Just down the hill, very close to the house where I reside, is the beginning of the redwood forest that stretches throughout Mill Creek's lower altitudes.
Looking up into the tops of some redwoods on the way to the creek below the ranch house, I can see the clean blue sky of Big Sur above me, and smell the scent of leaf and branch.
The deep shade of the redwoods and their refreshing smell are inspiring and fill me with a feeling of my own small size.
The simple feeling that being in these woods can bring makes me feel a serenity that is very precious.
Inside the grove are small areas which resemble rooms, the perfect atmosphere for contemplation and meditation.
Further down the hill are the true giants, along with incredible views of cliffs and deep canyons above the rushing waters of Mill Creek.
At this altitude, high in the canyon, the hills are not so steep.
Closer to the creek, the incline of the slope increases to a sharp angle that makes it difficult to keep from sliding unless on an established trail.
In the heat of summer, it is good to find the shady places, since temperatures can get very high.
At the bottom of the hill, Mill Creek joins with its tributaries, one by one, to form what will later become a substantial flow of water reaching the sea at the small picnic area.
Large rocks form pools that are home to tiny populations of trout, frogs, and small amphibians such as salamanders.
These pools serve as stopovers for birds and all forms of wildlife.
Deer in abundance, and predators as well, find these pools a source of delight.
The south slope of the canyon is much warmer and steeper than the north slope, and so the vegetation going uphill from the creek is scrub size, to adapt to the harsher conditions.
The redwood forest covers the whole bottom of the canyon, with a lot of trees of very great age.
Many show the scars of fires or are in small clumps where they were cut by loggers in the early twentieth century for the sawmill that operated in the north fork of the creek.
At that time, there were a large number of people living in the creek to work in the mill or try their hand at homesteading.
Trees were cut, and either milled on site, or sent by flume down the creek to be shipped out to far away locations.
All traces of human activity from that time have been eliminated by the Chalk Fire of 2009, and the fire burned so hot that close to the creek a lot of areas are clear enough to hark back to the way things were one hundred years ago, or more.
Looking up into the tops of some redwoods on the way to the creek below the ranch house, I can see the clean blue sky of Big Sur above me, and smell the scent of leaf and branch.
The deep shade of the redwoods and their refreshing smell are inspiring and fill me with a feeling of my own small size.
The simple feeling that being in these woods can bring makes me feel a serenity that is very precious.
Inside the grove are small areas which resemble rooms, the perfect atmosphere for contemplation and meditation.
Further down the hill are the true giants, along with incredible views of cliffs and deep canyons above the rushing waters of Mill Creek.
At this altitude, high in the canyon, the hills are not so steep.
Closer to the creek, the incline of the slope increases to a sharp angle that makes it difficult to keep from sliding unless on an established trail.
In the heat of summer, it is good to find the shady places, since temperatures can get very high.
At the bottom of the hill, Mill Creek joins with its tributaries, one by one, to form what will later become a substantial flow of water reaching the sea at the small picnic area.
Large rocks form pools that are home to tiny populations of trout, frogs, and small amphibians such as salamanders.
These pools serve as stopovers for birds and all forms of wildlife.
Deer in abundance, and predators as well, find these pools a source of delight.
The south slope of the canyon is much warmer and steeper than the north slope, and so the vegetation going uphill from the creek is scrub size, to adapt to the harsher conditions.
The redwood forest covers the whole bottom of the canyon, with a lot of trees of very great age.
Many show the scars of fires or are in small clumps where they were cut by loggers in the early twentieth century for the sawmill that operated in the north fork of the creek.
At that time, there were a large number of people living in the creek to work in the mill or try their hand at homesteading.
Trees were cut, and either milled on site, or sent by flume down the creek to be shipped out to far away locations.
All traces of human activity from that time have been eliminated by the Chalk Fire of 2009, and the fire burned so hot that close to the creek a lot of areas are clear enough to hark back to the way things were one hundred years ago, or more.
Source...