“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
John Muir
My first trip to the West Coast meant my first trip to a redwood forest (the words themselves are like poetry to me). I was staying in downtown San Francisco, and drove up and down the coast, in this case north through Sausalito to Muir Woods. It was odd to be on a wooden path in the woods, which reinforced the idea that there isn't much wild nature left ("Took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum"). But it was still incredible to see these huge trees, and be in a real redwood forest. Redwoods are fairly common along the northern California coast: driving through Big Sur, for example, you glide past plunging cliffs and through redwood groves; UCSC (Santa Cruz) is built right in a redwood forest (right now, there are plans to expand the campus, which would mean even less Nature, underscoring the need for vigilant environmentalism).
