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| Giant Sequoias are, well, gigantic... |
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| ...and tall! |
There was once a time when redwood trees were found all
across Asia, North America and Europe.
Now only three species remain, and there are not many individual trees
of each of those. The Dawn Redwood can
be found in one valley in China. The
Coast Redwood that we saw in Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco lives
in a restricted area of the California coast.
The Giant Sequoia lives on the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains
in California. Many of them are
protected in national parks like Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. Yosemite has three groves, though the most
famous is Mariposa.
Mariposa was originally protected along with Yosemite
Valley in the original grant in 1864.
The creation of Yosemite National Park is so seminal for the park
service that symbols of the Giant Sequoia can be found in NPS iconography – the
tree on the badge, the cone on the hatbands.
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| No one knows when this tree fell, it was that long ago, but the wood rots very slowly |
Mariposa Grove is closed during the winter due to heavy
snow. The road “opened” just two days
before we were able to visit the trees.
We were warned that snow might impact our hike. In fact, on a boardwalk early in the hike,
the snow was packed by hundreds of touring feet that had visited in the two
days before us, and was still 18-24 inches deep in places. In other places throughout the grove, there
was no snow at all, or just patches.
Throughout, the melted snow was running off in channels of its own
devising.
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| The Grizzly Giant, largest tree in the grove |
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| One of these branches is said to have a bigger diameter of any non-Sequoia tree in the grove |
Water from snow melt is very important for the Giant
Sequoia. Even though they are very tall
and very big around, their roots travel just under the surface of the ground,
extending as much as 200 feet away from the trunk of the tree. The water seeps into the ground, watering the
roots. The trees like to keep their feet
dry during the summer, and this part of California has very dry summers.
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| The view of Yosemite Valley at Tunnel View on the way to Mariposa Grove (from left to right - El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridalveil Fall) |
The Mariposa Grove is located very near the Southern
entrance to the park. We were staying
near the Western entrance, so drove through the park down to see them. At one point in our drive, we stopped at the
Tunnel View and looked back at the rather spectacular view of the Yosemite
Valley. The rest of the drive was along
scenic mountain roads.
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| The base of the Grizzly Giant |
When you arrive at Mariposa Grove, you park in a huge lot,
and pick up a shuttle at a brand new visitors center that will take you up to
the grove. The Yosemite Conservancy
spent millions of dollars removing roads that had wandered through the grove, impacting
the roots (and therefore the future) of these giant trees. We heard about it when we met some Conservancy
folks at Bridalveil Falls a few days before.
Signs throughout the grove explains the science behind the decisions
they made.
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| Periodic fires are good for the grove |
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| A relatively small cone considering the size of the tree |
The trees are not thick together like the Coast Redwoods at
Muir Woods. Coast Redwoods generate new
trees from the roots of existing trees.
Giant Sequoias only generate new trees from seeds. Interestingly, early efforts to protect the
trees from fire was actually making it difficult for new trees to grow. The tiny trees could not compete with the
brush that was growing around the trees.
So, now NPS sets periodic fires to clear the underbrush and create the
kind of soil that the tiny seeds love to grow in. So, many of the trees have scorch marks on
their trunks. It is ok, the Sequoia’s are
not harmed by these fires.
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| Just massive |
Giant Sequoia are considered the most massive plant on
earth. The volume of the largest known
Giant Sequoia, the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, is 52,500 cu
feet. It is 275 feet tall and 36.5 feet
in diameter at the base. The Giant
Sequoia can live beyond 3,000 years!
Imagine what these trees have seen over the years! By comparison, their cousins, the Coast
Redwood are the tallest trees in the world, the largest one is 379 feet
tall. But they are slimmer than the
Giant Sequoias.
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| The California Tunnel Tree |
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| You can see where bark is growing to close the hole |
There are several notable trees in Mariposa Grove. The Grizzly Giant is the largest in the grove
and is about 3,000 years old. At some
point, it lost its top, probably weakened during a prolonged drought. The California Tunnel Tree had a path cut
through it for tourists to drive through in a stage coach in 1895. Interestingly, the tree has been growing bark
into the gap trying to repair this terrible damage. You can now walk through the tree.
We took a two mile hike, through a mixed wood forest with
the occasional Sequoia sighting. The
first part of the hike has boardwalks or paved paths. Past the California Tunnel Tree the path was
just packed soil. Fortunately, many of
the throngs that we encountered early on, turned back at the end of the paved
path, leaving us to enjoy the rest of the hike with far fewer people.
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| Happy Sequoia lovers in the snow! |
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