Why you should skip seeing Hyperion, the tallest tree in the world
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Glance to the south from the Redwood Creek Overlook and know that Hyperion is somewhere out there.Ashley Harrell
“Here it is. That’s it,” my guide says about the world’s tallest tree.
You would think that a towering 380-foot coast redwood named Hyperion would need no introduction, but here’s the thing: the tree perches in a dense, primordial forest deep within Redwood National Park. There are soaring redwoods all around it, so it’s impossible to tell from the ground which tree is the tallest.
The forest is a therapist: A thing to try in nature for a better 2021
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Forest bathing involves taking in your surroundings through all of the senses.The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty ImShow MoreShow Less
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Forest bathing guide Justin Legge helps people slow down and appreciate nature in a new way.Ashley HarrellShow MoreShow Less
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When naturalist Justin Legge was a young boy growing up in Ashland, Ore., there was an oak tree in his front yard that he used to climb. Even now, at 32, he can remember exactly the way the ants smelled when he squished them against the tree.
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This morning we’ll be sharing our compendium of some of the best California writing of 2020.
California contains multitudes. This is a state of 40 million people a place so big that there have been
at least 220 recorded attempts to break it up. Which is all to say that even a hundred stories couldn’t capture the entirety of the California experience during this historic year.
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But these were 30 of our favorite stories published in 2020, from The Times and beyond.
Together, they’ll take you up and down the coast, into the desert and through the Central Valley. There are narratives, investigations, news stories, essays and personal histories. You’ll meet nurses, linebackers, strawberry growers, a Qatari sheikh, a homeless 7-year-old, an iconoclastic federal judge and a devoted mail carrier, to name a few.
From skunks to peacocks: The Bay Area animal stories that cheered us up this year
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From sheep to raccoons, animals kept us entertained with their antics this year.Blair Heagerty / SFGATE
2020 was a weird year. Even the animals agree. It started with a flood of nature is healing, we are the virus memes after some bogus news about dolphins returning to Venice canals went viral, and ended with . COVID-infected zombie mink rising from mass graves in Denmark? Yikes.
But it was the antics of birds, bears and raccoons that brought us comfort, laughter and amazement in this wild year. Because even when the world is falling apart, a cute cat video is just what the doctor ordered.
Editor:
Your Dec. 10 issue included four articles that I enjoyed. Ashley Harrell s cover story, The Last Howlers, gave me hope because Shelby and Alexis Wickizer are vocally keeping alive when the nightly hubbubs . . . have largely faded out community support for folks in many front-line occupations dealing with COVID. Linda Stansberry s autobiographical piece, Please Don t Cry in the Big Girl s Store, touched my heart, as her stellar style covered the important personal ground of fear vs. self-acceptance we bring from our childhoods. Rod Kausen s succinct The Death of Leo Gallagher brought to life a tragic event from 1928. Coach Kausen aptly described the impact of Gallagher s death on the Fortuna community and high school sports, and provided a perspective on local history for newcomers (I ve lived in Humboldt County for only 43 years) like myself. Rain and Steelhead Both on the Horizon, well, it shows why even non-anglers regularly read Kenny Priest s column