Interesting Redwood trees south of San Francisco?

[DolphinDan]

Hi all,

I will be in the San Francisco area (San Jose) the last week of September and plan to visit the Redwood parks south of SF. Specifically, Butano, Castle Rock, Portola, and Big Basin Redwood State Parks and maybe the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve if time permits. Does anybody know of any particularly photogenic Redwoods in any of these parks and/or the best time to photograph them? I prefer photographing in the early morning if possible because I will be visiting with family in the afternoon and evenings. I will probably be bringing my Toyo Metal Field Camera with 4x5 back.

Namaste
Daniel

[Scott Davis]

Purisima Creek is a great location. I can't speak for the others, but I've been to PCOSP and while you're never completely alone, it's never BUSY either. I'd actually recommend it for afternoon/evening if you want to get a certain kind of light because it's in the fold of a mountain ridge carved out by a stream on the west face.

[Bill Burk]

Memorial Park up Pescadero Creek road has some nice redwoods in the campground proper and across the street from the entrance the Pomponio trail has some trees I wanted to take photos of...

[DolphinDan]

Scott and Bill,

Thanks for your suggestions. I considered Purisima Creek a fall back position and never heard of the Pescadero Creek park. I will check them out in September.

Namaste
Daniel

[drew.saunders]

Heritage Grove park and Sam Macdonald Park, which are near Memorial Park that's already mentioned (the three sort of blend together), are also worth looking into. Most of the redwoods on the peninsula were cut a century or so ago, but there are still some old growth ones.

Pardon the ugly URL's:
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/...tcurrchannel=1
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/...tcurrchannel=1

And all the San Mateo County parks: http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/parks/

If you're going to be on Pescadero road, go all the way to the little town of Pescadero and get some Ollalieberry pie at Duarte's.

[John Kasaian]

Felton has a huge preserve, plus a narrow gauge railroad!
http://www.roaringcamp.com/steamtrain

Let the train take you to the top of Bear Mountain and drop you off. After it leaves you'll be by your lonesome. You could catch a later train down or hike the fire road---ask at the ticket counter.
An interesting specimen is The Cathederal, and ancient long gone tree with near solid wall of redwoods constructed of it's "children"----suckers which sprang from the roots at the base of the "mother" tree. Standing in there and looking up is really something to experience!

[Bill Burk]

Ah yes John, I was thinking about The Cathedral too. DolphinDan, you'd probably like that group.

Just out of curiosity? Do the Giant Sequoia about 4-5 hours East of your home base appeal to you? You know, the 200 mile stretch of groves up and down the western slopes of the Sierra... Lots of options if you head out that way.

[John Kasaian]

Mariposa Grove is about 50 miles from my front door. In summer, get there early in the morning so you can drive in rather than taking the shuttle from the gate and leave by 9:00AM to avoid the crowds, or better yet wait until a winter high pressure sets in, make the short hike in and camp! Awesome!

[Vaughn]

There are no good coastal redwoods left south of Humboldt County.

Vaughn

[Bodyslam]

If you're going to be on Pescadero road, go all the way to the little town of Pescadero and get some Ollalieberry pie at Duarte's.

Plus one on Duarte's ollalieberry pie.