Visiting a redwood forest, it’s tempting to focus on the bigness of everything. We crane our necks skyward to glimpse treetops hundreds of feet in the air. We’re awestruck by tree trunks so massive, it can take half a minute just to walk around one. We follow trails through forests so expansive, they seem to stretch on forever.
But redwood forests are so much more than just big.
Next time you’re in one, consider turning your attention to the small things. Squat down to glimpse the tiny mushrooms sprouting from a fallen log. Run your fingers along the soft feathery moss. Pause to catch the ethereal song of a hermit thrush. Take a moment to track a snail slowly snacking its way across the forest floor.
It’s a meditative act, really. Getting lost in the forest’s tapestry of wonder requires us to stop and observe. To listen as the natural world speaks. It’s like a page from a Magic Eye book—once you shift your focus away from the towering trees, a whole flourishing world swims into view.
Clockwise, from top: An ant’s-eye view of a saffron milkcap mushroom, which, though edible, does not actually taste like saffron; the California red-legged frog, the largest native frog in the state, is a threatened species largely because of habitat destruction; sorrel flowers herald the beginning of summer.
Photos by Shaunl/iStock; Debbie O’Grady; JGinSF/Flickr.
Clockwise, from top: A group of ladybugs, called a “loveliness,” gathers in winter; the red-breasted nuthatch has a nasal call that sounds a bit like a forest alarm clock; a fiddlehead fern lives up to its name.
Photos by Karl Gohl; Leslie Scopes Anderson; Mvarsanyi.
Clockwise, from top: Sunburst lichen gilds a boulder in the Sierra; if you like ferns, you’ll love Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park; the mighty western gray squirrel is larger—and grayer—than its eastern counterpart.
Photos by Save the Redwoods League; Spring Images/Alamy stock; Kate Pittman.
Clockwise, from top: A California giant salamander says hello; a calypso orchid—also known as a fairy slipper or Venus’s slipper—waits for a dance partner; oh the stories the bark of this ancient giant sequoia could tell.
Karl Gohl; Walter Siegmund/Wikipedia; JulNichols/iStock.
Clockwise, from top: Foliose lichen appears positively kale-like; coral fungus would look right at home in a tropical sea; the gills of a parrot mushroom.
Photos by William Sawalich/Shutterstock; flttrbyu; Tonatiuh Trejo-Cantwell.
Clockwise, from top: A dewy spiderweb fit for a Tiffany & Co. window display; a Pacific sideband snail meanders along the forested coast; don’t go searching for a four-leaf clover among the heart-shaped leaves of redwood sorrel.
Photos by Karl Gohl; ralf223/Flickr; Jon Parmentier.
