Dec 6 2019
By Siri
Alerce trees are among ten oldest-living species of trees in the world and are nearly extinct in Patagonia where they once thrived. One of the largest, the alerce can reach 200 feet in height and 16 feet in diameter. Scientists estimate that some individual trees are more than 4,000 years old. Charles Darwin would have seen these but most of the oldest trees were logged since he passed by here. In the Pumalin Douglas Tompkins National Park forest they are over 3000 years old and the park is working to protect them. Their round big trunks stretch tall and branches with dark leaves are near the very top. I take big steps over roots as large as branches and wonder how much nutrition trees would need to stay healthy enough for 3,000 years. During our walk I feel so many different kinds of moss at the base of the rain-soaked trunks. I wrap my arms around the trunks of these thousand-year-old giants, and I only reach a small way. I wonder what life was like when these trees were sprouts. All around me ferns and their fiddleheads stand over my head. Bamboo rustles with the wind and hot pink fuschia flowers dance on their tree branches. Umbrellas dipping of the rain, I feel grateful for my new fuzzy and soft rain boots, slurping through mud and splashing in puddles. I feel like a small thing in this big old forest as I cross the springy wooden suspension bridge over a rushing light teal river, listening to nature music.