Sequoias are amazing, any way you look at them. From their sheer scale, to their age, to their incredible red beauty, these stoic beauties are impossible to portray accurately in images. You just have to be around them. Treehugger has some fun and impressive stats about these giants. And while small, cultivated sequoias exist outside of California, you really must visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in person, to understand their majesty. Photos from various sources, including National Geographic
- They can live up to 3,000 years.
- They can have branches up to 8 feet in diameter.
- Their bark can grow up to 3 feet thick.
- The largest of the sequoias are as tall as an average 26-story building.
- General Sherman is not only the largest living tree, but the largest living organism, by volume, on the planet. At 2,100 years old, it weighs 2.7 million pounds, is 275 feet tall and has a 102-foot circumference at the ground. It has branches that are almost 7 feet in diameter.
- They are incredibly hardy; they resist fungal rot, wood-boring beetles and their thick bark is flame resistant; they owe all of this unusual strength to the presence of tannic acids.
Agreed! These trees are so massive, it’s really hard to capture their size in photos. We thought this was a good approach.
Wow! Love in the header picture how the people are hanging like baubles.
This is my most favorite place on earth!
thanks for the updates! can’t wait to walk amongst the giants again.
Lately, there’s some new stats that even that Treehugger doesn’t have yet …
Between 2010 and 2016, the 1321 point General Sherman was unofficially surpassed by coast redwood, by no less than 40 points. The reason it’s not official, is a bunch on the west coast decided to quit nominating trees to American Forests due to the fact that the redwood park will not issue a permit for “official” measurements.
As of of the past few years, S. sempervirens exceeds S. giganteum for total AF points, making it the actual “Big Tree” in the USA on the AF point rating scale. Coast redwood now has the greatest girth / circumference at both ground level and dbh. And there is now coast redwood with 19 ft. diameter at 50 ft. above ground level. Some updates are added to this page as they come to light.
http://www.mdvaden.com/redwood_year_discovery.shtml
Very sad to hear. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park are definitely protected, but they are endangered trees, not many remain in the world at all.
Thank you!
Thank-you for sharing beauty that is beyond description.
Susan Fox
I like the tree and your blog…..
Good to see old trees for a change . brilliant pictures . wish there was trees and woodland around in my county like that. Hope they are being protected and looked after ? We had a lovely old woodland near us until last year . private estate decided to cut them all down really disappointed when I retuned there .
These pictures took my breath away. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see them in person. I’m sure they would make me feel very small.
I Love that first photograph. Seriously something about it… sigh.
Majestic indeed
Wow!!!!! How cool are these.. makes you feel so tiny. Beautiful!
Gorgeous!