Just outside of the quaint village of Aptos, CA, lies a serene oasis called the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. It is named after the matriarch of the Marks family from Salinas who donated the land to become a state park.
There are over 40 miles of well maintained hiking, jogging and biking trails, and fire roads meandering through 10,000 acres. Waiting to be discovered are second growth redwoods and oak groves in rugged semi-wilderness terrain, that rises from sea level to steep coastal mountains of more than 2,600 feet with panoramic views of the Monterey Bay from Sand Point Overlook.
Bill and I met a couple of mountain bikers at the lookout point who we passed along the way as we peddled to the top. One had only been riding a year and was absolutely loving the joy and freedom of cycling. The other, more experienced rider who had the same brand of riding gloves as mine was equally exuberant. Suddenly, he said: “Sir, do you mind me asking how old you are?” It’s rare that anybody calls me “sir," and my first instinct was to turn around and see who he was talking to:-). “I’m 70,” I responded smilingly. “Oh, great,” he added, “it gives me hope and inspiration,” for the future. Ironically, I have made the same sort of inquiry whenever I encounter someone ten years my senior still riding. As they say everything is relative.
Historically, almost all of the redwood forest we were in the midst of, was cut down during a 40-year logging boom from 1883 to 1923. When loggers departed the Aptos Creek Canyon, the forest began to heal itself from the scars of the past. The Forest of Nisene Marks is a monument to the miracle of forest regeneration.
On October 17, 1989, about a dozen miles below the Forest of Nisene Marks, the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta Earthquake tore through Aptos Creek Canyon snapping redwoods and Douglas fir tops like toothpicks, loosing sand and stone, sending violent and destructive tremors rippling across Northern California. It flattened downtown Santa Cruz and collapsed the Bay Bridge. Our swimming pool at our former home in Saratoga rocked up and down from side-to-side like the Tilt-a-wheel amusement ride of my New Jersey youth.
Though Bill and I enjoyed the thrill of rugged and varied terrain trails, not to mention some of the cleanest and coolest air in California, it was a challenging. At times I felt I was riding a bucking bronco, especially during the plunging descent.
When we got to the guard attended entrance parking lot, I invited Bill to check out the site of a 1,000-year old "Advocate Tree" that was uprooted during a storm in The Forest of Nisene Marks in January 2019. This majestic “old growth” landmark redwood once stood at over 260 feet and had a circumference of 45 feet. It had been around during the time of the Anasazi (“Ancient Ones”) cliff dwellers, believed to be the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians. It was alive when Genghis Khan ruled Mongolia, when Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, William Normandy invaded England, when the Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Americas. It was alive during the African Slave Trade, the Salem Witch Hunt Trials, and the American and Civil Wars.
Postscript: I first witnessed the fallen Advocate Tree shortly after the storm that caused its’ demise in 2019. I had climbed on top of the colossal toppled tree that had broken into several monumental section. See photo of me standing on top of its massive trunk and of our friend James Hunter standing along its’ length.
