A trip to the Sequoias at Calaveras Big Trees Stake Park, Monday, Nov 2

It was a dark, cool and drizzly day at the State park.  This is a mixed-conifer forest in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Stockton--here is my old friend Ponderosa Pine, but bigger than I ever saw in WA state

This Pine tree is nearly 4'  diameter at its base

An even larger Sugar Pine.  Even the trees other than the Sequoias were huge.

 

I caught a squirrel trying to hide from us behind this tree.

This is the "Discovery Tree", first found by an old hunter named Augustus Dowd chasing a wounded Grizzly bear in 1852.  When he found the grove, he lost interest in the bear.  For a time no one would believe what he saw.  But soon---

At 5' above the ground, the Discovery Tree was about 25 feet across.  Interest grew.  Within a year from discovery, the tree was felled by ambitious speculators.

No saw was big enough to cut it.  It took 5 men 22 days to down it, by drilling holes using long handled augers.  A large chunk was then shipped east for display (for admission money).

People in New York and Paris paid money to see the tree.

When the rings were counted the tree was only 1,244 years old, fairly young for a big sequoia.  It was 281 feet tall.

Here the remains of the top still lie 162 years later, perhaps 250 feet away from its base.  At this point, the diameter is still 4-5'.  Sequoia wood does not decay readily.

More vandalism.  This tree has had some of its bark removed.  Bark may be 12-18" thick and is fire-resistant.

See the scorched bark.  This tree survived a fire in 1908.  Time moves slowly here.

Huge root system of a tree that fell in a windstorm in 1965.

Notice that the tree is hollow in the center.  These trees don't have tap-roots.  They can survive for many years with a hollow center, since the nutrients flow up on the outside of the wood, just under the bark.

No more Sequoia pictures.  My I-phone camera used up its battery power at this point.  There are about 75 groves of Sequoias in the world, all on the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada range.  Sequoias are relatives of the Redwood but grow differently.  Sequoias are bigger and bulkier, but Redwoods get a little taller.  Redwoods grow in groves by themselves; Sequoias grow in mixed conifer settings.  Redwood needed more moisture, so grow only in coastal settings.  Sequoias have female seeds in small cones that only open in fire and are fertilized by male seeds.  There were a quit a few young Sequoias with about a 2 foot diameter that were started from the fire of 1908, but few if any since that time.  Smokey bear has been too effective! 

What a great learning experience to see these Sequoias.