Redwoods

Calavares Big Tree State Park, CA

So, both the 90 mile, 2 hour drive to and from the state park started and definitely ended with a lot of crying from my girls. Here we are happy to be out of the car and ready to start our l.5 mile hike - that would eventually take us over 3 hours to complete!

Oops! Kate got a little ahead of herself running down the beginning of the trail and landed, nose first, in some dirt. While no one else fell, we found ourselves pretty dirty by the end of the trail.

The following pictures are all of "The Big Stump." Discovered by Augustus T. Dowd in 1852, the tree was felled the next year by ambitious speculators. At that time it was found to be 1,244 years old, 25 feet in diameter, and 300 feet tall. The part the girls are standing on here was planed smooth and used as a dance floor. A two-lane bowling alley and bar were built on the fallen trunk.

This giant sequoia (or redwood) had a hollow on the other side. We took some family pictures inside it.

This tree fell in 1965 during heavy winds. It crashed down with such force that many people in the area believed it to be an earthquake. Sarah took this amazing picture of Audrey and me.(Check out Audrey's video clip below of us walking into the tree - what Audrey calls a "cave.")

Sheryl is standing next to another piece of this fallen redwood. Having someone in the picture gives some perspective as to the massive size of these amazing trees!

Here the girls and I are between the trees known as "Mother and Son." Peek-a-Boo Kate! Ironically none of us pictured match either of those qualifications.

I had to get one of Sarah standing next to a redwood. This tree's name is "Hercules." It was blown down during a violent windstorm in December, 1861.

This was near the end of our trek. The Calaveras North Grove was a popular, easily accessible tourist destination in the 1850s. However, as roads to Yosemite Valley improved the nearby redwood groves began to attract increasing numbers of visitors. When the Wawona Tunnel Tree in Yosemite was carved in the 1880s Calaveras responded by doing the same to this tree, as a means of competing. Don't know how many of today's cars could fit through this.

With our quest for adventure quenched we went to Giant Burgers, off of CA Route 4, to get some sustenance. You can see me satisfying my hunger below.

Grandma Round made it through another adventure and we appreciate her guidance and up-beat attitude!

This is Audrey's video of us enterring the tree's "cave."

This is my video of us walking through the "Father of the Forest."

While the girls may not have appreciated this experience I found it humbling to be among the world's largest living objects that date back 180 million years, to the time of the dinosaurs, and that have an average life span of over 3,000 years. Here I was able to check off another something from my "bucket list." Thanks Sheryl!

Note - Sarah wanted me to let everyone know that I'm not a Big Tree expert. All the information shared about the Redwoods came from: A Guide to the Calaveras North Grove Trail.