Day 2 - Beach fore-dune and second terrace mixed coastal forest
On day two it began to rain as soon as we finished breakfast. Once we got to our first destination it was pouring, and it continued to pour for the rest of the day. My pictures from this day are a bit more scattered because I didn't want to destroy my camera. But we were troupers, we spent about an hour and a half out on the beach talking about the plants and their adaptations to the harsh coastal habitat.
I found out on this trip that my trusty leather hiking boots have reached the end of the road. The leather cracked around the toe area and proceeded to develop into a large hole. My previously water-proof boots were no longer water-proof and I found this out quite early in the day, unfortunately.
For morale reasons we skipped some of the things we were supposed to do on day two, and our next stop took us to the second terrace coastal forest. The Northern California coast is very cool because it has been sculpted by wave action and tectonic uplift over thousands of years into a series of stair steps. So the beach front/coastal scrub is the zero terrace and the grassland is on the 1st terrace. Above that it becomes different types of coastal forest with the pygmy forest usually on the 3rd, 4th, or 5th terrace.
All the rainjackets were so cheerful on this dreary grey day that I had to take a picture.
At night we had a huge pasta dinner and I laid all my clothes and my shoes in front of the fire. It took almost a full five hours for everything to dry out, but thank goodness it finally did or else day three would have been very unpleasant.
We had the privilege of hearing a talk by Taylor Lockwood, a renowned mushroom hunter. He's a friend of my professor, so he came and gave a slide show and talked to us about his latest mushroom hunting expeditions to Thailand, New Zealand, Michigan, and California, among other locations. His pictures were gorgeous and it was fun to learn a little about fungi. The following picture is courtesy of his website.
The next day we were spotting mushrooms everywhere we went (not that we could identify them); it's funny how a little education makes you see the world differently. In this case it was literal, we didn't see the mushrooms before the talk and we did afterwards!
I also learned how to play dominoes during the trip.
Day 3 - Pygmy forest and old growth redwood forest
So, I know that everyone is looking forward to the pictures of the pygmy forest, but I have something to admit. I forgot to bring my battery charger and my camera's batteries died as soon as we got there. I know, I was as pissed as you are. Perhaps when people share their pictures with me I will post some of them. This is the only crappy picture I have of the pygmy forest and it's really just the entrance to it, you can't even see the little trees.
But the good news is that the sun was out all day. Unfortunately the rain and cold the day before was enough to give me a nasty head cold that I have been struggling with all week. But it's nothing that a picture of glowing ferns won't fix.
Just so you're not completely disappointed, I found these photos online of pygmy forest and old growth redwood. I'll put the websites underneath so I don't get in trouble for copyright infringement or whatever.
Photo by Dr. Sharon Johnson
Our last stop of the day was Montgomery Woods State Reserve, an old growth coast redwood forest (meaning that it has never been logged). You have to hike about a mile to get to the heart of the forest, but once you do it's incredible. The only other redwoods I've seen were the giant redwoods in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite (a different species), and there were a few hundred other people enjoying them when I was there. This was totally different and if anyone has a chance to visit this area of the world, I would put this forest pretty high up on your list of things to see.
Photo by David Baselt
On day two it began to rain as soon as we finished breakfast. Once we got to our first destination it was pouring, and it continued to pour for the rest of the day. My pictures from this day are a bit more scattered because I didn't want to destroy my camera. But we were troupers, we spent about an hour and a half out on the beach talking about the plants and their adaptations to the harsh coastal habitat.
I found out on this trip that my trusty leather hiking boots have reached the end of the road. The leather cracked around the toe area and proceeded to develop into a large hole. My previously water-proof boots were no longer water-proof and I found this out quite early in the day, unfortunately.
For morale reasons we skipped some of the things we were supposed to do on day two, and our next stop took us to the second terrace coastal forest. The Northern California coast is very cool because it has been sculpted by wave action and tectonic uplift over thousands of years into a series of stair steps. So the beach front/coastal scrub is the zero terrace and the grassland is on the 1st terrace. Above that it becomes different types of coastal forest with the pygmy forest usually on the 3rd, 4th, or 5th terrace.
All the rainjackets were so cheerful on this dreary grey day that I had to take a picture.
At night we had a huge pasta dinner and I laid all my clothes and my shoes in front of the fire. It took almost a full five hours for everything to dry out, but thank goodness it finally did or else day three would have been very unpleasant.
We had the privilege of hearing a talk by Taylor Lockwood, a renowned mushroom hunter. He's a friend of my professor, so he came and gave a slide show and talked to us about his latest mushroom hunting expeditions to Thailand, New Zealand, Michigan, and California, among other locations. His pictures were gorgeous and it was fun to learn a little about fungi. The following picture is courtesy of his website.
The next day we were spotting mushrooms everywhere we went (not that we could identify them); it's funny how a little education makes you see the world differently. In this case it was literal, we didn't see the mushrooms before the talk and we did afterwards!
I also learned how to play dominoes during the trip.
Day 3 - Pygmy forest and old growth redwood forest
So, I know that everyone is looking forward to the pictures of the pygmy forest, but I have something to admit. I forgot to bring my battery charger and my camera's batteries died as soon as we got there. I know, I was as pissed as you are. Perhaps when people share their pictures with me I will post some of them. This is the only crappy picture I have of the pygmy forest and it's really just the entrance to it, you can't even see the little trees.
But the good news is that the sun was out all day. Unfortunately the rain and cold the day before was enough to give me a nasty head cold that I have been struggling with all week. But it's nothing that a picture of glowing ferns won't fix.
Just so you're not completely disappointed, I found these photos online of pygmy forest and old growth redwood. I'll put the websites underneath so I don't get in trouble for copyright infringement or whatever.
Photo by Dr. Sharon Johnson
Our last stop of the day was Montgomery Woods State Reserve, an old growth coast redwood forest (meaning that it has never been logged). You have to hike about a mile to get to the heart of the forest, but once you do it's incredible. The only other redwoods I've seen were the giant redwoods in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite (a different species), and there were a few hundred other people enjoying them when I was there. This was totally different and if anyone has a chance to visit this area of the world, I would put this forest pretty high up on your list of things to see.
Photo by David Baselt
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