This story is part of our August 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

Standing inside a redwood tree hollowed out by wildfire, Annie Cresswell looks tiny. She is dwarfed by the huge tree, but also by its massive cavity, which could serve as a small bedroom.

The tree at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve has burned repeatedly over the years, creating a hole called a “goosepen,” so named because early settlers used these cavities throughout Northern California to hold farm animals. The most recent fire at Armstrong Redwoods started outside the park and joined with other lightning-caused fires in late 2020.

The park was closed for over a year as officials cleared dead trees, limbs and other debris. Remarkably, none of the redwoods were killed. During a visit this year, I didn’t see evidence of the fire on redwoods until Cresswell, executive director of the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, pointed out the expanded goosepen and some burn marks on other redwoods at the edge of the park.

“That’s what is really remarkable about the redwoods — the bark,” says Cresswell, whose nonprofit organization co-manages Armstrong Redwoods in Sonoma County, alongside California State Parks. “It slows down the fire and protects them from death.”

I have been fascinated with redwood trees since I visited California for the first time as a teenager. Coast redwoods can grow to more than 300 feet tall, making them the world’s tallest tree, and they have developed numerous fascinating adaptations to help them live hundreds of years. Thick, resinous bark is among the most important. Redwoods instill a sense of awe in me.

I enjoy visiting redwood parks in the summer, as they provide a cool escape from Sacramento’s heat. About a two-hour drive west of Sacramento, Armstrong Redwood’s home of Guerneville usually has high temperatures in the low 80s in July. In addition to the cooler coastal weather, the thick tree canopy helps keep redwood forests comfortable. The forests are dark, cool and damp.

California State Parks has 49 redwood parks stretching from Big Sur to the northern state line. The amount and size of the redwoods vary by park, with the oldest and tallest trees in the northwest corner of the state, in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. But there are some large, beautiful redwoods at parks closer to Sacramento, including Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, near Santa Cruz, and Armstrong Redwoods.

Unfortunately, redwood and other trees have been put under great pressure by the gargantuan wildfires that have burned across the state in the last decade. In 2020, the same year Armstrong Redwoods burned, another major wildfire devastated Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz. The fire torched the entire park, killing much of the Douglas fir and other tree species, according to California State Parks officials. Most of the redwoods survived, but most of their tree canopy was killed, drastically changing the look of the forest as sunlight now fills areas that were previously shaded. Also, the redwoods are charcoal black and will likely remain so for years.

I’m glad Armstrong Redwoods survived relatively intact, because it will now be my go-to redwoods park, replacing Big Basin, where I used to visit at least once a year. Walking through Armstrong Redwoods earlier this year, I saw the Parson Jones Tree, 310 feet tall and an estimated 1,300 years old. And I saw the Colonel Armstrong Tree, estimated to be 1,400 years old and dedicated to the lumberjack who preserved that part of the park in the 1870s.

I admired the open-air Redwood Theater, where the park has summer concerts. Last summer, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón read there. The theater is simple enough, with a small stage and rows of benches. Located in the middle of a redwood forest, it has the feel of a church.

Redwood groves are often compared to cathedrals. The groves create a reverential feeling with a high canopy of branches that allows light to filter in, like some churches. I noticed another similarity to churches during my recent visit to Armstrong Redwoods. Crowds of people who had been talking quieted as they approached me on the trail, as if they had walked into a church.

I just pray that this redwood cathedral is spared from future flames and lives another thousand years.

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