Curly Redwood: "Big Tree" seems to be one

[mdvaden]

Until I saw a website for the Curly Redwood Lodge in Crescent City some time ago, I was unfamiliar with what Curly Redwood was.

Last weekend, I saw the lodge for the first time from the outside, and wood like the support pillars were impeccably finished curly redwood - more is inside the units.

Anyhow, the next morning, after waking up at Prairie Creek redwoods, I got out of my trailer, which I parked in the secluded lot near "Big Tree", to take photos, have coffee and explore a bit.

One thing caught my eye, and that was a big chunk of a dead leader on the ground near Big Tree, apparently the massive leader that fell down some time previously. It was not just the dead chunk that caught my eye, but the wavy pattern showing on the wood, since all the bark had fallen off over the years.

Every other log I've seen in the redwood forest - missing bark - has straight, spiraled or slightly irregular surface, and this leader log was the first I've ever seen with this pattern.

Apparently, Big Tree is not just a rare Titan size redwood, but a Curly Redwood as well.



It's not just that one spot that has that pattern.

The wavy pattern runs the length of the large leader piece.

[beenthere]

Save it to your gallery here. Then we won't lose it over time.  That's the FF way...

It looks curly, for sure.

[mdvaden]

Save it to your gallery here. Then we won't lose it over time.  That's the FF way...

It looks curly, for sure.

Gallery's 40 some-odd Kilobyte limit did not accept that small 100 KB file.  ;D

Tried yesterday - I'll check the optimizer.

[beenthere]

Good on ya....that curly redwood pic is lookin right good in your gallery.... 8) 8)
Amazing how small the files can be and still show a good picture. 

[Burlkraft]

I've had some chunks of redwood like that and they are beeeutiful fer sure  ;) ;) ;)

[SwampDonkey]

That's very interesting grain. I sometimes would see curly in old hemlock dead wood on the west coast. But, hemlock spoils and rots pretty quick compared to cedar and cypress. Old lodge pole pine will have dimbles, kind of like birds eye and a lot of spiral grain. That slow growing stuff seems to be hard, but I think it's tight rings with heavy spiral that causes it. An axe will bounce right off.

[Dodgy Loner]

SD, it sounds like you're using the wrong side of the axe ;D

[SwampDonkey]

Wasn't fun trying to clear a pad for a chopper in those old pine swamps. Boing boing, bounce right off about every other crack. Could'a been a  little dull, but we carried files with us. On the one fly camp I did, we carried a chain saw to clear a pad. Stuff was slung in with a chopper and nets with release hook. Impossible to clear it with an axe. I suppose there could be better axes.