Aug 18 Sequoia Stumps

Of course there were logging interests once the Sequoia could be reached. Many trees were cut including almost all trees in the second largest grove, the Converse Basin Grove. Nearby, the Redwood Mountain Grove escaped logging. It is the largest grove consisting of 15,800 Sequoias in excess of one foot in diameter. 

Earlier in the day, we visited the Centennial Stump in the Grant Grove. In 1875, the 24' diameter, 1800 year old tree was cut. It took 2 men 9 days to bring the tree down. A 16' section was cut apart and then the outer shell reassembled at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It was called the "California Hoax". 

The General Noble Tree, now known as the "Chicago Stump", similarly was cut for the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition. It received a similar reaction. I walked around the base. It was 45 paces. It was the 2nd largest tree in the Converse Basin Grove and estimated to be the 30th largest of all Sequoias. And, the largest tree ever cut. There was one monarch tree in the Converse Basin spared, the Boole Tree, now the 6th largest on record. We were unable to visit it since the area we were in was being swept and closed by the National Forest Service. There were several large earth scraping vehicles parked nearby, ready to create a fire break. Already we could see preparation signs of a possible back fire.

Chicago Stump - Cut in 1893

As you enter Kings Canyon National Park, immediately there is a loop trail of big stumps, aptly named "Big Stump Loop". This little visited area was fascinating. We walked by many huge stumps. All were over 100 years old but have resisted decay. 

I do not know why this tree was not cut. You can see the 100+ year old saw cut, one third of the way through the tree. Somehow it was spared and it has healed itself despite the deep cut.

Sawed Tree

Mark Twain Stump - 36 paces around

Portions of this tree sit in museums with marked growth rings. It also inspired people to save more of the Sequoias.

Atop the Mark Twain Stump

Piles of 100+ year old saw dust

Once a tree was felled, it had to be cut up on site. Here piles of sawdust can be seen in the meadow. There was one tree nearby where we saw the fully intact wedge which had been cut out of the tree to direct its falling direction.

Splintered tree

One hazard of felling a Sequoia was their tendency to splinter. Loggers sometimes dug trenches and covered them with branches to soften the blow of hitting the earth.

Spared tree

Aug 18 General Grant Grove

Walk through log

Today's hike is in the Grant Grove of Sequoia in King's Canyon National Park. Nearby wildfires provide hazy and smoky conditions today. Most of Kings Canyon National Park is closed due to unhealthy levels of smoke. Our hike starts with a look at General Grant Tree, the second largest living thing on earth. The tree has a significant fire scar at its base. As with General Sherman Tree, it is fenced off. Most all other trees can be approached and touched. 

Bench made from one piece of wood

General Grant Tree

Our walk took us through a grove of mature Sequoias and then to a rocky overlook of Lake Sequoia on National Forest property. There were inholdings nearby, owned by various organizations with group camps on them.

Sequoia pine cones

Trees can have over 10,000 cones on it at any given time. With about 230 seeds per cone, a tree can produce a bunch of seeds. The cones mature in a year to a year and one half. They can remain green for 20 years. These in my hand were very hard, like metal although not that heavy.

Giant Sequoia seedling

Some areas has hundreds of these seedlings. The needles look very much like Eastern red Cedar.

Fire rings

Fires occur, on average, every 13 years over the life span of these trees. The trees will scar due to fire. The fire wound eventually closes up as a flesh wound would on a human. You can see how this tree healed itself after fires and became somewhat deformed in shape. Often, the growth rings leading up to a fire are tightly spaced and then following the fire, have wide growth rings. This indicates the tree benefited from the fire by eliminating nearby competing trees.

Aug 17 Giant Forest

Crescent Meadow

This being our first full day in Sequoia National Park, we decided to hike in one of the largest groves of Sequoias. Of the 68 groves of Sequoias, the Giant Grove is the second largest by some measures. It contains 8400 Sequoia of at least one foot in diameter and 5 of the 10 largest. It is also the home of the largest living thing on earth, by volume, the General Sherman Tree. We passed by it about mid day. It is 2100 years old and 275' tall and 100' wide at the trunk. 

36 paces around

Sequoias occur only in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California between 4500' and 7600' in elevation.  It is not known if they have an age at which they decline. The oldest trees are 3000 years old and have survived the mini ice age, numerous fires and eras of wetness and dryness. Their most common death is from toppling. Once a tree begins to lean in one direction, it grows its base to compensate but in many cases, the weight of the tree can't be held up by the shallow root system and it falls over. In 1964 a ranger witnessed a Sequoia falling. First, he heard roots popping and then a tremendous thunder as the tree came down. He said water gushed from the the tree and it was ice cold to the touch. In September 2011, twin 1500 year old Sequoias fell with a few seconds of the event caught on camera by a German tourist. That fall can be viewed on You Tube.  

The trees go through several phases. Seedlings are started when fire opens the pine comes and disperses seeds. Since a fire has occurred, the seedlings are able to grow without much competition. Fires occur, on average, every 13 years. So, some seedlings don't survive but some do. Once they have become established, they too, can survive fire. For 700 to 800 years, the tree groves in height reaching a height which insures access to sunlight. During this growing phase, the tree takes on a spire shape. Once it has attained its height, it is considered a mature tree and begins to grow only in width. The final phase is when a mature tree attains a size which dominates all around it; its Monarch stage.

Tharp's Log House

A shepherd lived in a hollow log fashioned into a cabin of sorts. The bark of tree has so much tannin in it, rotting can take centuries. 

When I first heard the bark of a Sequoia could be 30 inches thick, I could not believe it. After seeing several of these trees and the logs, it is much more believable. If you rap on a tree, it has a slightly hollow feel to it. There is an air pocket between the bark and the sapwood. If a fire could ever burn through the bark, it would have this air pocket and a very moist sapwood to deal with. Hence, very few large Sequoias succumb to fire. They actually benefit from it. Fire destroys other trees which compete for sunlight with Sequoias. Fire opens the pine cones. We saw evidence of fire on almost every tree. Much of it was intentionally started. The Giant Grove was a huge tourist attraction from the beginning of the park. Cabins, roads, buildings, stores, restaurants, gas stations etc were built among the giant trees. Fire suppression was practiced to protect these assets. Once it was determined the infrastructure was detrimental, removal took place. Once the forest was relatively clear, a very carefully planned prescribed burn was done to remove about 100 years worth of fuel. Since fires occurred naturally much more frequently, it was of concern more fuel might actually damage the trees.  

One of the first things I learned and was surprised to hear; this was the second national park, established in 1890. Logging of  Sequoia began in the 1880s. Even at this time, some of the individual trees had names. At first, the general public did not believe trees of this size existed. Efforts to prove their size were called hoaxes. Eventually, it was outrage of locals which resulted in protection. Still, not all trees were protected and logging continued until about 1907. the wood had low quality uses, like shingles, grapevine stakes etc. Often the brittle wood would splinter when felled

Despite having taken a photo of the trail map at the trailhead, we still were never sure where we were. Junctions had confusing signage and dead end trails to trees kept us guessing which way to go. The area we walked through had a few meadows. These looked like isolated wet areas where no trees grew. Wetness damages Sequoia roots and can cause the tree to topple.

Finally we made our way to a paved walk, the Congress Trail loop. Many of the trees here were named and quite large. The "family" below was named "The House" for the House of Representatives. 

The House

Congress Trail

The Congress Trail loop is off the General Sherman trail. General Sherman Tree is the largest living thing, by volume, in the world. After viewing it from a distance, we hiked up to a shuttle bus stop, not realizing we could have walked down to another and in the process, pass right by the big tree. Our plan had been to park on a side road off the Generals Highway and hike to a shuttle stop, hop on the bus and ride back to our parked car. We did make one stop on the shuttle, stopping at the Visitors Center and Museum. Formerly, this building was a general store among a small village of tourist cabins. From here we walked around Round Meadow and encountered 4 Black bears; 3 blondes and a black.

"Blonde" Black Bears

Twins: Ned & Ed

Separate trees which grow together are called twins. Here at the edge of the meadow are Ned and Ed.

Round Meadow area

Aug 14 Muir Woods National Monument

The John Muir National Monument gets high visitation due to its proximity to San Francisco. At most, it is an hour from the city. Tour buses make their way down the serpentine road to the grove on a regular basis. I have been here a half dozen times. This is the first time I have not been able to park in the main designated parking area. This place is really popular now. We arrived fairly early, or so we thought. The overflow parking area was full and both sides of the road for .4 miles were lined with cars. When we left, the parking continued about a mile from the traditional entrance. That is quite a change from my earlier visits. Still the forest seems quiet and serene. 

Dusty Fern

Drought persists. Everything had a film of dust on it. My shoes still do.

I was astonished at the number of buses in the parking area, disgorging mostly foreign tourists. You were never certain if you spoke to someone, if they would understand you. Hence, most folks don't speak when passing. There were lots of smart phones taking photos. Selfie sticks were ubiquitous. 

No selfie stick here. Still this photo does not convey the enormity of this redwood tree. Even the comparatively small trees had my attention. Seedlings were quite attractive looking unlike Sequoia seedlings. 

Nanci stops before a fallen tree. A few have fallen across the pathways and been left to decay. I don't know if this fallen one is a redwood or not. Redwoods, with so much tannin in their bark, will weather for years before slowly rotting away. For that reason, lumbering them was and is a big commercial enterprise, even though it is an unsustainable harvest.  

Biggest burl I have ever seen

Imagine what a cross section of this burl would bring in today's market. You could make a number of tabletops from that one burl. I suspect many burls have been harvested for just that reason.

Due to the popularity of this place, I doubt I will return. It is always a treat to walk among the redwoods. I may need to find another grove to enjoy.

Aug 14 Hiking over the Golden Gate

The golden gate Bridge has pedestrian walks on both sides. Due to some maintenance, only the east side was open today. Both pedestrians and bicycles share the narrow walk. It looked to be only about 6 feet wide with some light posts narrowing it even further. It was imperative to know what was coming up behind you if you were to pass someone. Bicycles heading downhill could get going quite fast if they did not adhere to the speed limit.

At about the point where the bridge is over water, there is a crisis helpline telephone. I doubt it is of much use. Traffic on the bridge is deafening. For suicides, the bridge ranks second in the world among bridges as the locale of most suicides. I understand the impact when hitting water from 245 feet causes enough trauma in most jumpers, to cause instant death. 

The bridge is about a mile long so you can easily do the roundtrip in about an hour. Obviously, there can be high winds. However, just breezy today. It was an enjoyable walk but I was glad to get off. It was, as the sign stated, "Entering High Noise Area".

Following Rt 101 will take you over the bridge but oddly, Rt 101 stops on one side and starts up again on the other side. That is just a technical matter though, changing jurisdiction over the bridge between entities.

Notice the barriers in the roadway. Previously, plastic cones were used to separate opposing traffic. This enabled more lanes to be open in either direction depending on commuter and event traffic. Head on collisions resulted in a high number of fatalities. Now the plastic barriers you see can be moved by a moving vehicle which automatically re-positions the barriers as it straddles them.

Before the bridge was completed in 1937, the largest ferry operation in the world shuttled vehicles and people between Marin County and San Francisco. The spot was called the Golden Gate then too.