Visiting California’s Redwoods and Giant Sequoias

Everyone should see California’s Redwoods once in their life.  Never before has a single object made me feel so small.

I’ve been fortunate to see the Redwoods in Northern California this past summer. I’ve also seen the Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove near Yosemite many years ago. The photos below are from my trip this summer to see the Redwoods at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park this year.

Despite the majesty of these beautiful trees, people still think it’s fun to vandalize them or cut them down.  I came across this article a few days ago about Portland citizens trying to block a developer from cutting down Giant Sequoia trees.  Does the developer realize how old these trees are? We try to preserve and protect historic buildings and lands, so why not these historic living trees? Don’t they realize these amazing trees are only naturally found on America’s west coast? (Click here to see how the Portland sequoia issue was resolved, due to a very generous donation by South Park co-creator Matt Stone.)

The tallest living redwood is known as Hyperion.  Hyperion is a 379.1 foot tall tree, estimated to be 700-800 years old, and is located in a remote area of Redwood National and State Parks.  The exact location of the tree has been kept from the public.  It’s believed its exact location has been kept secret to keep human activity from disturbing the ecosystem of the tree; however, it’s more likely that they don’t trust the public from leaving the tree alone.  

And I don’t blame them.  Every national or state park I’ve been to has graffiti engraved in rocks, trees, or inked somewhere in the park. I don’t understand what drives people to mark up areas that protected by our state and federal governments.  What drives someone to leave “their mark” on a bench that overlooks a beautiful waterfall or scratch their names on the side of a sandstone rock formation or a tree? I will never understand.

We need to work together to stop global warming, deforestation, and vandalism so these trees will persevere and our children’s children will be able to walk among these gentle giants just as those that had walked among them centuries ago.

If you’re in the area, go out and visit California’s Redwoods and Giant Sequoias. Take some time in nature, reflect, and appreciate these majestic, stunning trees.

Happy Travels!

Julie