The big trees

The National Park Series; The Sounds Of Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks; Randy Petersen, composer

In the spirit of optimism brought about by the arrival of a new year, I preemptively present to you a CD, given to me just a few days ago as a Christmas gift, which at this time doesn’t conjure up a hands-on memory. But I hope that it will some day. I would love to go to the west coast to see the redwood forest, the sequoias, those gentle giant trees of the Pacific Northwest.

Eric S. was the first person I knew who had a high-definition TV. One time when I was dog-sitting for him (He has a dog named Chicken.), I sat with my eyes glued to his HD giant flat-screen TV watching the programming on two of his cable stations called HDTV1 and HDTV2. They aired programs designed to show off the clarity of the high-definition TVs. One such show called “Adventures In Wild California” featured the feats of a super-star botanist named Stephen Sillett whose mission involved climbing to the top of these sequoias in Sequoia National Park to inspect and research the old growth forest canopies. After ascending one giant tree using rock climbing techniques, he accesses adjacent sequoias using a Tyrolean traverse, essentially zip-lining from one tree to another.

During the taping of this show, he discovered that something had hollowed out the uppermost one hundred fifteen feet of one of the adjacent two hundred fifty foot high sequoias. Can you imagine? A cave in a tree – in the sky! Well, of course, Dr. Sillett climbed inside. And so did the IMAX cameraman that had come along. After reaching the bottom of the hollowed out portion, they emerged about seven hours later with stories to tell, film footage to thrill and some tree samples from deep inside a living tree, the research of which could someday protect the environment – two hundred fifty up.

How about that? I was wrong. I DO have a memory for that CD, and I haven’t even visited the park yet.

Credits: To the people who invented HD technology. I know it’s an energy drain and so I will watch sparingly. But TV has never looked so AWESOME!