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Beautiful Moss Photos – Fern Canyon – Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

by Karen Nierlich

 

Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks

If you love Yosemite, you’ll love this picturesque but less visited redwood park. I consider it a well kept secret that I’m sharing with you, but don’t tell your friends. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is at the far north border of California; just north of Eureka & Arcata and south of the Cali-Oregon border.

Fern Canyon is the main attraction here. The mouth of the canyon is right at the beach and stretches back far inland. It stays wet year around with moisture that rolls in from the ocean, but the best time to visit Fern Canyon is Spring when the walls are typically super lush with moss and ferns. These photos were taken a little before Spring; in February of a drought year. The rangers confirmed it was drier than usual in February 2015.

 

Fern_Canyon_Alter

Fern_Canyon_Hat

 

Fern_Water_Fall

Fern_Canyon_Mouth

 

This area definitely has primordial forest written all over it. I found some sources that said the Jurassic park movies were filmed here in and around Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and Fern Canyon. However, websites that cover movie locations say all the forest scenes in Jurassic Park were filmed in Hawaii for all the movies.

Let’s just leave it with Jurassic Park COULD have been filmed here.

Little Mosses Growing by The Parking Lot

by Karen Nierlich

I woke up this morning thinking about how sometimes I like to include cars, sewers, chain link fences and other made things in my photos. I guess I think of it as true to the real status of nature as barely co-existing or at the mercy of our human encroachment.

Mossy Trees
Mossy Trees by Muir Woods Parking Lot

 

I took a series of pictures last year at Muir Woods last Spring. I found it kind of ironic and slightly humorous that I discovered a collection of dancing moss trees over a creek by the parking lot at Muir Wood.  Though I hike and walk quite a lot, one of the mossiest sites I found was practically in a parking lot.

Mossy Trees Muir Woods
Mossy Trees Muir Woods by Parking Lot
Karen Nierlich Moss Enthusiast
Moss Enthusiast Karen Nierlich

Karen Nierlich is the author of www.iheartmoss.com a blog about moss and art, craft & decor. Heading out tomorrow at 6 am to the mountains near Tahoe to commune with my extended family and nature. I’ll have a camera in hand loaned to me by a friend, Francesco. I’m particularly grateful for the camera, as the one I had stopped working when I dropped it. Opps.

You are invited to follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/AlmostEvrything. Stayed Tuned for more photos from Muir Woods.

In the Beginning…There was Moss

by Karen Nierlich

There are innumerable cool facts about moss.

Moss Facts 1. Moss was the first plant on earth. Algae adapted to life on earth…evolving into lichen, liverworts and moss.

2. Mosses live all over the world. There are over 10,000 species of moss worldwide.

3. Mosses tend to grow in moist places, but some species are drought tolerant and cold tolerant.

4. Mosses don’t have roots.
5. Mosses are anchored to earth, rock, trees by rhizoids which look like tiny roots. The rhizoids are a thread like structure but don’t absorb water or nutrients.
tilden186. Mosses get their nutrients from rainwater, dew, fog and sunlight. They may get nutrients from the top layer of soil, if they are touching it.

7. Mosses don’t produce pollen, seeds or flowers. They reproduce via spores.

8. Mosses grow in a wider range of light exposures than other plants, from bright to dark.
9. Mosses have been used over the centuries as pillow stuffing, wound dressing and diapers. It is not used as a human food to the best of my knowledge.
10. Mosses collectively provide more carbon offset than all the trees in the world.

 

Nature LoverKaren Nierlich is the author of the book Moss and Lichen and takes photos around the San Francisco Bay Area.

She also curates a collection of forest-inspired jewelry and gifts for nature lovers at shop.iheartmoss.com.

Moss in the City II

by Karen Nierlich

This image is the most popular of the Moss in the City photos. You are seeing a small metal cover 5-6 inches across on a driveway on Masonic at Brighton in Albany, CA.

Moss in the City

This photo reminds me of the abstract paintings of Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies. I lived in Barcelona, Spain when I was 20 (1985) and Tàpies’s work was very popular. He creates elegant, enthralling compositions inspired by graffiti and the city.