all of the statistics about their height, diameter, etc.

When we finally got to the forest, I felt like a crazed Keebler elf! I really
wanted to live inside one of the hollowed out trees and become a cookie baking
gnome!
The forest has such interesting smells. We went to this one that was really off
the beaten path, and it had this scent about it that reminded me of semen, and I
was wondering what in nature would have that curious odor. Anyhow, the more
popular trails and trees had more earthy smells, like of fresh cut wood and
newly aerated soil.
Some interesting facts about the redwoods that we learned was that a fallen tree
takes about 400 years to decompose. The reason we didn't see very many animals
creeping around on the ground is that they all reside up in the canopy of the
forest.
I've always felt a presence around trees, as if they were really people inside
of the trunks. It's like how the tree-people are in the Two Towers movie. As a
child I had this swing set in the yard and there were these trees behind it that
seemed like two people just watching me, and I felt the trees weren't very
friendly, like they were two old coots that never had anything good to say about
anything.
Well, the redwoods had this kind of presence, but naturally on a much grander
scale! I definitely felt like we were being observed and watched by the trees,
and that they were checking us out, seeing if we were worthy. I tried to convey
as much respect and honor to the trees, but I just felt like I was coming up
short since the humans that came before were hell-bent to cut down as many of
their kin as possible.
The forest is such a marvelous place! It's got that stillness, that silence that
I felt up at Mount Rainier. You can't get that kind of silence in the city or
where people live. You need to get away from all of that to where Nature
dominates. It is truly energizing to be in the midst of that silence and just
absorb like a sponge that vibration.