REDWO: The Wild Trees: Grove of Titans & Atlas Grove redwoods

[Ronald Mastrogiuseppe]

Grove of Titans & Atlas Grove redwoods M. D. Vaden of Oregon: Arborist Copyright 2008 Home Contact Background Work Photos Advice Links Oregon Photos Redwood Photos #1 #2 #3 Welcome to the giant rewood tree page including Jedediah Smith redwoods Grove of Titans and Prairie Creek redwoods Atlas Grove. You will find Iluvatar, Adventure Tree, El Viejo del Norte, Del Norte Titan, Atlas Tree and more. Largest giant sequoias may be destinations, but locations of these coast redwoods are secret and undisclosed. Photos & Video: largest of coastal redwoods: Del Norte Titan, Lost Monarch, Atlas Tree, Screaming Titans, Iluvatar, Adventure Tree and more. For convenient reference of these uncommon photos, consider a bookmark. These trees are not widely known. Header photo is Stout Grove near Grove of Titans. If you have questions about these redwoods, feel free to email - don't expect maps, but questions are welcome: mdvaden...@juno.com Album #1 is diverse. Album #3 has large tall photos of trees seen here. Album #2 is virtually the same as #3 but larger default size. In slideshow, see text under frames for largest photos. There are a few Video Clips See redwood measurements: Tallest Redwood Dimensions (2008 update: Michael Taylor) and for those interested, try Measuring Redwoods with comments about measuring trunk diameter. Note to anybody and researchers: if you withhold photos, names or ID of redwoods already named, new names may be assigned for reference. If you supply name + photo, edits can me made. Note new page: self-induced redwood tissue destruction hypothesis. These largest redwoods include those claimed as discovered 1998 by Sillett & Taylor near Crescent City. Plus Atlas Tree and another stand of redwoods. The photo at left is Del Norte Titan, in the Grove of Titans near Lost Monarch. Del Norte Titan emerges behind ferns like an ancient fluted Greek column. You can also see that redwood at Gigapan where I tinkered with a few gargantuan photo files: see Gigapan.com photos From 1928 to 1998, a 70 year trickle of people have reached Grove of Titans or Atlas Grove - 12,000 conservative. The majority simply passed through. I estimate 200 people besides botanists know at least 1 grove. Locations of both redwood groves raise questions about some statements in The Wild Trees by Richard Preston. To readers of The Wild Trees - no mistaken ID - find my book review. Image at right is Atlas Tree. Discovery by Sillett and Taylor means being first to publicize measuring. Others who preceeded them, may have recognized size or measured. Atlas Grove redwoods preserve over 100 markings and symbols, still legible, dating near World War II: history predating the story in The Wild Trees. The redwood trees of Atlas Grove apparently caught the attention of Michael Taylor in a different way than folks who preceded him. Names were given like Atlas Tree and Zeus. Seven Pleiades may stem from some trunks reaching like arms of women dancing in an artist rendering. The Grove of Titans redwoods are in the confluence of 2 valleys among flat, slopes and mounds. There are mulitiple sources of moisture and a wide range of sunlight. The west gateway to the grove has a nurse log covered with hemlock trees spanning a small chasm near Screaming Titans. The image to the left is Lost Monarch - branches of Lost Monarch hang within 16 inches of the ground. I measured the redwoods to compare with published trunk diameters; rounded: Lost Monarch 26', Iluvatar 20' and Del Norte Titan 23'. For Atlas Tree I measured 24'. Not only are the sizes interesting, but what grows on these redwoods is nifty too. For example, Aragorn: It has an epiphyte Oregon Spikemoss - Selaginella oregana - 110' to 120' high on a limb. An epiphyte uncommon on titan redwoods. This page began withLost Monarch 1st, Iluvatar 2nd and Del Norte Titan 3rd. But an anonymous redwood at a university page is 39,100 cubic feet as 2nd @ 348.8' tall. When I read that, it brought to mind a Fusion Giant @ 348.6' tall & 22.4' DBH on an old tall tree list. August 2008 in Redwood National Park, I found a redwoods nearly fitting that description @ 23.5' diameter with a vertical linear marking - steep slope near 300' elevation above Redwood Creek. With no ID on open record, I called it Episkopos. The image at right shows the huge trunk hidden. Later in the day, I found another redwood fitting a Fusion Giant size, which my tape showed to be 22.9'' diameter; same park, different elevation. Photos of both redwoods are in Album #3. I have received a message that "Fusion Giant" is indeed the 2nd largest redwood, and that the second of the two trees I located is that titan. Apparently it was given a new name - Fusion Giant is now called Melkor. One tree among the largest redwoods in the California Jedediah Smith Redwoods is Stout Tree: Album #3. But the park has 50 or more redwoods larger than Stout Tree: including Lost Monarch in the Grove of Titans @ 42,000 cubic feet. The largest redwood trees as a grove are the Grove of Titans in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, but others like Iluvatar of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Atlas Tree grove are equally impressive. The photo to the left is Iluvatar: see Album #3 Here are other site photos too: Steve Sillett Humboldt University Redwood Gallery. The Wild Trees Richard Preston wrote of Kevin Hillery. From Sharnoff photos: Hillery 180 feet in a Douglas fir. And Sillett traversing. Next, Douglas Wallower. Preston Lost Monarch. Robert Van Pelt redwood photo. Ferns up in a redwood Poseidon at Prairie Creek redwoods: Sillett, Ambrose: sensors in Icarus. Dunklin photo Heart of Poseidon, and a photo of instruments. Climbers on Zeus Redwood. Study in Poseidon Dan Bain's Virtual Photos. Photo at right is Screaming Titans. WHY no GPS ? You may have Google Earth. Open Google Earth, and click these links to initiate Google Earth automatic locate: Stout Tree, and Big Tree in Prairie Creek redwoods. Stout Tree Fly-by and Big Tree Fly-by Those short links with embeded GPS are easily emailed to friends or groups. This is one extra reason that coordinates are not shared. The image to the left if El Viejo del Norte. For size, Oregon redwoods don't compare with north California redwoods. To see huge trees, pick Jedediah Smith redwoods like Boy Scout Tree trail or Prairie Creek Redwoods trails minutes from Oregon. If you want a story to read about these, get The Wild Trees by Richard Preston. It tells of Sillett and Taylor finding and learning about redwoods. Look for online articles Redwoods: Day of Discovery and Climbing the Redwoods If you read The Wild Trees already, you may recall Adventure Tree; photo to the right - 17' diameter and one of the largest. Summer 2008, I found Adventure Tree. The pano added a bump to the trunk. Preston described the trek to Adventure Tree like an African Safari - I found a better path. See Album #1. Our exploring for Grove of Titans entered Jedediah Smith redwoods where forest debris was so thick our legs plunged through. On the way, we passed one redwood with a huge canker, maybe 40' up, about 9' diameter encircling the trunk - should be in photos. Exploring forests, I often lead to identify poison-oak. Close by Grove of Titans on Hiouchi Trail is a steroids poison-oak near 180' tall & 3" trunk - like an Anacoda on a redwood. More: the tallest redwoods are Hyperion, Helios, and Icarus. In 2006, Atkins & Taylor found Hyperion 379.1', Helios 376.3' and Icarus 371.2' - Redwood National Park. Other tallest redwoods were Stratosphere Giant and Mendocino Tree. The large redwood in the photo to the left is in the Grove of Titans - about 25' across. This redwood is my favorite - like a soldier standing guard. With no other ID openly posted, I call this redwood The Soldier. It has a huge limb up high that may compare to one on Kronos redwood. The image at right is a huge redwood at the Grove of Titans about 80 feet from Screaming Titans at the base of a mound which may be an old landslide. Comparing these largest redwoods to history, logging records indicate that redwoods were cut down in California, larger than known giant sequoias. This connotes that prior to 1800s & 1900s logging, coast redwoods were the largest trees. The largest single-stem tree measured was Lindsey Creek Tree redwood with a minimum trunk volume of 2,500  cubic meters: over 3,600 tons, which fell during a 1905 storm. The Album #1 photo shows teams of horses or mules on top. Trivia: Fujita bombed forest for Japan in WW II; to burn west coast forests. These pages have more info: Reference 1 & Reference 2 & Reference 3 . If Bigfoot amuses you, a Bigfoot trap was built in the 1970s east of the redwoods in Oregon: Bigfoot Trap. See the video. In 2007-2008, a winter storm broke a big limb and fern mat off El Viejo del Norte redwood. Pieces grew vigorous sprouts even in August after a dry summer. My October visit during heavy rain showed more growth and stems. I named this sprout cluster Genesis, and am watching the development. Photos are in the albums. If these remain remain alive, these redwoods will continue as offspring of El Viejo del Norte. Common names for redwood: Amerikansk sekvoja, Californische redwood, pin rouge d'ambrique, sequoia de California, sequoia toujours vert, punapuu, Küstenmammutbaum. Stout Tree is the redwood in the image to the right, at Stout Grove within Jedediah Smith Redwoods - a redwood visited by many people each year. The health of that redwood stand potentially conflicts with argument that other titan redwoods may decline fast due to visitors. Oregon Redwoods OREGON REDWOODS Nature Trail 1111 Redwood Parks map - a general redwood parks MAP. Redwood Hikes the best resource I found for Redwood forest hiking: photos, descriptions. ***** Self destruction hypothesis: My hypothesis is that weight of old redwoods causes so much pressure beneath the trunk that soil is compacted and cambium growth on the underside is halted. A redwood like Lost Monarch exerts like stacking 600 to 1000 concrete bags over a 30" x 50" space. That's comparable to redwood tree roots trying to heave a sidewalk 50 feet thick. I have an entire page presenting this concept, with related image examples: if interested, read redwood growth induced soil compaction and tissue destruction Soil Compaction and Redwoods: Soil compaction can occur in redwood forests where people admire trees. Soil has pore space between particles for air, moisture and beneficial microorganisms. The pores can diminish when people walk across. Compaction will affect beneficial microorganisms including mycorrhizal fungi. See photos at the Forest Mycology Team site for examples of fungi and roots together. The soil is an ecosystem of greater importance than the one in the canopy. The image to the left is another view of Iluvatar in Prairie Creek Redwoods. This redwood tree does not have a typical form. It's shape makes me imagine a gargantuan yew. I'm adding extra redwoods to the albums for which no ID was found - not champions, but big or unusual. With names for reference. Like the redwood Suction Cup - 10 minutes hiking from the north end of Mill Creek Trail by Stout Grove. Nearby is Fred & Barney - a twin stem tree. Flintstones came to mind because the redwood is rooted in rock. Close, is Caveman Club @ 58' & 6" circumference. A few of many giant trunk redwoods among Jed Smith redwoods. South, look for Sneaky Pete, a monstrous redwood by Prairie Creek trail. Most people would miss it, looking ahead while passing through cut-out tunnels of a fallen log. Sneaky Pete has a huge trunk bole with minimal taper. It's north of the visitor center. In Lady Bird Johnson Johnson grove parking area, look for Scarface. A redwood with a very nice canopy, and chainsaw slash across the lower trunk. Most people probably walk past without a glance while headed to the main grove. See albums. Several trees seen here were also written about in The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring by Richard Preston. Steve Sillett the researcher, and Michael Taylor who discovered Hyperion with Chris Atkins, are characters in the book. I've written a short book review about The Wild Trees on another page. Go here for the BOOK REVIEW: The Wild Trees by Preston Photos Policy: If you would like to use an image on a site, please email to ask. I mainly want to know where and how it will be used. If you get the okay, copyright must be included, along with a photo credit and hyperlink. My photos are not professional stuff, but a few have been used as stock photos since these trees are in few photographs elsewhere. Files over 2000 pixels are available.

 

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Guest Blog--The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring

Over a year ago, I heard Alex Chadwick interview Richard Preston. They were talking about Preston’s new book The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring. As I drove along, I was fascinated to hear about a new unexplored environment hundreds of feet above the ground in a redwood forest. What would it be like? New species of lichens and mosses existed there. Preston said that when you were in the canopy of a redwood you could not see the forest floor or the sky above you. More than anything I wanted to see photographs of this unexplored world.

I spent about 8 months away from home last year and almost completely forgot about both the book and the author. Recently I found it among the new books at Clics. Preston is the author of the bestselling non-fiction book The Hot Zone. He is an experienced writer, and he identifies this book as being narrative nonfiction. The story of the discovery of the world’s tallest tree is without doubt a love story. It is the story of the love and passion of many people who have dedicated their lives to science or to the exploration of redwoods. It is also the love story of scientists Stephen Sillet and Marie Antoine.

The book begins with telling about Sillet’s first climb into a redwood tree in 1987 when he was 19 years old. On a camping trip in the fall, Steve and his friend Marty impulsively decided that they were going to climb a redwood tree. Typically, a redwood does not have any branches to climb on until about 150 to 200 feet off the ground. That’s roughly 20 stories off the ground. The only way into the redwood was to climb a smaller tree and leap from the top of it into the lower branches of the redwood. Needless to say, neither or them had any rope or climbing gear. After yelling frantically at the two climbers, Scott Sillet, Steve’s older brother, resigned himself to the death of his younger brother. He sat on the ground waiting for him to fall.

There was no way that I was going to quit reading. Partway through the book, however, I decided that I needed to see more than the few illustrations by Andrew Joslin. I spent an afternoon searching the web. I started with The New Tribe climbing gear site. When I saw what a tree climbing saddle looked like and other items of climbing gear, the narrative began to be more clear to me. Richard Preston has pictures online of the redwood forest and some of the individuals in the book. An afternoon of reading the vita of Sillet and Antoine and seeing photographs of the redwood forest made reading the book so much more vivid.

By 1978 about 97 % of the redwood trees in America had been cut down by logging companies. As the Congress grew closer to passing a bill that would protect the remaining redwood forests and create a national park, logging companies worked day and night using powerful lights because whatever they had cut down, they could haul away later according to the new law. The tallest redwoods are 2000 years old. Two hundred years from now, today’s seedling will be a very young tree.

At the tops of the redwoods, there are gardens growing. The trees generate soil which accumulates on their branches. Not only mosses and lichens grow in that soil but rhododendrons, laurels, huckleberries and other species do as well. Trees grow in the arms of trees high above the ground.

Preston’s book lags at times, and I was not as interested in Sillet's love life as Preston seemed to think I should be. However, if nothing else, reading The Wild Trees will leave you feeling that you have a responsibility to protect the earth that we have inherited and will pass on to our children and grandchildren.

Ron Mastrogiuseppe, Director
Crater Lake Institute
http://www.craterlakeinstitute.com
541-810-3942