We had such a great rime in California. One of the highlights was definitely seeing my daughter Elizabeth. She lives in northern California and it was great to spend time with her.
We visited two different great tree areas – Muir Woods and Sequoia National Park. They were amazing! It is so hard to show the size and majesty of these woods. When it is quiet it is like being in the presence of ancient beings. It feels like they have a pulse.
Muir Woods is just northwest of San Fransisco – across the Golden Gate Bridge. The large tress are Great Redwoods – some over 1,000 years old.
Most of these trees have been through at least one fire. The tree will adapt and grow the burned area faster so that the wound gets covered.
This gives you a sense of their size with Elizabeth.
Sequoia National Park has Great Sequoia trees. I think they are also a type of redwoods. Some of them are 3,000 years old in this park. The bark is much smoother than the Redwoods at Muir. Another difference is that Muir is in a deep valley and Sequoia is at about 8,000 feet. These trees require such a specific micro-climate to age.
The road up was about 7,000 vertical feet that had so many twists and turns. Beautiful drive. Below is the view from about half way up.
These trees were HUGE!
Most of the larger trees had names. This is General Sherman. It is the largest tree in the world by volume and by mass. There are some that are taller but not larger. It is interesting that these trees in general top off about 275 feet. At that height there tops die and they continue to grow in girth – sort of like me…
