Today's weather was sunshine and temps in the low 70s, which seemed like perfect weather for a hike in Big Basin. When I first arrived, I hiked on the short trail that is marked with some of the really cool trees. This first photo shows the Chimney tree on the right. A fire burned out the inside of the tree without killing it. It is living with branches and leaves growing, even though the inside is brned out.
This photo is looking straight up inside the chimney tree. The light circle is looking out the top.
The tree named Father of the Forest is estimated to be the oldest living tree in Big Basin at 2000 years old. It is almost 17 feet diameter at breast height and 66 feet circumference at the ground and 250 feet high.
This is the a little higher view of the Father of the Forest.
Close by is the Mother of the Forest. This tree is the tallest in Big Basin at 329 feet.
Standing at the bottom of the Mother of the Forest looking up, it really does look tall.
From a little way off, it is clear that it really is a tall tree.
There are some other trees that look pretty cool.
This one looks like it might be an ent. I expected it to say something as I walked by. It did not say anything and I was OK with that.
When we went to Big Basin many years ago, we went to a picnic site where there were cool trees that kids could climb on. I found our old spot. I parked close to it and then hiked from there. When I got back, there were some kids climbing on this big log.
There are a lot of really cool picnic sites here.
A short walk from our old picnic spot was a large tree across the creek that was at least 5 feet in diameter. I found it. This is looking down the hill from above. The downhill part was well worn and slipery with wet shoes. It is safer to get on the log at the bottom of the hill
Very close by, there was another log that was easier to walk on to cross the stream. Once on the other side, the large log was easier to climb on top of.
There were some other cool logs crossing the stream, all within a quarter of a mile of the large one.
It was getting dark early under all of the tall redwoods, but fortunately, my cell phone camera has a flash to take of photo of this really cool looking mushroom. It was over a foot across.
There are a lot of really cool picnic sites here.
A short walk from our old picnic spot was a large tree across the creek that was at least 5 feet in diameter. I found it. This is looking down the hill from above. The downhill part was well worn and slipery with wet shoes. It is safer to get on the log at the bottom of the hillWe had a family on the log photo taken once on this log, but there was a lot of recent brush and small trees that got knocked down to partially cover the tree, so the long span is not as obvious now.
Very close by, there was another log that was easier to walk on to cross the stream. Once on the other side, the large log was easier to climb on top of.
There were some other cool logs crossing the stream, all within a quarter of a mile of the large one.
It was getting dark early under all of the tall redwoods, but fortunately, my cell phone camera has a flash to take of photo of this really cool looking mushroom. It was over a foot across.
It was a fun day. If people are interested, it might be fun possibility for Christmas time, providing the weather is nice.
6 comments:
That looks like a really fun place to go. the trees look really cool. I was hoping you would say the tree DID talk to you. :)
There are a lot of places I want to visit while we're there for Christmas. We're probably going to have to do some narrowing down. We might just have to visit more than once.
That last picture is of a "bearded tooth mushroom". It is edible. You should eat it next time you see it.
I have a lot of fond memories of hiking and camping with our family at Big Basin. Isn't that where we were camping when a big fat raccoon stole a loaf of bread out of the back of our car and tried to run off with it?
Yes. That was Big Basin. The Racoon was so fat that he could not run very fast so he dropped the bread to get away.
I love going to Big Basin. I also love how close it is to where we live. It's very pretty there.
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