The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-07-12
4 GLIMPSE
ut THE HEgRT
OF BOHEMIE
The Immortal Hush OF
the RodWoods
SCENE OF THE REvELs
A Picturesque Bit of Mature That
Is Worth Crossing the
Continent to
View
SCENE OF THE REvELS

To the lover of the wild and picturesque
in nature, a trip down the RUSSIAN hiVet
to "Bohemia'-the grove OF redWoods JUST
out from the old mill town OF Guerne-
ville-is we'll worth crossing continenS
TO see. This noble congregation OF conf
fers-Sequoia semperviren5-is altogether
the most magnificent forest accessible py
railroad from San Francisco, the trip there
and back being made in one day. with
three vast noon hours to wander at VIII IN
Goods first temples" The entire way
from Santa Rosa. distance OF Twenty-Five
miles, is one of unImagined beauty
broken hillchains set to orchard and vlne-
yard or left to natures unpruned forestry,
and canyon and vale between, green with
hop gardens or scented haycocks bulging
| to the sun.
A little beyond the town and the track
skirts a dizzy wall which overlooks
sweeping curve of river. The rails On
ahead make steely ribbons through the
tutted grass and blowing wild oats We
have left behind the dwellings of men,
but the house of an eagle is made out
high up on the topmost spire of splint-
cred pine-an GARY CARLOAD of fagots"-
near which, on bare limb, we discover
one of the nestings preening its feathers
in the sun. The ''chopped-out' district IS
now wholly passed. and we experience
the indescribable exhilaration that comes
with the sight of primeval woods. And
such WOODS, pine and fir, and, kingliest OF
all, the redwood, towering in unscathed
majesty. A mountain covered with these
giant conifers is inconceivabIv sublime,
and no words can depict tue solemn I'M
pressiveness of deep gorge filled with the
black, upright shafts. Never do l behold
tn csc matchless trees without an instinc-
tive stretching out of my arms in greeting.
The end of the track is the gateway to
Bohemia proper, the central group of red
woods belonging to a reserved tract OF
ten acres. 1t is the chosen grounds for the
annual inks of the Bohemian Club, and
from this fact derives its name. A grander
grove cannot be pictured. The columnar
: trees are maIshaled on a level depression
of glen, with a margin of precipitous
mountain sides. Glimpses Of these cir
cling walls, seen through the somber
: shade, are like the stained windows in
some splendid cathedrai-so rich and
varied is the coloring. One arched hill
space shows the twisted red of madrono
outlined on ground of vanished laurel.
e Another is rock face painted with
1 metallic oxides and yeined with white
quartz; then bank superbly noduled
with moss and hchsns, a briery patch
: sunburnished, stucco of wild flowers, and
, everywhere an exquisite tracery of poison
, oak-Rhus toxicodendron-on dark sur
j. face of bark.
/, The redwoods of Bohemia are not so
large as those of the Montgomery wood in
l., Mendocno, but they are colossal enough
e to inspire reyerent awe in the bebolder.
. The largest measures fifty feet in circum-
e ference, and, like all its fellows, the short,
1 bristIing limb do not begin for nearly a
hundred feet UP the bole. While our feet
!, pressed soundlessly on the russell leaf mats
we drank in the balsamic air like cor
1 dial, and for the time being shared the
s yigor and perennialness of these living
T towers.
(. Who shall put into words the penetrat-
ing hush and immortal tenderness of the
e redwoods, where nature seems ever at
$ prayer or too profoundly happy to break
e the stiffness save by the faint tinkle of
: water dropping over the smoothed round
e ness of stones or the soft stir of an occa-
e sional songless birdP The usual feathered
;. or furry creature shuns the perpetual twi-
: light of the redwoods, and if found there
: has no voice for greeting. Only enormous
e slugs make iridescent trails over the moist
b leaves uRderfoot.
s There were ferns of various species in
: the grove, but no flowers except faded
pink oxalis, which invariably grows under
e the sequoia. Where a streamlet loses it.
: self in reedy dip tiny lake is formed,
e its bosom floating variety of semi
aquatic vegetation. NINETTA EAMEs.