Tall Trees

Today's adventure started with another hike that is accessible by permit only, like Fern Canyon yesterday. Again, this one goes fast! Only 50 offered per day!

We left the house at 7 AM again and arrived around 9:15. We had to travel 7 miles on a dirt road, go through a locked gate (they send the code 24 hours prior to your permit day), and then continue further on a dirt road.

Nerd alert! Incoming facts about redwoods.

In 1963, Paul Zahl was hiking and came across this giant tree. He was awe-struck and knew he needed to save this area from the logging that had decimated this part of California already. At that time, they believed the Libbey Tree was the tallest tree on earth* and so he got The National Geographic to go out with him and his team to do a story. This was the catalyst for Congress to make The Redwood National Park in 1968. However, the weeks leading up to the signing of the bill, many logging companies directed their employees to go in and fall every tree they could see. Sad. 2/3 of the 1500 to 2000 year old trees were logged.

These trees literally have their own ecosystems in their crowns. You can walk on soil and Huckleberry plants, many tree species, moss, lichen and all sorts of things in these crowns which can be 8 feet wide and hold literal tons of soil. A specific type of salamander, the Wandering Salamander, lives wayyyyyy up in these giants for it'sentire 20 year life, and it's unknown how or why they do, as they must be moist at all times to survive. There is also a type of lichen called Lungwort that actually creates fertilizer for the trees. It's a plant, animal and fungus, and helps keep the soil high in nitrogen which enables the trees to grow tall.

The trees grow reiterations of themselves, sometimes called spires. One tree in Tall Tress, called Redwood Creek Giant, has 148 reiterated trunks, one of which is 131 feet tall!

I could go on for days. Please read The Wild Trees by Richard Preston which is all about the California Redwoods.

We hiked down to the Grove, losing 800 feet in elevation. Yep, we had to hike back up too. But boy, was it worth it! We saw all the trees, marveled at their size, tried using the binoculars to see to the top (haha!), took a ton of pictures, and really just absorbed this ancient forest. Some people just blew through the loop. Not us.
We also walked down to Redwood Creek and sat for about 20 minutes eating snacks, drinking water, and enjoying the sun.

I'm so glad we secured this permit. This hike was a bit hard on the way up, but totally worth it.

*we know now that the Hyperion tree, located in a secret grove somewhat close to Tall Trees, is the tallest tree in the world at 381 feet. If you are caught trying to find that tree, you get a $5k fine and up to 6 months in jail. Thank you Michael Taylor for pursuing your dream of finding the world's tallest tree! I believe it was in 2006 that he and another guy, that I don't recall, found this in the Heave Creek area. A man petrified of heights is responsible for the discovery of Hyperion.Read more