A very big tree....

[pokerfan]

On a gentle slope above a trail junction in Sequoia National Park, about 7,000 feet above sea level in the southern Sierra Nevada, looms a very big tree. Its trunk is rusty red, thickened with deep layers of furrowed bark, and 27 feet in diameter at the base. Its footprint would cover your dining room. Trying to glimpse its tippy top, or craning to see the shape of its crown, could give you a sore neck. That is, this tree is so big you can scarcely look at it all. It has a name, the President, bestowed about 90 years ago by admiring humans. It’s a giant sequoia, a member of Sequoiadendron giganteum, one of several surviving species of redwoods.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/sequoias/quammen-text

[Suich]

1. That sucker's huge!

Having the 2 tiny tiny men in the pic really shows its size!

[pokerfan]

2. I like the lightning rod

very thoughtful...

[Suich]

3. I didn't even notice that!

[Wounded Bear]

4. Lightning is probably the most dangerous thing for these trees...

Most anything else, barring human attack, can't touch them.

[pokerfan]

5. Thank you Ben Franklin! nt

[angel823]

6. uh

three men.

[sharp_stick]

7. I didn't see the guy

hanging in the middle

[angel823]

8. hard to imagine

what it would be like to climb to the top!

[Suich]

14. You're right!

He makes the tree look even bigger!

[OxQQme]

9. My Mom

Pic taken in 1956

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[Feral Child]

12. *Very* cool mom!

Women on cycles were unusual in the Cleaver '50s.

Strong lady and she looks very confident astride that bike!

[pokerfan]

13. Cool pic

My dad took us there in the sixties. We're in Washington State so it wasn't like it was that far.

[sharp_stick]

10. Interesting - from the article

the whole article is well worth reading, thx pokerfan, but this really stuck out for me

"the President contains at least 54,000 cubic feet of wood and bark. And that’s how they detected that the old beast, at about the age of 3,200, is still growing quickly. It’s still inhaling great breaths of CO₂ and binding the carbon into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in a growing season interrupted by six months of cold and snow."

I've never seen a Sequoia or a Redwood. One of these day's I'll have to get the family out there.

[Raffi Ella]

11. Amazing.

I'd feel like Alice in Wonderland standing next to that.