Some things don't change in CA

I started this blog with the comment that CA has changed so dramatically over the course of it's relatively short history and that even dramatic changes are evident within two generations of my family. Rather than focus on what has changed about CA, I'd like to highlight something in CA that has not changed for 5-6 generations.

In the latest issue of Bay Nature, a great local magazine (and website) dedicated to, "Exploring, celebrating, and understanding the natural world of the San Francisco Bay Area", they highlight one of the largest and oldest Blue Oaks in CA. This amazing 400 year old tree (pictured above) is located within the Ohlone Regional Wilderness, located near the South East corner of the East Bay near Sunol, CA.

Just think about that, 400 years old, puts the tree just springing up out of the soil around 1609. I'm no historical scholar but I believe that Spanish explorers were just beginning to ply the waters off the CA coast and only up to Monterey at this time. So this tree was really only surrounded by its natural environment and any human contact would have been with the indigenous CA Native Americans of the area for the first half of it's life.

Pretty amazing what this tree has been through, humans, animals, disease, development and just about anything that mother nature could throw its way. Its good to know there are some things within CA that are greater than US and they can withstand the pressures our modern societies place on them. Fine examples of both natural selection and our East Bay Regional Park system at work.

Here are a few pics from my first hike with my Daughter this past Spring in the Sunol Regional Park not too far from where this tree is located. I highly recommend a Spring time hike through this area - simply amazing - you feel like you have stepped back 400 years.