Big Basin Redwoods State Park is a place of retreat in the narrator’s attempt to redirect his attention from human faces to nature. During evenings spent driving out from Stanford, he walks among giant trees, watches wildlife, and follows a steep path near Berry Creek Falls, where rushing water and tree frogs make the landscape a vivid, particular presence.

Setting and Visits

After travelling to cities in an effort to forget Isobel, the narrator returns to Stanford and tries a different tactic: losing himself in nature. The highlight of his day becomes the evening drive out of town, often into the Santa Cruz Mountains. There he parks and walks around Big Basin Redwoods State Park, making repeated visits part of a routine rather than a single excursion.

The Park’s Natural Features

The walks bring the narrator among giant trees and a varied range of wildlife: jays and woodpeckers, chipmunks and raccoons, and, occasionally, a black-tailed deer. If he arrives early enough, he takes the steep path near Berry Creek Falls. The sound of rushing water is sometimes joined by the low croak of tree frogs, giving the visit an auditory as well as visual texture.

Narrative Significance

The park is where the narrator’s effort to lose himself in nature takes concrete form: he leaves the town by car, walks among trees, and attends to animals and sounds. The passage presents the park through specific encounters rather than as an abstract refuge, establishing an evening landscape of close observation within his return to Stanford.