Near here is a state park with an interpretive natural history center. They have a photo from of a nearby intersection that always completely blows my mind.
The photo is from the very early 20th century, and the area at that time was original old growth forest. Huge trees everywhere in the photo, the road is just really a trail. It's a completely different landscape, and the only thing similar I've seen in person is maybe the redwood national park forests.
What's wild to me is the area is currently very rural. So there's forest in the area today, around that intersection. But it's still so different. The road now is so much bigger and the quality of the forest is so much different now — it just seems like succession forest by comparison.
The area was logged after the photo, which was the point of displaying it. But what's crazy is it's been 100 years and it still looks nowhere near the same.
The photo is from the very early 20th century, and the area at that time was original old growth forest. Huge trees everywhere in the photo, the road is just really a trail. It's a completely different landscape, and the only thing similar I've seen in person is maybe the redwood national park forests.
What's wild to me is the area is currently very rural. So there's forest in the area today, around that intersection. But it's still so different. The road now is so much bigger and the quality of the forest is so much different now — it just seems like succession forest by comparison.
The area was logged after the photo, which was the point of displaying it. But what's crazy is it's been 100 years and it still looks nowhere near the same.