Redwood National Park

I had the privilege of visiting the Redwood National Park (on the last sunny day for awhile) Saturday, April 24th. Another most impressive National Park. The world's tallest living tree-monarch of the North Coast-the Redwoods grow from seeds the size of a tomato seed yet can weigh 500 tons and stand taller than the Statue of Liberty. Its foot-thick bark makes the tree all but impervious to fire and insects. These magnificent trees can live to 2,000 years; however, average 500-700 years. They have no known killing diseases and do not suffer significant insect damage. While the redwood trees have been subjected to forest fires, they survive because the sap is mostly water not resin and the bark is 12 inches thick. Pretty good armor I would say. The mighty redwoods have no taproot; their roots penetrate only 10 to 13 feet deep but spread out 60 to 80 feet. They grow 20 feet in their first 100 years. When the leaves reach the sunlight, the energy is then sent down to the trunk and roots and growing rate slows, but is tenacious in its progress.
We hiked two trails through this amazing forest. Sometimes we found ourselves nearly whispering to each other. There is something about this giant forest that renders one to just walking around in awe with our heads up and searching for the tops of these giants. The only thing to break the silence was the babbling of a wonderful little brook which meandered along the trail for a short distance. Many times we just stopped to listen to ..... absolutely nothing .... and just turned in circles.