General Sherman

[firecracker_77]

General Sherman in Sequoia Nat'l Park contains 51,500 cubic feet of wood or approximately 400+ cords of firewood. That would be enough for a lifetime of heavy burning. Not that I would ever think it was a good idea to kill such magnificent trees or that they wouldn't be a protected landmark, but it is interesting to me at least to quantify their massive size in terms of something I can relate to...firewood cords

 

[nrford]

Here he is!

 

[nrford]

That's me in front of the General.

 

[milleo]

Wow!

 

[rideau]

Amazing tree. Can't even imagine what it would feel like to stand under that tree, or walk through the forest.

 

[fossil]

If you have never visited Yosemite & Sequoia National Parks in California's Sierra foothills, or the Redwood forests along the Pacific coast from south of Monterey all the way up to the Oregon border...you don't know what big trees are. Worth a trip for a lot of reasons. Maybe a bucket list entry. Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees

Take it from a native Californian...if you ever manage to make it out to see these trees in person, you won't be disappointed, nor will you ever forget it. Rick

 

[Bacffin]

Amazing !!

 

[Bacffin]

Is it an evergreen?

 

[nrford]

Is it an evergreen?

Yes

 

[fossil]

Check out the tables of sizes of the largest known...height, DBH...these are some mind-boggling trees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens

 

[fossil]

I'll probably end up moving this thread over into the Perfect Picture forum.
Check out what these old boys did with nothing but hand tools. I can't imagine.

 

[nrford]

If you have never visited Yosemite & Sequoia National Parks in California's Sierra foothills, or the Redwood forests along the Pacific coast from south of Monterey all the way up to the Oregon border...you don't know what big trees are. Worth a trip for a lot of reasons. Maybe a bucket list entry. Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees

Take it from a native Californian...if you ever manage to make it out to see these trees in person, you won't be disappointed, nor will you ever forget it. Rick

Agreed, it was well worth it!

 

[gzecc]

Could you imagine the first logger that saw these trees? They must have been salavating. I am still surprised there are any left! Probably because its not the best wood for building.

 

[firecracker_77]

I have been to Sequoia. Was an awesome place to visit. It was upper 80 degrees in the valley and cold and snowy up there. I live in the Midwest. We don't have elevations like that.

I would imagine that the first European to see one of these giants was totally blown away. You can't really get right up next to General Sherman, but he's a massive sight looking straight up from the perimeter fence.

Here's some more on impressive trees, but my favorite story in here is a guy cutting down a bristlecone pine tree in California to determine it's age without realizing it was the oldest tree in the world....5,000 years. What a dipstick 5,000 years this thing has survived and he takes it upon himself to end it's life.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/21...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

 

[Adabiviak]

There's a local grove of these giant sequoias in nearby 'Big Trees' state park. An ex girlfriend worked there, and was allowed to bring home some firewood as part of being an employee (biggest knots I'd ever had to deal with). The thing about this park is that all the trees are larger than usual, but they're still dwarfed by the giant sequoias, so they don't get much of the spotlight.

The stump of the 'discovery' tree... wish they hadn't cut it down. The story goes that there wasn't a saw big enough to go through it, so they severed it by lancing it numerous times with augers. Once it was severed, it took some time (a couple weeks?) before it actually toppled due to high winds.

(broken image removed)

One of the trees in the park.
(broken image removed)

 

[firecracker_77]

Park literature from Sequoia Nat'l Park says those trees draw huge quantities from the moisture at the top of the canopy. That and the other unique environmental characteristics at that particular location allow a massive tree that couldn't grow that big anywhere else. As much as humans can do, nature still amazes.

 

[Gasifier]

Cool thread. We are going to make a trip to the west coast next July for a vacation. I would like to see the Sequoias if we have time.

 

[fossil]

Could you imagine the first logger that saw these trees? They must have been salavating. I am still surprised there are any left! Probably because its not the best wood for building.

They (the old growth Redwoods) were dang near logged into oblivion. What's left is protected, and it might seem like a lot of acreage, but it's just a fraction of how the forests were originally found. Redwood logging was a thriving industry for a long time (decades). The lumber is dimensionally stable, naturally resistant to insects & rot, free of pitch/sap, and takes finishes beautifully. When I was growing up in California, virtually every deck & fence & outside structure of any other kind was built of Redwood...but it was also used in framing & many, many other applications. Whenever we drove north for a while from the Bay Area, we'd see lumber trucks (lots of them!) bringing Redwood down to the mills. The remaining protected forest remnants contain many of the world's oldest and tallest trees. If you ever get a chance, go and see them...they are really amazing. Rick

 

[firecracker_77]

Cool thread. We are going to make a trip to the west coast next July for a vacation. I would like to see the Sequoias if we have time.

They are beautiful. So is that Nat'l Park.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees

Steve Sillett was one of my college professors at Humboldt State.

One time I was mountain biking in Redwood National Forest when a big one fell pretty close

 

[bfunk13]

Awesome!

 

[Eatonpcat]

Way cool...Now that's a tree!

 

[jharkin]

Thats just amazing.. There was a special on national geographic channel a couple months ago. The researchers who discovered what firecracker mentioned where on- the fact that these trees get most of there moisture from the mist. Apparently they only figured that part out in the last few years. There is a limit to how high a tree can draw moisture up from the ground via gravity, and these giants only exceed that due to being able to draw moisture from mist (which is why giant redwoods wont thrive anywhere but the upper west coast ?) The canopy of the tree is its own microclimate.

Just fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

 

[fossil]

Steve Sillett was one of my college professors at Humboldt State.

One time I was mountain biking in Redwood National Forest when a big one fell pretty close

Wow. When I was a kid, we (family of 4) were picnicking at "Happy Isles" in Yosemite Valley and a big (~8+' DBH) redwood came down almost right on us. Totally terrifying and amazing. Not something one forgets.

 

[firecracker_77]

Wow. When I was a kid, we (family of 4) were picnicking at "Happy Isles" in Yosemite Valley and a big (~8+' DBH) redwood came down almost right on us. Totally terrifying and amazing. Not something one forgets.

Did it move the ground when it landed?