Exciting. Relaxing. Awe-inspiring. Intimate. A one-of-a-kind trip for tree and nature lovers. Hosted by TreeSpirit founder, Jack Gescheidt.
NEW 2025 Giant Coast Redwoods Experience:
Sept. 4th thru 7th, 2025 (Thurs. 6pm thru Sun. 5pm.)
• 3 full, unforgettable days among the ancients — Join Jack, his support team, and a small group of fellow tree lovers to immerse yourself in the powerful, calming, healing presence of these colossal ancient trees, literally thousands of years old.
You can feel the calming, grounding effect of their presence, if you slow down, calm down, and quiet down. It’s simple, yet not often easy; this not what most of us humans make the time to do, even when visiting redwood forests thanks to our even faster-moving vehicles.
The Giant Coast Redwoods Experience is designed to slow you down, willingly, so you will connect with the old-growth redwoods more deeply. If you’ve ever longed to visit them for the first time, or want the right “container” to do so again, this retreat, for a special group of like-minded tree-loving people is designed for you.
Tree and nature fans travel from around the world to visit these ancient trees, yet most don’t take full advantage of what “The Tall People” (as some native peoples called them) offer us fast-moving, overly busy, often stressed, and short-lived humans.
Groves of ancient redwood grow only along 450 miles of the Pacific coast, from Monterey, CA, to southwest Oregon. Coast redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens, Latin for “ever alive,” are taller even than their stout cousins, the Giant Sequoias (Latin name, Sequoiadendron giganteum, which boast the largest mass of any trees on Earth.)
• FULFILL YOUR LIFELONG, TREE LOVER’S DREAM. Have you felt a powerful, inexplicable attraction to trees ever since you were a child? Would you love to deepen and savor this connection in a small, supportive group of people who feel the same way? Do this among these gigantic, 2,000+-year-old trees literally affect your state of being if you slow down and spend time with them, away from the fast pace of humanity’s technology with its endless screens and stimulations and distractions.
• FEEL AWE, JOY, PEACE IN ANCIENT FORESTS. These huge plants can actually alter your human perception of time. Your usual, everyday concerns and worries can recede, or even disappear; an instant, effortless, meditative effect. Your mind and body slow deliciously down. And if you’re already a nature lover, or especially drawn to meet redwoods for the first time, your heart will melt.
• ECSTASY, WITHOUT DRUGS. Feel grateful…happy…awestruck, just by being in the presence of the Giant Coast Redwoods. This is absolutely an altered state of being, but without ingesting pharmaceuticals, and completely under your control, and with zero harmful side effects. 100% safe and only mildly addictive — because you won’t want to leave the forest! An expansive state of mind, and state of being, is one of the great gifts these ancient, living tree beings offer us little, short-lived human beings.
• FEELING OLD? COME FEEL YOUNG. We humans, relative to the age and size of the Coast Redwoods, are tiny toddlers. These massive plants — the world’s tallest — instantly, effortlessly, can have you feeling carefree and joyous, like a child, just by being among them. This phenomenon is heightened by also being away from crowds of chattering people (typical in heavily visited redwoods groves like Muir Woods near San Francisco).
• DIGITAL DETOX The Giant Coast Redwoods Experience is a perfect opportunity to take a brain break from your digital devices and social media habits/addictions, those mind-engaging, overstimulating, often addictive attractions and distractions that comprise too much of most people’s daily work lives and social habits.
• PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE FOREST? Would you like to sharpen your smartphone or DSLR photography skills while among the old-growth redwoods? Your host, Jack Gescheidt, is a professional photographer since 1987 and can show you helpful techniques and tips, and offers coaching. Speak with Jack before signing up to discuss your wishes and the possibilities.
• STAR IN YOUR OWN, ORIGINAL TreeSpirit PHOTOGRAPH by Project founder Jack Gescheidt. In your expanded, relaxed state, you can have your experience, your expansiveness, memorialized, featuring you, or with your beloved. Co-create an original artwork commemorating your Coast Redwoods Experience that you’ll treasure forever.
• VIEW GALLERY of Jack’s TreeSpirit photographs.
• READ TESTIMONIALS of what’s it’s like to create a TreeSpirit photo
• RECEIVE a 30″ print of your favorite photograph to memorialize these precious days among the giant trees. Upon seeing your print, your friends will exclaim, “Wow, that’s beautiful…” (pause, and then) “…oh wow…is that YOU?…”
OPTIONAL GROUP PHOTOS – CLICK TO VIEW FULL IMAGE
TESTIMONIALS
What people say about their giant trees Experience:
…the most dedicated and wonderfully spiritual guides imaginable. And our small group of six sojourners bonded quickly, especially after stripping together, in our first photo shoot in the buff…! (Warm thanks to gorgeous Tye & Lua… totally love you both. : ).
For me, it was truly magical to commune so deeply with Mother Nature… (with such sweet souls)…the Tree Spirit experience truly soared to the cream at the top of my life’s Bucket List…! I feel humbly grateful. Thank you all so much…! I can’t wait to see & share the amazing photos that Jack and our Tree Spirit team created. WARMEST Hugs, Jan C.
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Jack, you give me so much more than a heightened appreciation for trees.
The giant trees experience creates a special bond with all the participants when we share our own personal feelings at the end of each day. You bring people closer to nature, and also facilitate them to connect to each other and their inner selves. This heartfelt sharing we do is my highlight of the trip.
Thank you for the experience, the memories and the fantastic photos as a result. Love, Tom S.
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Jack, I was truly honored and flattered to see the photo of me emerging from the trunk of the the charred Sequoia featured in your newsletter as “Prometheus” (unbound no less, by clothing of course!). It’s looks as though I was delivering a direct, in his face, affront to Zeus, having obviously already shared fire with humankind. Thanks for taking me up on my desire to be included in your gallery. This particular photo is on our “finalists list”. It is so difficult to decide [which to have as my large print].
I am particularly, and unexpectedly, impressed with some of the black and white photos. They can seem so dramatic. But the colors of the Sequoias bark is also compelling. Sooooo difficult to choose.
Thanks again for sharing the Sequoias Experience with Barb and me. – Tom R.
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Hello Jack, Am sitting at the San Francisco airport waiting for my return flight to Toronto. It’s been an awesome week. I don’t think I could have picked better places to get to know California for my first time! … so incredible (just like you promised). Meeting you, Amy, Tom, Heidi and David was also a treat. As I enter the global news cycle again, I find myself longing for the calm adaptability of the ancient sequoias… and fondly remembering my new calm friends!!….Thanks for the peek at the photos. I am sure I’ll love all of them. Still in awe of my tree spirit experience. – Petra
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What a magnificent experience: the majesty of these enormous trees, some older than Christianity, was overwhelming! The sunlight filtering through these silent giants to the forest floor was truly breathtaking.
Add a loving and conscientious leader, and a band of delightful, free-spirited fellow hikers: the perfect recipe for a liberating and unforgettable “Nature-al” adventure!
– John M Corboy, MD, Kaunakakai, Hawaii
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They [the photographs] are beautiful. What a fantastic and unique adventure we shared! Thank you for making it possible for us to join [The Giant Sequoias Experience]. Love, Heidi
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Hi all you naked Tree Spirits…Susan, Jan and I stopped [on the way down from the mts – Ed.] at one of the overlooks and breathed in the last of the delicious, cool mountain air and savored the view and the sweet memories. What a beautiful and deep experience we shared. I loved getting to know all of you and I am eagerly awaiting the photos, Jack. – Love, Peter (Sept. 2016)
READ MORE TESTIMONIALS from people who loved this unique and exciting way of communing with trees, at bottom of page, and HERE.
Giant Sequoias Experience featured in “N” Magazine.
“As I hugged a magnificent, ancient, living, rooted-to-the-earth organism, emotions swelled with me, as they did during poses for the other pictures. But this one, alone, was my ultimate connection with the redwood, the Green Man [a centuries old icon of humanity’s connection with the earth, and particularly with trees], and the earth!”
John Muir, intoxicated on sequoias…
The famed naturalist as you’ve never heard (read) him before, gushing in a letter to his dear friend and confidante, Jeanne Carr):
I’m in the woods woods woods, & they are me-ee-ee… The King tree & me have sworn eternal love — sworn it without swearing & I’ve taken the sacrament with Douglass Squirrels, drank Sequoia wine, Sequoia blood, & with its rosy purple drips I am writing this woody gospel letter. I never before knew the virtues of Sequoia juice. Seen with sunbeams in it, its color is the most royal of all royal purples No wonder the Indians instinctively drink it for they know not what. I wish I was so drunk & sequoical that I could preach the green brown woods to all the juiceless world, descending from this divine wilderness like a John Baptist eating Douglass squirrels & wild honey or wild anything, crying, Repent for the Kingdom of Sequoia is at hand.
On the Giant Sequoias Experience, a custom TreeSpirit photograph is available without commissioning Jack for a private session (which start at $3750).
On the Giant Sequioas Experience, a one-of-a-kind trip, personalized portraiture is included among unforgettable trees, at one third the price, $1295, and includes a 20×30″ print of your favorite image created during the retreat.
Accommodations and meals are separate and reasonably priced. Choose your level of comfort: from simple motel room, to rustic cabin, to modern cabin with vaulted ceiling and picture windows. BOOK NOW for best accommodations. (Our lodging serves national tourists and fills fast.)
Email Jack for details, or with questions.
The new 2023 Coast Redwoods Experience is in California’s Humboldt County, Sept. 28-thru-Oct 1st, 2023.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
THE GIANT COAST REDWOODS EXPERIENCE is 3 full, unforgettable days and evenings with Jack, his support team, and a small group of fellow tree admirers in the privacy of secluded coast redwood forests. Somatic, meditative, and sharing exercises designed to deepen your experience are tailored to your and each group’s unique makeup and dynamics.
Included is a 20 x 30″ print of your favorite photograph made during the trip, starring you among sequoias, so you’ll remember and cherish the experience forever.
We enjoy meals together and gather to share each day’s experiences in a respectful, heartfelt group setting. You can spend evenings with our group, or wander beneath a star-filled sky, or relax in your private room or cabin (of your choice) at our rustic cabins lodging.
Between each day’s photographic outing and each evening’s group gathering for meals, there is time to savor the company of new friends who love the outdoors like you do, or enjoy precious alone time in the mountains on miles of trails around the lodge.
QUESTIONS? CONCERNS? If part of you longs for this adventure, and you want to learn more, email Jack. He has gently escorted hundreds of people into nature, some to the edges of their comfort zones — all to have the time of their lives! READ TESTIMONIALS. READ FREQUENTLY ASKED TRIP QUESTIONS BELOW.**
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QUESTIONS? INTEREST? CLICK HERE to contact us re. The Giant Sequoias Experience.
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WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT MAKING TreeSpirit PHOTOGRAPHS
Angels
Dear Jack,
I want to let you know that I love the photo from The Angel Oak (“Angels”). That whole experience has stayed with me in ways I never imagined – all positive. I feel as though I was propelled to be there by the pesonal search I have been on and the reward was stunning.
Thank you for opening your call and cause to others. There couldn’t have been a way for you to know what your photo experiences would give to some of us, but I thank you deeply for the open channel. You are such a beautiful person and your connection to nature inspiring. – Heather, May 2011
READ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about THE GIANT SEQUOIAS EXPERIENCE (BELOW).**
READ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS about Jack and The TreeSpiritProject.
DON’T KNOW JACK? Meet him in this video by photography chroniclers Fstoppers.com.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is this trip about making (naked) TreeSpirit photographs? This is a common question — and the answer is NO! TreeSpirit’s mission, and Jack’s passion, is to bring people to trees so they feel a (re!)connection to them. It’s not about what you’re wearing, or not wearing! If you’d LIKE to make a nude TreeSpirit photograph, wonderful. (Discuss this with Jack in advance of the trip; there are unexpected emotional and psychological advantages to being naked — read Testimonials.) But the choice is all yours.
Do I have to be able to climb trees? NO. You can keep your feet on the ground. Any photographs, TreeSpirit or otherwise, are tailored to your individual desires, ability, and aesthetics. You may simply want to touch or hug a giant tree. (If you’re reading these words, odds are you’ll want to.) Or, once in the forest, you may change your mind and suddenly have an urge to (try to) climb one of the largest trees on Earth — go for it! And be photographed by a professional photographer while doing so!
Shouldn’t I first get into shape, lose a few pounds? Another common question. Once again, the answer is NO. This issue arises for many people making TreeSpirit — or any — photographs. Our culture conditions us to never be satisfied with our bodies, no matter what we do, now matter how hard we work out to make them thinner or more toned. Here’s a question for you: Have you ever been 100% happy with your body, even if you’re an athlete, a yogi, or a bodybuilder? Do you know many people who are?
Accepting — even loving — our bodies as they are, as WE are, is ultimately a matter of self-acceptance, a state of mind, even a state of being. Perhaps unexpectedly, this is where thousands-year-old trees work their magic. Relax in an ancient forest and see where your opened heart and a quieted mind lead you — along with your beautiful body.
What kind of physical condition do I need to be in? How much hiking is involved? Our group may walk 2-to-5 miles each day, but at a leisurely pace. You’ll be carrying a daypack with some extra clothes, water, and your lunch. Distance and pace vary with each trip, and each day, and is tailored to each group’s ability and desire.
NOTE: Unfortunately, this trip is NOT wheelchair accessible. And only leashed and licensed guide and support dogs are allowed on the trails we walk. Email Jack with questions or concerns.
• SAN FRANCISCO International (SFO): 250 miles/4-5 hour drive to our lodge
More Frequently Asked Questions, click here.
click to enlarge
Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of man. No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body.
– Charles Darwin
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VIDEO of a GIANT SEQUOIA
TESTIMONIALS (continued from top of page)
Thank you for the three great days among the Sequoia trees. It was a good experience and good people to share it with. You have an interesting way to help honor and save trees. I would like to attend The Giant Sequoias Experience again and maybe a demonstration to help save trees.
Sincerely Yours, JP
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Jack: I just got the preview photo. It looks great. Thanks! (The muscle tone is better than I anticipated!) The tree, of course, is magnificent. Your work is awesome.
Some thoughts and reactions: The lodging and setting were outstanding. Great locations in the parks. Despite the occasional chill, I had a great time and it was a fabulous group of people. I hope you got numerous outstanding photographs. As you said in your email, I’ll wait for them to come in.
Oh, one other note about your trip: I really got to know people . . . know the group, as a type of bonding experience. That was nice.
Cheers, Don
Autumn 2021 NEWS FLASH:
Giant sequoias and fire have coexisted for centuries. Climate crisis is upping the stakes.
EXCERPTS:
The incredibly resilient giant sequoias that have grown on these ridges for thousands of years, coexisting and evolving with wildfires that helped keep overgrowth at bay and clear space needed for seedlings. But as the climate crisis intensified conditions, causing fires to burn bigger and hotter, the tall trees are starting to succumb in larger numbers.
Climate change has set in motion a devastating cycle, made worse by years of land management practices that enabled the forest to become overgrown.
The death toll for the trees is expected to be significant. But there have also been big wins during the at-times-dramatic firefights, and many popular groves have been spared. In others, where the flames got in but severity was low or moderate, researchers believe the burn will be beneficial.
…there will be many areas where fire behavior is not extreme. [Government scientist Nathan] Stephenson said this isn’t either a bad story or a good one. It’s both. Fire is an essential ingredient for forest health and even in big blazes that exhibit extreme behavior there are often important benefits.
READ Guardian article (and say a prayer for the giants): https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/03/giant-sequoias-and-fire-have-coexisted-for-centuries-climate-crisis-is-upping-the-stakes?
2022 Giant California Coast Redwoods Experience: Sept. 8-11
BOOK NOW for best accommodations choice. Rooms fill months in advance.
Email Jack for details, or with questions.