In August, I found myself in San Francisco on a business trip to visit a supplier. I was able to drive up the evening before our meetings started to the Muir Woods National Monument. While many people were already leaving after spending the day and the park was quieting down, I was able to spend a couple of hours in the evening before the sun set.
I knew that the trees would be big, of course, but there isn't anything like them that I've seen before. Absolutely amazing.
These are the coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), a slightly different tree than their relatives the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron). These coastal redwoods are taller, but have less overall volume that then giant sequoia.
You could inhale the wonderful scent of the pine grove. It was as if the entire park had a pine scent wall plug-in, but it wasn't overpowering and it was certainly all natural.
I took a hike that was about a mile and a half through the main part of the park. At the far end of the loop, I sat in quiet and contemplated. It was a wonderful evening spent among the tallest living things in the world.
Here, sown by the Creator's hand,
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand;
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.
The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.
The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now - their splendor gone;
But these proud monarchs still live on.
So shall they live, when ends our day,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.
This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awe-struck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal;
To be like these, straight, true and fine,
To make our world, like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, oh traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.”
- Joseph B. Strauss
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