The Big Trees

Returned to Yosemite today to see the Giant Sequoias.  The zombie at the gate was gone replaced by a team of retired volunteers, smiling and waving like mad (during the winter they are greeters at Walmart)!  This time we headed the short two miles into the park to the Mariposa grove of Giant Sequoias.  Many of the mature trees are 1800-2200 years old!  They made us feel really young.  In "sequoia-years" we live as long as house flies, and are probably as bothersome.

The grove has a surreal, fantasy-like, feel.  We expected to see an Ent come strolling into view at any moment.  Instead we got Japanese tourists with cameras and a French family with three loud and unruly children ... still surreal, but with comic-book overtones.  Nevertheless, we had a great time and Kim added a new hat pin to his collection (in a month or two that hat will weigh 50-60 pounds and will be able to pick up radio signals!

Here are a few pics of the big trees ... remember things in the mirror are, in this case, bigger than they appear.

Scientists are studying the trees to try and understand their longevity.  They are resistant to insects and rot and survive a forest fire on average of every 5-20 years (divide into 1800 for estimate of number of survival incidents).  They continue to grow and reproduce as long as they live and don't die from old age.  They only die when they have become so big that they topple over from the additional weight of snow in the winter.  Even in death they continue to endure and do not rot.  The roots on the tree below are over thirty feet across (high).  It has been down for around 200 years.

After such a hard day, obviously we deserved a bit of relaxation.  Who knows what trials tomorrow will bring!  :)