Left ami ri^ht: Nature as a master stonemason the 

 Devil's Postpile in California These amazing structures 

 are formed of basaltic rock or volcanic lavas ten to thirty 

 inches in diameter and up to sixty feet tall and are mostly 

 irregular hexaiions. Such columnar strata are also found 

 in northern Ireland and in India 



southern China. The sequoias are themselves a very ancient 

 breed that were once widely spread over almost all the world. 

 Today there are only nine kinds of trees of this family left. Of 

 these, there are three species of one genus confined to the moun- 

 tains of the island of Tasmania (Athrotaxis). one of another kind 

 (Cunninghamia) in China, and another on Formosa. Four Meta- 

 sequoia and five other kinds, of whidi there are only one known 

 species each, come from eastern Asia. The last two genera are 

 American; one comprising the two sequoias and the other the 

 three Taxodium. called "bald cypresses" or (quite erroneously) 

 simply "cypresses." 



THE LAND OF THE GIANTS 



Along this strip where there is much rain throughout the fall, 

 winter, and spring, and where thick, warm mists roll in almost 

 daily from the sea. there grow on the west slopes of the moun- 

 tains and in the valley bottoms vast stands of these redwoods. 

 their enormous boles often almost touching. Beneath them is a 

 moist mass of ferns and small shrubs, with here and there a 

 sapling squatting full and green just as if it were in full sun- 

 light, though there is none: instead, there is always a filtered 

 green shade, for the heads of the great trees form a porous 

 canopy a hundred feet above. Perhaps the most amazing thing 

 about these groves of huge trees is the closeness of their boles. 

 How they all obtain enough nutriment from the ground is 

 beyond understanding, but there they stand and have stood for 

 centuries, so close that one often cannot maneuver a jeep between 

 them. Another odd thing is the number of double trunks, or 

 "sdioolmarms" as they are called, among them; there are groves 

 where more than half the trees are twins. And there is still 

 another odd thing to be seen here, though it becomes even more 

 pronounced in the spruce-hemlock forests to the north. This 

 consists of all manner of trees, from tiny seedlings to monsters, 

 that grow on the stumps of dead trees that have fallen or been 

 cut down. These are no respecters of persons, one species growing 

 on another and vice versa, as well as on their own kind. What 

 is more, there are often far more trees growing on trees than 

 there are young trees growing in soil, and it seems that they 

 derive special nutrient from the stumps. Often these stumps rot 

 away entirely and the saprophyte is left standing on its own but 

 with two or more "feet" that once straddled the stump or log 

 on whidi it first sprouted from its seed. 



Though grassfields and park conditions ring the whole of the 

 lower Sacramento valley on the foothills leading to the sur- 

 rounding mountains — the southern Sierra Nevada, the Southern 

 Califomian Blodc. and the coastal ranges — the south-central 

 portion of that valley is an arid waste, mostly bare but in some 

 places dotted with tiny clumps of sages and other desert scrub. 

 Here we enter the Northern Scrub Belt and the entire scene 

 changes. 



This country will be described later, but now we must turn 

 left or inland and start to climb the mighty Sierra Nevada, 

 which, like almost every other mountain range, is unique in 

 many respects, particularly because it is so isolated and thus 



insulated. These mountains stand like a five-hundred-mile-long 

 island in a sea of desiccated grass, scrub, and desert, rising 

 majestically and abruptly all around to forest-clad heights and 

 towering peaks. 



In them are vast gorges, canyons, and seemingly bottomless 

 chasms. Between the ribs of this range are flying valleys, lakes, 

 and wind-blown pastures, and clothing its slopes are some of 

 the greatest forests in the world. Mudi of it is still today 

 inaccessible, but it contains three great natural wonders — the 

 Yosemite Valley, King's Canyon, and, above all, the groves of 

 the giant sequoia trees. King's Canyon has a depth of eight 

 thousand feet— the greatest depth of any stream-cut chasm in the 

 surface of this continent. This canyon is overpowering, the 

 Yosemite is incredible, but the great trees — the giant sequoias — 

 are breath-taking. 



To me there is nothing on earth so grand as a large tree. It 

 has the qualities of life, death, and the intermediate which we 

 call time. Personally. I always have a desire to "talk " to an 

 ancient tree, and I have the uncontrollable feeling when in the 

 presence of one that if I did so it would understand. This is not 

 of science: it is of the spirit, and may well be considered out 

 of place. Nonetheless, unless you are completely insensible you 

 cannot fail to feel something similar when you first stand before 

 the great and ancient sequoias. 



If you are lucky, you come upon these rather suddenly, for 

 they dwell together in groves amid other towering conifers in 

 only a few places and only on this mountain range, and only 



143 



