There were two elements of my recent road trip that I wanted my 12 year old to experience. One was the southern Oregon coast. My kiddo had been to the northern part of our state’s beautiful coast, but not south of Newport. We stayed in Gold Beach, Yachats, and Bay City, and spent several sunny hours enjoying the beach at Bandon. The other experience I wanted to share was a walk through an old growth redwood grove, which we managed to do at a place called the Stout Grove, just a bit southeast from Crescent City. (Shout out to my old friend EK for pointing us in that direction.)

The trees, of course, did not disappoint. We got to the old growth section early enough to find a good parking spot close to the Grove of Titans trail and spent about an hour walking around with our heads tilted skyward. Everyone we encountered was friendly and the weather was perfect, damp but not too cold. It is quite a feeling to walk amid trees that are more than a thousand years old.

Back home, reminiscing about the big, old trees, I picked up a book of Gary Snyder’s poetry and reread some of his poems that I love. He writes beautifully about nature in general, and the west coast of North America in particular, and I am always drawn to his work after getting back from some quality time in the outdoors. The picture below shows the final 2 stanzas of a 6 stanze poem of his called As For Poets.