Hyperion - The World's Tallest Tree Measured At 380'1" And Still Growing - Will Be Overtaken By 2031

[hatrack]

Humans are the funniest species; and I don't mean in a stand-up-comic kind of way. Just because we send people to the moon and have invented things like processed cheese snack in a spray can smartphones, we think we're the coolest organisms out there. But you know what other organism are cool? Well, all of them actually, besides mosquitoes ... but I'm heading towards trees here, because trees are just really, truly magnificent.

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The tallest of the tall are California's coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). They are so tall that mats of soil on the upper branches support other plants and whole communities of worms, insects, salamanders and mammals. Plants that grow on other plants are called epiphytes; some of the redwoods' epiphytes are trees themselves. Some of the trees that have been documented growing on coast redwoods reach heights of 40 feet on their own!

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The tallest known living tree is a coast redwood called Hyperion, which was 380 feet and 1 inch (115.85 meters) when it was last measured in 2017. Discovered in California's Redwood National Park in 2006, Hyperion is around 1,200 years old and is currently growing 1.5 inches per year. At this rate, Hyperion should remain the tallest tree until 2031. At that point, Paradox, an up and comer in Humboldt Redwoods State Park who is growing at the rate of 7.5 inches a year, will likely take the crown.

Even when standing beneath these towering green gods and goddesses, it would be hard to appreciate just how tall they are. One wouldn't even be able to see their treetops. So to give you an idea, I like this illustration that shows not just Hyperion's staggering stature, but some of the planet's other noteworthy trees as well.

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[tblue37]

1. Cool! K&R. nt

[pansypoo53219]

2. i love tree porn. my brother visited gen sherman. i wish he had taken the pic i would have taken.

looking up near the trunk.

[we can do it]

9. You can't get near trunk, it's fenced off.

[pansypoo53219]

12. any pic up would do. its big enough. heck. keep going back + up.

[hatrack]

13. Head north along the coast - all the pictures you'd like from any angle

Just wander off the road at Humboldt Redwoods - the Garden Club of America Grove is pretty jaw-dropping.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Redwoods_State_Park

[mountain grammy]

3. Been three years since I last saw the redwoods..

time to go back. The most amazing experience.

[hatrack]

4. I've had a few religious experiences in my life - Prairie Creek Redwoods was one . . . .

Rafting the Yampa was another.

[Drifter]

5. Let's hear it for Dave!

Cheers
Drifter

[freedomrock1970]

6. Go Dave Go

[iscooterliberally]

7. I have to get out and see those trees one day.

I have seen Clockus Maximus though, LOL. Your post in regards to humans reminds me of one of my favorite Douglas Adams quotes -

“Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons….In fact there was only one species on the planet more intelligent than dolphins, and they spent a lot of their time in behavioural research laboratories running round inside wheels and conducting frighteningly elegant and subtle experiments on man. The fact that once again man completely misinterpreted this relationship was entirely according to these creatures’ plans.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

[DavidDvorkin]

8. I love the "Latin names" for Big Ben, the shuttle, and Dave.

[DFW]

10. I have stood before the General Sherman tree

Though not the tallest, its girth makes it the world‘s biggest living thing in sheer volume.

We shouldn‘t shout about this too loudly. Trump‘s Interior Secretary might get wind of it, declare the trees a hazard to commerce, and order them cut down for trophy desks.

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. Hyperion. My favorite Sci Fi book series ever!

Sorry, carry on.

[krispos42]

14. The Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program was 111 meters

About 17 feet shy of Hyperion.


Damn!