These trees live longer and are larger in diameter than redwoods.
A mock cutout demonstrating the year rings of a Sequoia.
Sadly before these trees were protected someone thought this tree's stump would make a good dance floor.
The tree below shows a cutout in the middle of the tree done years ago as a tourist attraction. Amazingly this tree is still alive with one branch still producing nutrients for the tree. Most of the trees we saw cutout like this one died because of the cutout.
This is big enough for a compact car to drive through.
01.21.17 - We are sad to say this tree has fallen due to the high winds and storms that have hit northern California in late December early January.
The General Sherman tree is the largest Sequoia in terms of board feet and size. It is not the oldest. It's estimated age is 2,200 years old. The base of this tree has a circumference of 103 feet. I don't know what's in the dirt around this tree but it feeds this tree well.
This is the General Sherman from about two hundred yards back so I could get the whole tree. It is 275 feet tall. Notice the top has a lot of dead branches, this is caused by lighting strikes. You wouldn't want one of these to fall off while you were under the tree. This would be like being hit by a tree falling off of a cliff 200 feet high.
This is what is looks like when looking up from the bottom. This is a twin pair of trees sharing the same root system. Notice the one on the left has been burned. These trees often see several forest fires in their lifetime. Their bark is two feet thick and insulates them from forest fires.
Sequoia's are protected now with less than five percent of these old trees still living. So when a road is needed it has to go around or through the trees as shown here. Tight squeeze to get through. Many roads in this forest have a 20 feet length limit on vehicles.
This beautiful view can be seen when leaving the Sequoia National forest. On a clear day you can see eleven ridges from this vantage point.
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