Redwood Soundwalk

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.comThis soundwalk concludes a short series from the Redwood Coast of Northern California, including the Substack-only Fern Canyon Soundwalk, as well as Grove of the Titans Soundwalk and Preston Island Soundwalk.Brown Creek Trail was the clear winner on the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park trail map for soundwalkin’. It runs parallel to the busy scenic parkway, with a ridge rising up between the two, acting as sound baffling. It’s probably one of the quieter options in the park. The creek adds to the relaxed atmosphere, and draws in the birds. I loved this hike.I’m going to drop this Steinbeck quote again, because I think it bears repeating:"The redwoods, once seen, leave a mark or create a vision that stays with you always. No one has ever successfully painted or photographed a redwood tree. The feeling they produce is not transferable. From them comes silence and awe. It's not only their unbelievable stature, nor the color which seems to shift and vary under your eyes, no, they are not like any trees we know, they are ambassadors from another time." - John SteinbeckIt’s so true. I actually took more videos than photos on this hike. (The quote applies to video too. you can’t successfully make a video of a redwood tree.) I captured short clips out of habit, thinking they would lend themselves to Spotify “Clip” content. I used to do this for a while; add little video clips to all my tracks, just on that platform. It was tedious, but I rationalized it was a nice portal into visual world of the soundwalk, and I thought it maybe it would put me in the good graces of the algorithm. It didn’t seem to move the needle in that regard.Then I started questioning how it changed a listener’s relationship to the music, seeing an So, no videos in this post either. Same reason. I want to facilitate settling in. Closing eyes. Letting the mind wander. Basking in the sound, not the pixels. I was with my family on this walk, lagging behind just out of earshot much of the time. This was a “working vacation”, while out on some quiet trails. There is a short spur loop trail in the middle of this valley, leading visitors by many outsized redwoods, named after “founding fathers of forestry”. And, here I thought it was just birds that were given honorific names. Generally speaking, I’m not in favor of naming birds and trees after people, but I’ll go along with the quote on the plaque at the entrance: Forestry is a good thing but love is better. Speaking of loops, we went for the loop hike option which added some elevation gain on the South Fork Trail. Soon we were seeing the trees from a different point of view.I read a trail user’s review that resonated with me. “This trail could be called ‘The Circle of Life trail’. Everywhere there is death of the forest but new life growing from it,” she wrote. It’s astounding how regenerative these ecosystems are. The music is about what you might expect from me. The tempo is slow and measured. Arrangements are minimal; a string of duets for the most part. There are some droney passages. I like this one. It’s my hope it can be of some use to you. Thanks for listening and reading along with me here!Redwood Soundwalk is available on all music streaming services today, May 2nd.