Northern California

On our way to Northern California (Note)		Petroglyphs
Moro Rock	Tunnel Rock - not driven through anymore	My tree!?
Dorothy is the teacher friend who helped me move to Texas		Bluebonnets in Napa Valley
	Not quite a match but you get the idea!
Roosevelt Elk at Stone Lagoon		Fred and "Wilma"
Whistle stop campaigning	Lois found a job	Humboldt Bay, Eureka
	Grandfather Redwood Tree Height 265 Ft. Diameter 24 Ft. Circumference 55 Ft.
Trinidad
We made a side trip to Oregon	Highway of the Giants
Chimney Tree Height 78 ft, Circumference 50 ft 5 in, Diameter 12 ft 6 in, Center burned out iin 1914 and still alive	Shrine Drive Through Tree Age 5000 years, Height 275 ft, Diameter 21 ft, Circumference 64 ft
Dyerville Giant fell in 1994		Our summer home on Clear Lake
	Cormorant drying out feathers	Calpine Geothermal Visitor Center
Map showing geothermal power plants
Pipes that bring steam up out of the ground	Inside plant	By product - raw sulphur
Engineers Lonnie, Julie, Lois, Fred	Habitat for Humanity, Lake County	April 2004
	August 2004 - Almost finished	Dahneke Family Read Katherine's poetry
Old Faithful of Calistoga, California
Our first trip to Oakland	The A's won in the bottom of the 10th	Beautiful day!!
Jelly Belly Factory, Fairfield, CA	More than 14,000 Jelly Bellys	How appropriate at the time of our visit
Family Reunion in Houston	Brian and Tillie	Their new home
Skunk Train - Ft. Bragg	Passenger Car	Tree limb on track-delay of 30 minutes
Taking on water at North Spur	Chandelier Tree-Leggett	San Francisco with friends Susan and Merle
On the cable car...	...going uphill	...and downhill
Turn station for the cable cars
	Hazy Golden Gate Bridge	Alcatraz
Lombard Street		A visit to wine country
Japanese Gardens
Rose Gardens
English Walnut tree on Black Walnut trunk (Note)	Grapes in Northern CA	Someday these will be wine
	Pears are being harvested in August
Walnuts	Not again!	He finally caught one!!??
We visited Tonia's parents, Jeanette and Sam		This subdivision has low street signs for the airplanes that pass by
The houses also have hangars	for their airplanes	Joseph Hendy Stamp Mill
Cams which crush the ore	Inside the mine	View from Sam and Jeanette's deck

Central California
Heading north and a little east from southern California you begin to see a mountain range that is the Sierra Nevada's a range that runs north and south creating a break between California and Nevada. In the middle of these mountains, in several small groves, you will find the great sequoia trees. Like all plants these trees have a preferred condition for continued growth; the sequoias are found between 5,000 ft. and 7,000 ft. and prefer very wet soil, not marshy, but very moist.
The sequoia's are the world's largest trees when compared to total volume; some trees are taller, some are wider at the base, but none have a larger total volume. The largest tree is the "General Sherman" tree; it is 275 feet tall, it has a 103 ft. circumference and is estimated to weigh 1385 tons and is about 2,200 years old. The largest limb on the General Sherman tree is 7 ft. in diameter. These trees are still growing and the General Sherman tree grows enough each year to produce a 60 ft. tall tree of regular proportions.
Being the largest tree in the world you would think they are indestructible and it almost is. It has very thick bark that protects it from fires and contains chemicals that protect it from insects. The main weakness is its shallow root system that makes it a candidate for toppling when storms bring big winds. Because of its huge size many were cut for a source of wood, but very wise people back in 1890 were able to create the Sequoia National Park and protect the wonderful trees for the future. There are only a couple of roads that carry you into the 'giant forest' and the rest of the park is made for foot traffic.
Today, forest fires are a very debated event. Some fight for controlled burns to burn away much of the fallen branches and smaller shrubs and weeds that grow on the forest floor while others say leave everything alone. The sequoias actually need fire to reproduce. Two things have to happen; one there has to be a fire to open up the cones that contain the seeds and two, the forest floor has to be cleared of brush to make sure the seeds can reach the soil. So, the sequoias need the fires. During the years, the Forest Service has learned to burn off the areas around the base of the trees so that when a natural fire creates the conditions to open the cones, the seeds can fall to the ground and begin another great sequoia. Another amazing fact is that with such a large tree, the cones are only the size of a chicken egg. Each tree produces about 2,000 cones each year and they can hang on the tree for as long as 20 years. Some cones are opened by squirrels and beatles, but most have to wait on a fire to open them and start the germination of a new giant sequoia.
To settle a lingering question you all have, the redwoods on the California coast are taller than these sequoias, but the sequoias are larger over all because of their total volume. They are from similar families of plants, but vary in proportions.

Northern California
We took a side trip to southern Oregon to visit our friends, Joy and Carl Pierce; we worked with them last summer in Cotopaxi, CO. We actually left ClearLake together to make the trip north. As we left the ClearLake area we went through thick forest and low mountains as we approached the coast of California. About a hour north of ClearLake we began to travel through the area of the Coastal Redwoods. These trees are in the same family as the Sequoias we visited in the Central part of California. The Redwoods are actually taller than the Sequoias, but are more slender. The Redwoods were actually found when explorers combed the mountains of California looking for gold. As the US began to grow, the need for more lumber spurred another industry, the cutting of the old Redwoods. The Redwood National Park that we get to see today is all that is left of the huge Redwood forest of the past. Less than 4% of the original old growth Redwood forest exist today. There is still some redwood cutting done today, but it is on private land and is the cutting of newer growth trees. Some of the older trees in the Redwood National Park are over 2,000 years old. Highway 101, one of the main north-south routes in northern California runs right through the national park and any stopping place puts you just feet from these magnificiant trees. Today, much of the environmental work being done is on the higher slopes of the national park, replanting trees and re-establishing the creeks and streams that were blocked during the construction of roads to bring the trees down from the slopes. Much of the national park is now green with new growth and streams have begun to run clear again.
As we headed north, Carl had told us that we should be able to see some elk. Just as we were pulling into our stop for the first night, there was a herd of elk grazing in a field next to the RV park. We were hoping to be able to get some pictures and by the time we had gotten everything hooked up for the night, the elk had walked right into the park. We were able to get about 20 yards from them and go some great pictures. They continued to graze there and actually spent the night in the field between the park area and the highway. There is a law in that area that you can not completely fence in a area that would block the elk from moving from one part of the mountains to another; they have to be free to roam where ever they wish.
The other thing that changes as you take this route north, is that the coast line gets more and more rugged. The California coastline is much more rocky than the Gulf of Mexico that we are used to seeing. Remember, the California coast is where the mountains meet the ocean, not like Texas where the vast prairies blend into the Gulf with the shallow shoreline. In Texas, you can walk 100 yards offshore and maybe be chest deep; in California, 10 yards offshore puts you into very deep water. In northern California, the coast is even more rocky than down south. Every turn in the road presents a new breath taking view of huge rocks and peaks that meet the rushing surf; it makes for spectacular pictures as the waves crash into the rocky coast. This type of rocky coast line is the same all the way north into Oregon and further.

English Walnut/Black Walnut
This picture looks strange like two trees made into one. Well, that is exactly what it is. The more popular nut for retail sale is the English Walnut. But over time the growers have discovered that the Black Walnut has a much more stronger root system than the English Walnut and live much longer. So to solve that problem, the young Black Walnut trees are grafted with cuttings from the young English Walnut tree. The end result is a large, strong Black Walnut trunk with the English Walnut tree growing out of the top of the trunk.