White Christmas in the redwoods
Looking for a different way to celebrate a white Christmas? Why not take a hike to the albino redwoods in southern Humboldt County, including one shaped like the familiar living room yuletide tree.
Six of the rare forest ghosts live in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Two are a short walk from the Avenue of the Giants, a 30-mile stretch of old Highway 101 that cuts through Humboldt Redwoods State Park, home to the largest remaining stand of virgin redwoods in the world.
One, the 30-foot-high Christmas Tree, is located in the Women’s Federation Grove, a few miles north of the town of Weott. The other, the 20-foot tall Spirit Tree, sprouts from the base of a giant redwood in a redwood grove about three miles north of the town of Redcrest.
Like albino animals, albino redwoods do not have pigmentation, which means their needles are white rather than green. Fewer than two dozen albino redwoods are known to exist. No other conifers are thought to have this mutation.
As they lack chlorophyll, the green substance that allows plants to convert sunlight into food, the ghost redwoods tap into the roots of nearby regular redwoods for sustenance.
While rare, the trees have been recorded in Native American legends. The Pomo Indians, for example, used them for cleansing ceremonies, according to one historian.
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