Purisima Creek Redwoods, California Poster

This photograph is from Purisima Creek Redwoods, this time of Purisima Creek itself. This setting is near the western entrance of the park, where the woods flatten out after a long, steep descent through alternating scenes of redwood forests and coastal chaparral. While it is significantly more vigourous in the rainy season, Purisima Creek is nice in that it flows year-round — a trait most creeks in California's Santa Cruz Mountains lack. I can't help but imagine this place in a wilder time. I like to think it was a favourite haunt of local mountain lions (maybe it still is – mountain lion sightings have been reported on this very trail). Perhaps they know this set of leaning trees as the sign that the ascent up the mountain is beginning (or ending), pause for a sip of water, maybe scratch their head on the horizontal trunk, before continuing the trek to their favourite hunting grounds.