Tiny Forest Amongst Giant Redwoods
Look down and look close while walking among giants
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In Northern California, not far from the Oregon border, close to the Pacific Ocean, you can find the tallest trees on earth. Coastal Redwoods soar in excess of 200 ft (61 m). The tallest trees on earth are in this area, the tallest being 381 ft (116 m). We have been to the Redwoods many times to walk among these giants. In early December we returned to marvel at the rain forest of Northwest California and Southwest Oregon.
On several of our walks I had my camera handy, and when I reached for my lens to start capturing images, I reached for my 105mm Macro lens, not the wide angle lens that would have captured a wide view of the trees. Nope, I reached for my macro lens because my eyes were drawn to the ground. Oh sure, I looked around at the 20 ft (6 m) diameter tree trunks with trees soaring to the sky. But I didn’t take a single picture of the trees.
I spent hours photographing the plethora of mushrooms found on the forest floor, and on downed trees, and on tree stumps. The variety was amazing. On one day in Southwest Oregon we found the largest mushroom I had ever seen.
The cap on this mushroom was easily 18 inches (50 cm) in diameter. It was massive growing under a fern. The next day, in northwest California, we found the smallest mushroom I had ever seen.
No, not the tall yellow mushroom. Look close at the small white mushroom in front of the stem of the tall one, and also notice the small white dots to the right of the yellow stalk of the taller mushroom. These small white mushrooms were tiny.
This is a close up of the one that was in front of the mushroom stalk on the image above. This mushroom was no bigger than a push pin, it was tiny, perhaps 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) tall and the cap about 1/8 inch (3 mm) in diameter. And there were several on this tiny spot of rotting wood.
The variety we found, and the location where we found them was endless. We would walk for 10 to 15 minutes and not see a single mushroom. Then the next bend in the trail would reveal a small forest with many varieties all within a few feet (meters) of each other.
I could go on about how incredible mushrooms are, but I’m sure that would bore you to tears. I did learn that fungi are genetically more closely related to animals than to plants. I thought about that for a second and realized that both fungi, and animals get their energy not from the sun but from digesting other organic organisms. If you want to learn more about mushrooms, see here, and here, or here.
Did I eat any? Nope, I know far too little about mushrooms and have read far too many stories about people that thought they knew mushrooms and ended up dead because they were wrong. If you collect and eat wild mushrooms, know for certain what you are doing. These little guys (and gals) are not to be trifled with, as opposed to truffled with (That would probably taste pretty good).
If you have any comments, questions, criticism, or something you’d like to share about this area, mushrooms, or anything related to this post, please leave a comment. If you enjoyed what you read, hit that like button at the bottom, it means a lot.
Amazing photos!