SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA TRAVEL WRITERS TRAVEL FEATURES AND PHOTOS

California’s National Parks, Monuments, Trails, Seashores and Historic Sites

Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service Lee Foster is a veteran travel writer/photographer whose work can be seen at fostertravel.com. Lee develops travel books, e-books, articles, photos, websites, and apps. Although the 200 articles that feature his travel writing and photography on Lee Foster his website highlight places worldwide, his is current focused on his content and expertise.

California’s Three Superlative Oregon border. Some favorite viewing sites are near available, resistant to rot and You can see these marvelous and San Francisco at Muir Woods or at Big Basin State insect damage, although not as massive objects in Sequoia and Kings A version of this article appeared in Lee Foster’s book, Park. On the road north from San Francisco, strong as Douglas fir. In 1982 Canyon National Parks, twin parks Northern California Travel: The Best Options. impressive groves can be enjoyed in Humboldt UNESCO declared Redwood comprising 1,300 square miles in the Redwoods State Park, especially the grove around the National Park a World Heritage Sierra foothills, at mid-state, east of The California imagination is sometimes nurtured by Founders , and on the Avenue of the Giants, Site, recognizing that the Fresno. superlative facts of nature that are indisputable. In along Highway 101, on the route to Redwood special environment of the The inland sequoias are easily- California you can meet the tallest, the most massive, National Park. redwoods is a phenomenon of accessible, drive-in wonders. The and the oldest living things on earth. Learn about the tallest tree at the Kuckel Visitor worldwide interest. largest tree, , stands These three superlatives happen to be trees. In a Center in Orick, the main information source for The redwood forest exhibits a only a short walk from a park shuttle two-week trip you can drive to far northern California the 106,000-acre Redwood National Park. The exact cathedral hush. The setting is bus stop or a quarter-mile downhill and then to the central Sierra to witness these location of the tallest trees, on Redwood Creek, is kept dense and dimly lit, reverential, from a car parking lot. Standing before arboreal phenomena. Two are in national parks named secret by the park rangers so as not to endanger it with moist and cool, strewn with the General Sherman tree is akin to after them. The third would probably be in a national undue attention, trampling the root area. A satisfying oxalis flowers. A redwood grove swimming next to 15 Blue Whales in park too, but was discovered late, and so is in a option would be a walk in the Lady Bird Johnson is calm and eternal in aura, as the ocean. The size of a mere human, protected area in a national forest. Grove, knowing that you are close to the tallest tree. compared with the frenetic and compared to the tree, is sobering. Tallest living earthly entities are the coast redwoods The walk allows meditation over the marvel of the ephemeral acts of daily human Many of the inland sequoia trees are (Sequoia sempervirens) along the coast, north from coastal redwood. While huge, these trees flourish in a life. You may find tears coming fully 30 feet in diameter and rise over San Francisco. The tallest specimen flourishes at a fairly narrow environmental niche. They grow to your eyes and experience a 200 feet. location in Redwood National and State Parks, near naturally only within 30 miles of the coast and at certain relaxing release as you commune with As you proceed through the parks, several Orick, in the northwestern corner of the state. The elevations below 3,000 feet, requiring a substantial the arboreal giants all around you. encounters with the massive trees occur. First, pay tree location is kept secret so that human admirers amount of moisture from rain and fog. Capable of your respect in Kings Canyon National Park to the don’t trample its root structure. living 2,000 years, coast redwoods can sprout clonally Most Massive Living Thing on Earth third largest, the General Tree (267 feet high, Most massive of living things are the coast from the rootstock of mother trees. They also Out of deference to Civil War Generals, who appeared 107.6 feet circumference). gets the nod redwoods’ inland cousin (Sequoiadendron gigantea), perpetuate themselves with tiny seeds, pinhead sized, during the second half of the 19th century to be the from many observers as the most classic illustration of located in pockets along the western foothills of the which weigh in at about 125,000 per pound. most substantial figures around, the giant inland this tree species because it stands alone in magnificent Sierra at mid-state. The giant Along the route in redwood country, shops sell a sequoias are known as the General Sherman Tree, grandeur, beautifully proportioned. Then proceed to among these is the General favorite souvenir, General Grant Tree, and other Generals trees. the second most massive, the General Lee. Finally, in Sherman tree in Sequoia redwood burls. The National Park, east of Fresno. burls are masses of tree Oldest living creatures are the tissue that form around bristlecone pines (Pinus a bud. Burls make longaeva) that survive in the attractive ornaments White Mountains, a range east of and, if put in water, will Bishop. Some bristlecones have sprout a miniature tree. endured for more than 4,500 Patience is required, years, based on core samples that however, as the burl can be ring dated. nourishes a tree to grow a few feet in several Tallest Living Thing on Earth years. A quest to see the tallest of the Fortunately, the most tall trees will take you to valuable examples of Redwood National Park in the far coast redwoods are now northwestern corner of the state. protected in parks. Seeing the species Sequoia Only eight percent of sempervirens is relatively easy the primeval forests of because the trees are distributed these trees escaped the in cool, moist areas along 400 loggers’ saws. Redwood miles of the California coast from lumber is one of the Big Sur north to beyond the most durable wood building materials 46 Lee Foster

an area of called the Giant centennial in 1876. Most observers in 1876 dismissed plenty of photogenic trees and the Pine Alpha, the Forest, you meet the most massive specimen of all, the the purported cross section of a tree as a California first tree that Dr. Edmund Schulman determined was 2,500-year-old General Sherman (275 feet high, 103 hoax, a tall tale. Trees just didn’t grow this large. It is over 4,000 years old. The Methuselah Trail is longer, feet in circumference, and 36.5 feet maximum comforting to know that the remaining giant sequoia taking several hours, and is recommended only to the diameter). The volume of its trunk is estimated to be trees will now survive for as long as there are people to extremely fit who can hike some distance in the 52,500 cubic feet. In 1890 the first groves in this tree appreciate and protect them. rarefied air. wonderland were set aside as a national park for future To get the full benefit of the trees, scenic terrain, California is a special place. The state can honestly generations to enjoy. and many potential hikes, spend at least a full day boast of these arboreal natural wonders. Even the most The propensity to turn those cubic feet into board wandering the “Generals” Highway through the parks. dispassionate scientific observers will support the feet of salable lumber proved to be an understandable, Your vistas will include the granite peaks of the Sierra, notion that California offers you the tallest, most if shortsighted, temptation of the lumber interests. such as the view from . For a pleasant hike, massive, and oldest living things on this planet. At the Grant Grove Visitor Center you can learn how try the two-mile Congress Trail in the General close these priceless natural gems came to feeding a Sherman locale. If You Go: California’s Arboreal Superlatives pedestrian lumber mill before the creation of the park. Tallest Living Thing: In fact, a 300-foot Sequoia was cut so that a cross Oldest Living Thing on Earth • For Redwood National & State Parks, see section could be taken to Philadelphia for the national Not until 1957 was the startling discovery made nps.gov/redw. that trees 4,000 years old, trees even older • For tourism information on the northern redwood than the sequoias, existed in the White region, see the Humboldt County Convention & Mountains of eastern California. Visitors Bureau site at redwoods.info. The surprising discovery was that some Most Massive Living Thing: gnarled bristlecone pines ring-dated to that • For Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, see early period. Moreover, a 9,000-year nps.gov/seki. chronology of weather patterns could be Oldest Living Thing: established by matching the ring dates of • Contact the Visitor Center-Schulman Grove living trees, dead trees, and downed wood. at fs.usda.gov/inyo. The Bristlecone Forest is a special 28,000- acre preserve within Inyo National Forest. It would probably be its own national monument or national park if the trees had been discovered earlier. Transport yourself to this aerie from your support base along Highway 395 in Bishop or Big Pine, convenient small towns for lodging and dining. The tenacious bristlecones silently maintain their vigil, living in inhospitable conditions where moisture is minimal and locked up for long periods each year as snow and ice. Wind constantly prunes adventuresome branches, and the alkaline soils present as spare a nutrient base on which plant life can survive. Longevity of the twisted, ravaged bristlecones seems to stand as a metaphor illustrating adaptation to adversity. A ranger on duty at Schulman Grove can acquaint you with two self-guided trails, the Discovery Trail and Methuselah Trail. Take the mile-long Discovery Trail, which has

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