In 1997, I took a trip down the coast, and along the way, I stopped in "Trees Of Mystery", one of those great places you can stop at when driving along Highway 101.

I REALLY like visiting roadside attractions like that...   there's just something about a "destination along the way" that makes the trip that much more fun!
 

The parking lot is overshadowed by Paul Bunion and Babe the Blue Ox... you can see the people on the left of the picture... they're pretty BIG!  
 

 
The entrance is through the stump of a big Redwood that fell what looked to be MANY years ago...

One of the attractions in the park is the "Cathedral" tree.  This tree formation forms naturally... a tree once stood in the middle of the half-circle of trees, and provided protection and support for the trees as they grew.  It eventually died, and rotted away, leaving behind this very distinctive shape.

The sign said that a lot of weddings were performed here...  
 

 
OK... THIS is an old tree.

The sign in the middle says "Crusades!"

Not far from the old tree is another VERY old tree, that's still standing... some 2000 years old, it is both one of the oldest and one of the largest living things on the planet!

It was alive when Jesus walked on the earth...

 
This is an extreme example of a "Nurse Log".

Sometimes, when trees fall over, they become a perfect source of nutrients for smaller trees... this one has more than a dozen trees growing out it!

I lived in Oregon when I visited, and I'd seen big, old trees before... but the park also has a lot of sculptures and other artwork (which for some reason I didn't take a picture of, it seems), and there were a lot of interesting and somewhat odd trees scattered around the park.

I had a good time there... and I'll be back, I'm sure of it.
 

Page added in 2008

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