On a gentle slope in Sequoia National Park, about 7,000 feet above sea level, a cathedral-like grove of giant trees pays homage to the Earth's largest living creature – the General Sherman tree. I joined the hushed assembly of visitors entering the Giant Forest via the half-mile trail that wound down and into the heart of these ancient giants, overwhelmed with reverence for this primeval forest.
Jimmy is a giant in my book.
Ancient hardly begins to cover the millennia of time when it comes to these redwoods, known in scientific circles as Sequoiadendron giganteum. Sequoias don’t die of old age. Occasionally lightening may damage these majestic trees, but it rarely kills them. The giants are resistant to fire and insect damage. Their thick fibrous bark insulates the tree from killing heat; tannic acid keeps insect damage minimal. Most die by simply falling over, victims of a shallow root system with no taproot. Soil moisture, root damage, and strong winds can lead to toppling.
Gee, my roots are pretty much the same color as these.
General Sherman is thought to be close to 2,200 years old, a mere seedling the size of an oak flake when King Solomon built his Temple in Jerusalem, a sapling when Christ was born. By the time the General was dominating these mountains, the Monachee Native Americans had settled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, long before manifest destiny brought the white man to this sublime wilderness.
General Sherman is about 1,000 years younger than the oldest-known sequoia.
For a while I simply gapped at the General. He was magnificent. Serene. His thick, rusty-red trunk measured 103 feet around with a diameter of 36.5 feet (according to the nearby info panel); he had a footprint seemingly the size of a full harvest moon.
Looking up at General Sherman for a 6’-tall human is like a mouse looking up at the 6’-tall human.
Stretching 275 feet into the air (the largest of the sequoias are as tall as a 26-story building), I craned my neck to look at the top of this mighty monarch, where the tree was nothing but deadwood (called a snagtop). Lightning strikes are a hazard for these tall trees.
Fill the General's trunk with water and you could take 9,844 baths, one every day for 27 years.
As a snagtop, all new growth goes towards girth rather than height. Gee, I have the same problem! Amazingly, sequoias in old age lay down more new wood per year than a robust young tree; the trunk and limbs and branches grow wider and wider with time. I can sympathize! The largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. The General generates enough wood each year to produce a 60-foot-tall tree of usual size. He’s not the tallest tree, or the oldest, nor does the General have the biggest girth; nonetheless, General Sherman is Earth’s largest living creature. His volume tops the charts at 52,500 cubic feet; he weighs in at 1,385 tons. No, I’m not prepared to share any statistics regarding my own frame.
Sherman came by his moniker in 1879 when pioneer cattleman and former soldier James Wolverton discovered the tree and named it after the leader he’d served under, William Tecumseh Sherman. When loggers began cutting down the huge sequoias that only grow naturally on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, Wolverton and other naturalists convinced the government to save these majestic monarchs. The U.S. Cavalry guarded Sequoia National Park from 1891 until 1916, when the National Park Service came into existence.
Sherman’s neighbors included a rather distinguished group, including the President, Chief Sequoyah, Pillars of Hercules, Chimney Tree and the Burnt Twins.
Sherman came by his moniker in 1879 when pioneer cattleman and former soldier James Wolverton discovered the tree and named it after the leader he’d served under, William Tecumseh Sherman. When loggers began cutting down the huge sequoias that only grow naturally on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, Wolverton and other naturalists convinced the government to save these majestic monarchs. The U.S. Cavalry guarded Sequoia National Park from 1891 until 1916, when the National Park Service came into existence.
Sherman’s neighbors included a rather distinguished group, including the President, Chief Sequoyah, Pillars of Hercules, Chimney Tree and the Burnt Twins.
To infinity and beyond!
We took Congress Trail to the Burnt Twins, where access was unrestricted.
I wonder, Democrat or Republican.
Jimmy went into his tree hugging mode; he’s always been a hugger. It's one of his most endearing qualities.
Isn't he cute!?
My son Ryan and I went into tourist mode.
Yep, we're sporting the tourist look.
The close proximity and size of these two trees, as well as the charring both trunks have experienced, suggests the two sequoias may be twins. Centuries ago, they probably started life at the same time after a fire prepared the ground for them. Scientists have come to learn that fire creates ideal conditions for sequoia seeds to germinate and for seedlings to grow. Heat rising from a fire dries overhanging cones, causing them to open. Cones then rain seeds onto fire-cleared, ash-fertilized ground – a perfect seedbed. Millions of sequoia seedlings sprout after a fire.
I’m still wondering, ‘Where’s the tree that propagated these twins?’
Fire also kills many trees of other species that don’t survive fire as well as sequoias. That helps sequoias by reducing competition for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Fire’s heat may also kill soil fungus that could harm the sequoia roots. Groups of same-aged sequoias like the tough twins are fairly common.
I took my thoughts with me as I left this Giant Forest, feeling insignificant. My life is a mere moment in passing compared to the timlessness of these trees. The sequoias are like watchtowers of all of human history. They've seen civilizations come and go; philosophies, religions and beliefs evolve; scientific discoveries and technological advances made in their lifetimes. What changes will they witness in the next thousand years?
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I took my thoughts with me as I left this Giant Forest, feeling insignificant. My life is a mere moment in passing compared to the timlessness of these trees. The sequoias are like watchtowers of all of human history. They've seen civilizations come and go; philosophies, religions and beliefs evolve; scientific discoveries and technological advances made in their lifetimes. What changes will they witness in the next thousand years?
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