The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
enjoyed Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
May 5, 2009
During the 1870's this area was set aside as a natural park by Colonel James B. Armstrong, an early-day lumberman who recognized the beauty and natural value of the forests. Rainfall here averages 55" per year.
sign - Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
sign - slow down and enjoy life
Located in the Russian River Region 75 miles north of San Francisco, this 805 acre park features a magnificent grove of ancient redwoods. Here you will see some of the oldest and tallest trees remaining in this part of California.
Below: The view from the picnic site of the two RV Gypsies
View from the picnic site of the two RV Gypsies
View from the picnic site of the two RV Gypsies
sign - of time and trees
sign about tree rings
sign about difficulties of Redwood trees
sign about San Francisco Earthquake
Poison Oak
beautiful sign
Lee Duquette walking by a felled tree
Lee Duquette walking by a felled tree
When a tree dies and leaves a decomposing stump, other trees sprout around it's base, sometimes creating a fairy ring - several mature trees growing in a perfect circle.
Below: Karen Duquette peeked through the tree trunk
do you see her ??
moss on the felled tree
Karen Duquette peaking thru a felled roots of a tree
sign- can u c the forest for the trees
Lee Duquette look up
Where the tree tops are exposed to drying winds and full sun, redwoods grow only an inch or so per year. In partial shade where they are protected from moisture loss, redwoods may grow two or three feet in a year under ideal conditions. The stems of young trees may increase in diameter by an inch or more each year, but this rate diminishes with age.
This moss covered tree looks like a baboon !
No, NOT Lee! Look behind him for the baboon-- LOLlaughing clipart dude.
moss covered tree
Lee on a pathway
FAMOUS REDWOOD TREES
The coast redwood is the world's tallest living thing. The tallest redwood is 381 feet high. The coast redwood is also one of the world's oldest living things - some survive for as long as 2,000 years. they grow naturally ONLY along a narrow coastal belt from southern Oregon to central California where the moderate climate combines with heavy winter rain and frequent summer fog.
sign - facts on Col. Armstrong tree
sign - facts on Col. Armstrong tree
Col. Armstrong tree
Col. Armstrong tree
Lee and the sign for the Parson Jones tree
Lee and the sign for the Parson Jones tree
Lee and the Parson Jones tree
Some trees look burned out on the inside - these are called goosepens (the early settlers kept their geese in them). When fire seeps through the forest, the duff and slash around the bases of the trees burns hotter and longer, thereby finding a week spot in the trunk and burning out the heartwood. The bark itself has tannins which insulates the redwood, especially further up the tree.
Icicle Tree sign
burs on the tree look like icicles
burs on the tree look like icicles
Lee reading the sign about the Icicle Tree
More big redwood trees
big redwood trees
big redwood trees
Below: Lee Duquette really had to bend his neck backwards to see the big Redwood tree.
lee and big redwood trees
Lee looking up at the tree
big redwood trees
big redwood trees and Lee Duquette
a small stream
a small stream
a small stream
big redwood trees
closeup of tree bark
closeup of tree bark
Karen Duquette
tree roots
Burls - a common growth on trunks and bases
Burls - a common growth on trunks and bases
Below; The knobby growths or burls on the sides of trees are places where the tree has budded over and over again in the same location. They are not harmful to the tree. The growth on the tree below looks like a side profile of a face.
Burls - a common growth on trunks and bases
Lee and a Burl
hazel nut sign
hazel nut leaves
Redwood Sorrell Sign
Redwood Sorrell
Redwood Sorrell  with water spots and a flower
a field of Redwood Sorrell
Redwood Sorrell  and big redwood trees
Below: Lee Duquette walked on a bridge that encourages people to feel the moss - so he did!
Lee walks on a bridge that encourages to feel the moss
Lee walks on a bridge that encourages to feel the moss
feeling the moss
the moss
Bracken Fern sign
dead trees return nutrients to the forest
Menu for the two RV Gypsies in California - April 2009

California photos are in 28 separate sections found below. Some sections may have more than one page so that the photos will upload faster. You may visit these sections in any order you choose. Each section will have this menu so that visitors do not have to keep returning here in order to continue the California adventures. There is also a link to Oregon at the very bottom of the California menu.

travel scenery
Mountain Lakes RV Park
Venice Beach
Big Bear Mountain (4 pages)
Palm Springs Tram (3 pages)
Karen's family photos

Kaweah Park Resort and a bobcat

Three Rivers and Lake Kaweah

driving scenery

Sequoia National Park

Kings Canyon
- big sequoia trees

Yosemite National Park

El Capitan

Bridalveil and Yosemite Falls

Indian Flat RV Park

The Golden Gate Bridge

Fisherman's Wharf /
Seals / Alcatraz

Armstrong Woods
State Preserve -
Giant Redwood Trees

Sonoma County driving tour / beaches

San Francisco
and cable car ride

The Living Roof
and Gardens

Chinatown

N. Petaluma KOA
and driving scenery

Bear Mountain RV Resort

Shasta Lake

Mt. Shasta

Shasta Dam

 

Sundial Bridge

 
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go to the next adventure of the two RV Gypsies AFTER you have enjoyed all of the above, please continue on to Oregon.

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