Reminiscences - Sequoias

Coastal redwoods are the tallest trees on earth.  They top out at 375 feet tall and are found along the northern California coastal range.  Onshore breezes filled with moisture from the Pacific help nourish these slender spires that reach to comb the clouds.

Sequoias are related to redwoods.  They are found further inland, on the western rise of the Sierras, where they draw moisture from the clouds as they rise from the Imperial Valley to top the rocky spine of California.  They are not as tall as the Coastal Redwoods, reaching a mere 325 feet tall.  They are, however, far more massive than the redwoods.  The General Sherman tree is over 30 feet in diameter, and over 100 feet in circumference.  They are the largest living things on the planet, with one tree containing as much mass as 60 fully grown blue whales.

I was walking through the Giant Grove in Sequoia National Park when I saw the juxtaposition of two Sequoias with several people.  The pairing of the Sequoias with the people gave a good sense of the scale of these most massive living things on the planet.