Category Archives: nature|trees

Coast Redwoods Along the French Trail in Redwood Regional Park

Coast redwoods along the French Trail in Oakland's Redwood Regional Park.

Coast redwoods are spectacular trees, often growing to more than 200 feet tall. They can attain phenomenal size. According to Famous Redwoods, the tallest is the Hyperion tree in Redwood National Park, with a height over 380 feet. The 2021 National Register of Big Trees lists the Lost Monarch in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park as the Champion coast redwood. It has a circumference of 950 inches (79.2 feet). There are reports of even larger coast redwoods.

Here’s a Calflora/Google Maps image and live link of the distribution of coast redwoods in California. The southernmost naturally-occurring coast redwoods are in Monterey County, in the Southern Redwood Botanical Area of Los Padres National Forest.

The title photo is of coast redwoods along the French Trail in Oakland’s Redwood Regional Park and is from a hike in mid-May.

Related post: Malibu Creek State Park Coast Redwoods

After the Springs Fire: A Run Through Pt. Mugu State Park

New growth in Pt. Mugu State Park following the Springs Fire

As we rounded a corner on the Old Boney Trail, Ann spotted a deer bounding through a thick, unburned section of brush. Its behavior was unusual — the deer was a few hundred yards away and in heavy cover. We soon saw the reason — a large coyote was trailing the animal and probably had been doing so for time.

We were in the middle of a 25 mile Odyssey through Pt. Mugu State Park, about three weeks after the Springs Fire ravaged much of the park’s 14,000 acres.

Already the process of recovery was underway. Tufts of green were sprouting in many areas. Yucca was beginning to regrow and a few yucca scorched in the fire were blooming. In addition to the deer and coyote described above, over the course of the run we would see another deer; fresh raccoon, bobcat, fox and rodent tracks; a lizard, grasshoppers, many birds, a bee’s nest, and fresh mountain lion scat.

Here is a slideshow of some photos from the run.

Some related posts: Springs Fire Burn Severity, Springs Fire 2013

Signs of Winter

Even if landmarks didn’t give away the southerly position of the sun, the leafless valley oak, green grass, and the dynamic nature of the clouds all say “Winter!”

From a run last week in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve, better known as Ahmanson Ranch.

Coast Redwoods Along the Forest Trail

Coast redwoods along the Forest Trail in Malibu Creek State Park

It was a busy morning at Malibu and Piuma. The Trail Runners were doing the Secret Trail to Tapia; a Backbone Ultra training group was running a segment of the Backbone Trail; another runner was “trying to get back into shape” by doing multiple laps of the Bulldog loop.

I’d done my longer run yesterday. This morning I was looking to do some low impact miles, enjoy the outdoors, and take a few photos along the way. It was one of those “I’ll know where I’m going when I get there” kind of runs, and where that turned out to be was the Forest Trail along the south shore of Century Lake in Malibu Creek State Park.

Running the Forest Trail early in the morning, after a rain storm, as the sun breaks through the clouds, with coast redwoods marking the way was about as serene as a run can be.

Related post: Malibu Creek State Park Coast Redwoods