Calavarous Big Trees

Last weekend we were able to take a little vacation to California and spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Stevenson, Brian, Emily, and Lucy. It was wonderful to be able to go relax and have some fun. One of those days we were able to go to Calavarous Big Trees and see the big red woods trees. It was amazing how huge they are! One of the first guys that found these trees decided to cut one down so that he could take a portion of the stump to New York and London and make money off of it. The people of New York and London were so appalled that he cut the tree down that his money making venture completely back fired. The stump that we are standing on they actually made into a dance floor at one point in time. It is huge! When I first stepped onto the stump I said, "Whoa!" and Addie made a whoa sound mimicking me! It was so cute. There is also another portion of the stump laying on its side right behind us.

Here is a closer picture of that portion that was behind us in the picture above.

So here is Addie and I standing by one of the red woods.

And here is a zoomed out picture to give you a little perspective of how big these things are! This picture only goes about half way up the tree. Addie and I look like ants.

This is along the trail that goes by a lot of the red woods.

Here is Aaron and our friend Todd that came with us.

And here is the tree they are standing on.

This tree was either uprooted or had fallen over and you can see the start of its massive root system.

They say that when red wood trees start growing that only one or two from each pine cone that are the strongest will mature into a giant and the rest die. I am sure it is because the giant trees need all the space and nutrients they can get for their roots. However, sometimes you do find two or three that are close together like these two.
This part of the tree where the path goes through is up the trunk a little ways, so it gets bigger at the bottom!

There is a pathway through this tree that you can walk through without having to bend over.

The bark of the red woods help them stay resistant to fires. On this tree people stripped its bark off for a museum show that would also go to New York and London. They reassembled the peeled off bark to show people how big these trees were. Once again people were appalled and some were even skeptical that the tree was actually that big. Well, in 1908 there was a fire and since this tree lost its bark it was burned. It is now called the Mother of the Forest-or something to that affect. Its interesting because there are other huge red woods in the area and you cannot even tell there was a fire except with this tree.
Addie seemed to be having a fun time, but when it got to her nap time, even though she tried to fight it, the fresh forest air was too much for her! We were close to the end of the trail anyway.

Here is the last tree on the trail. It is dead so they cut a hole to allow people to walk through it.

It was a fun trip. The weather was perfect and it was wonderful smell that fresh forest air and see those beautiful giants! I felt like I was watching a plant earth episode that I could touch!