" It was not a bear. Having shot and wounded one, Augustus T. Dowd was tracking the beast and surveying the forest at ground level. But the objects in front of him disoriented him – defied his normal vision. Only when he tipped his head back, and then more, and then a little more did he begin to comprehend the sheer magnitude of what he saw. For a moment he felt as if he were dreaming: The world was confusedly out of scale, and he had, without warning, shrunk to insect-like insignificance. Awestruck, Dowd hurried back to camp to tell his companions about his extraordinary discovery." Dowd’s story, SEQUOIA, Smithsonian Books
It was in the spring of 1852, Calaveras Grove, Sierra Nevada.
What had overwhelmed Dowd were Sierra redwoods (subsequently referred to as “Big Trees” or Sequoias) conifers that grow more than 300 feet high, 30 feet in diameter, and millennium-old.
They flourished only in small groves in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.
Today, thanks to the efforts by the early conservationists and the establishment of National Parks, we can easily go into the forests, leisurely stroll through these giant sequoia groves and appreciate the magnificent scale of nature's creation.
Being "dwarfed" ( or even “shrunk” to insect-like insignificance, as depicted in the "Dowd’s story"; or "minimized" to "寄蜉蝣於天地, 哀吾生之須臾", said 蘇軾 in his "前赤壁賦" ) by the Earth’s most massive, long-lived ancient trees, we were filled with wonder, astonishment and delight.
Yeh Tze
Such an awesome God's creation! Beautiful trees all around you. A good way to educate old & young children alike to admire natural beauty of its own. /LT
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