Redwoods

Redwood Trees

I love the redwoods! Camp had a lot of redwoods and a couple of groves, one of the best small groves was just to the right of the road coming up to camp from the river. There was a couple of old stumps that would have made decent cabin foundations, each surrounded by a fairy ring of smaller trees. They say redwoods never really die as their root system can spring back up with lots of sprouts. Many of the trees cut with springboards had enough energy to sprout a ring of 10-20 trees around the periphery. These would grow to become large trees in there own right and, as the old stump didn’t decompose, the stump formed a platform you could walk around inside. A couple of people have build literal “treehouses” from these formations. One house I visited later in life used this feature to hold their water tank

There were also many large trees along the Hendy Woods trails—Edna had a favorite along the road, three trees fused together well over 200 feet tall and each tree about 3-4 feet in diameter. I have a nice picture in my mind of this walk. Redwood were also iconic of the area and the valley-so many trees were logged and hauled off but maybe because of the Anderson’s valley isolation, a few more were saved in both public and private lands.

Buildings at camp were mostly redwood—the dining hall was an amazing building built by a true craftsman of the time. The two-story building was set on a fairy step hillside overlooking the pasture below. The top floor—level with the main camp area—was large enough to set 120 people at long redwood tables. Each table made from three-inch thick planks, who knows how wide. The ceiling was an intricate intertwining weaving of wood to make the roof of the vaulted ceiling--King post trusses holding up the span of 35 or so feet. At the end was a river-rock fireplace, rarely used in summers. The bottom floor, reached by a stairs to the side, was the canteen. The canteen was the home of music, camper council, and had a couple of feature—beautiful fireplace, an ld bar with a great hunter-horse with the title, First Over the Bar” which took me a few years to understand, and little cubbies where the former resort tenants could keep their bottle. Casement windows opened to a patio overlooking a rail fence and the trail to the campfire circle.

I was a memory of Nancy sitting on or near the piano, arguing about the six-inch rule, or something akin, during a camper council.

The cabins were mostly redwood as well—well-worn cabins with red roll roofs, front porches and stairs that invited cabin group to sit out front. Different building had a different character. Some were single cabins holding small group whereas some were longer and larger. They formed a ring half way around the quad. The dining hall, the story-telling tree (California Live oak) and the swimming pool forming the other side.

Along the entrance into camp was one of the best building, the Maintenance shed—my favorite handout as an older camper as well and as a staff member. Great old building, concrete fool, wooden door latch well worn with year of hands.

And here's another of my current camp pictures--modeling the emergency poncho.