ENOUGH TREES FOR ME TO LAST A LIFETIME

A DAY OUT

TO

KLAMATH TREES OF MYSTERY
California, USA.

A Tale of Tall Trees & Other Stories

ENOUGH TREES FOR ME TO LAST A LIFETIME

With an early morning head start from Brookings, Oregon, with cautious, safe driving by Shawn, and navigation/coordination by Denise, brought us into the Klamath Trees of Mystery - a huge nature's collection of giant trees - that lies along the scenic Pacific coastline in the northernmost part of California, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Brookings in Oregon. The size of the redwood trees here is simply astonishing - some of the mightiest, graceful, weirdest, eerie trees that Edna and I will probably remember for the rest of our lives.

Tall tales as tall as the trees!

The legend of Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack in American folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions. His likeness is displayed in several statues across North America.

There is a gift store there at the attraction which is a model for other tourist attractions. Bucking the trend of souvenir standardization, it features many customized mementos, like gold-trimmed shot glasses commemorating Trees of Mystery's 50th anniversary. According to a historic display, the original Bunyan, constructed in 1946, lasted only one year. Paul's head, made of paper mache, melted in the winter rains and caved in.

As we drove through the Redwood Forest the 1944 song 'This land is your land was briefly brought back to life by Shawn singing a few bars while negotiating a sharp bend through the woods. This song was even popular in Bombay and Goa in the 1960s, when several artists of the new folk movement, including Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Trini Lopez, and a few others all recorded their own versions of this evergreen song as green as the trees themselves. Peter, Paul and Mary recorded the song in 1962 for their Moving album. The Seekers recorded the song for their 1965 album 'A World of Our Own'.' 

A token fee gets one started on a tour to delve into an enchanting, interesting and mind-boggling forest with paths that lead you into a world of massive trees of varied shapes to look up to (pun intended)! The path leading up to the top of the mountain eventually culminates into taking one of three options: 1. Skytrain to the extreme height to the apex, or (2) a walk back for the faint-hearted, or (3) a cozy golf-cart to take you back to the starting point.

With sincere thanks to my other 3 companions for their patience in putting up with yours sincerely trudging along behind or stopping at times to take a new breath of fresh and invigorating mountain air.

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Mysterious trees are familiar sites in the USA, and these trees are no exception. However, America's only Trees Of Mystery billed as such are in California, at the northern end of that state's Redwood Exploitation Zone, and prove that you need not be a magician to turn wood into gold.

Giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox guard the entrance of Trees of Mystery, as a mid-morning crowd pours off the coast highway to embrace freaky Redwood hoo-ha. Paul's right hand gives a continual sluggish wave as his breast-pocket loudspeaker greets all who enter in cheery lumberjack fashion. "Hiya, kids. Hi, folks."

Blue Babe
Most of Paul's banter involves describing the clothes that people at his feet are wearing, so they don't think he's a recording. "Hello, there...you're wearing a blue sweatshirt! And the lady next to you is wearing a green jacket!" He'll also answer your size questions (Paul is 49 ft. tall, has a 24 ft. long ax, and 10 ft. high boots).

A forest trail winds its way past Paul, up into a giant, hollow, redwood log, and then back to the actual mystery trees, the ones shaped like pretzels and DNA strandoids. "Entirely by the forces of nature," you are reminded. Recorded messages recite each mystery.

Baby Bunyan.
The trail takes you to the Cathedral Tree, a cluster of six redwoods growing out of a single root in a tight semicircle. Pompous music plays over hidden loudspeakers while Nelson Eddy croons Albert Joyce Kilmer's poem, "Trees."

"I think that I shall never seeeeee,
a po-em lovely as a treeeeeee...."

Signs inform appropriately awestruck visitors that countless weddings have been performed at this most beautiful of redwood spots.

The last section of the Trees Of Mystery recounts the exploits of tree-biter Bunyan, told through audiotaped "tall tales" and redwood chainsaw carvings. One can only wonder what Joyce Kilmer would've thought of it.