As we set off this morning the fog was noticeably lighter than last night, especially around Crescent City so we decided to get some early photos of the harbour and light-house. While making our way down the coast the fog became thicker, especially along the seashore and over the ocean. We decided to abort some of the drives and viewpoints which were fog-bound.
Just on the outskirts of town we passed through another old-growth redwood area. It was so dark for about 14km as we drove through the tunnel of trees that headlights were necessary. This was a roadside instruction, but quite a sensible one.
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| Driving thru a Redwood tree |
As we made our way south we stopped at “Tour Thru Tree” where we were actually able to drive through a redwood tree. Apart from the interest value, this and a number of trees we saw damaged by fire, demonstrated just how resilient the redwoods are. Unlike most trees, the redwoods don’t have any resin to ignite during a fire. The bark contains water which acts as a retardant and helps protect the tree. We saw a number of trees which had been burnt up the centre yet continued to survive.
Continuing southwards, we drove through some redwood areas which had been logged and restored. While the old-growth areas were very dark underneath and had little understorey foliage, the areas which had been logged had a more open canopy and contained ferns and a variety of low shrubs.
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| Tall trees |
