Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is at the top of California. I asked a ranger to tell me where I could find the tallest
redwood in all the land.
“Well, I can’t tell
you where that tree is,” he said, with a hint of sarcasm and annoyance. He pulled out a visitor guide and circled
three or four places on the map with a green highlighter pen.
“Go to Lady Bird
Johnson Grove,” he said. “That’s where you’ll see a lot of big trees.”
“Where is the
tallest tree in that forest?” I asked.
“We don’t mark that
tree anymore,” he said. “The root structure is exposed from so many people
trampling on it. But you don’t have to search too hard. You’ll find it.”
Of course, I took
it as a personal challenge to find the massive redwood that I called the
Big Kahuna.
It was five at
night by the time I drove up the narrow Bald Hills Road to find the Big Kahuna.
It was a steep ascent to Lady Bird Johnson Grove, which rests near the top of a
ridge, more than one thousand feet above sea level. As I neared the top, fog
and a heavy drizzle hung in the air. The sun had long since given up the ghost.
It was fifty-four degrees.
I began walking the one-mile loop in the old-growth
redwood forest while the mist was hanging mid-air. The pink-flowered
rhododendron and fern-lined trail through the forest began to open up. The
trees were getting bigger and taller.
I heard the whistle
note of the Marbled Murrelet coming from a high branch along the canopy of the
redwood forest. I felt the mulch below my feet and smelled the musky scent of Earth.
I stopped in front
of a massive tree trunk and marveled at its width. It must have been at least
twenty-five feet around. When I looked up, I could see the lowest branch, about
two hundred feet in the air. The tree seemed taller than a football field.
Blocking my path to
inspect the trunk was another massive branch. Clearly, someone had placed this
obstacle in front of the tree for a reason. When I inspected this tree from
trunk to branch, there was no doubt in my mind. I had found the Big Kahuna.
I clutched my heart
at the sight of it.
What I did next was
exactly the same as every other idiot the park ranger warned me about. I
trampled on the roots of the tree to make my way to the trunk.
“Hello,” I said to
the Big Kahuna.
I placed both my
hands firmly on its fibrous bark, holding on to the tree much like I do the
shoulders of my own children after I greet them. Then I turned my face and
placed my cheek on its trunk and embraced it.
I stayed in that
position for a long time and felt the energy of this massive sentinel melding
with my own life force.
“What would you
have me know?” I asked the tree.
I could feel the
top of the tree swaying and heard it creaking. A deep tranquility emanated from
its presence. This 2,000-year-old sentry was the embodiment of deep time. It
held the past, present, and future all at once.
“Remain neutral,”
the tree said to me.
I leaned my body
flat against the tree until there was no space left between me and the Big
Kahuna. This intimate bonding sent a shiver through my body as I felt the root
structure connect to Earth’s bedrock and then head straight up to the canopy
and beyond that, into the heavens.
“Feel what it means
to be alive.”
I understood the
elder. We get so caught up in rushing through life, that we forget to feel what
it means to be alive—that we are here to experience life right now, not later.
I wanted to stay
there longer, absorbing the Big Kahuna’s wisdom. But the truth is I was scared.
I wasn’t strong enough to continue. The thin veil between reality and fantasy
had been lifted, and for a few moments, I was on the other side.
Once I recognized
that I had crossed the line, I removed my hands from the tree. Small red fibers
stuck to my fingers. I quickly took two steps back away from the trunk and
looked up. My neck stretched so far that my back arched. I looked like a
reverse question mark.
Even though I was
scared, I didn’t run away. Instead, I took one last moment to straighten my
spine and mouthed two words. I gently touched the tree with one hand as I said
this.
“Thank you.”
