The Giant Sequoia - Calaveras Big Trees State Park
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ธ.ค. 2019
- A visit to Calaveras Big Trees State Park on December 30th 2019. I take you on a tour of the North Sequoia Grove. The General Grant tree in Kings Canyon National park is the largest tree in the world by mass. The trees in this park aren't quite as big but it is a very impressive grove worthy of a day or more of your time. In summer you can drive to the South Grove and have access to a beautiful stretch of the Stanislaus River.
Song by Agnes Obel - September Song - บันเทิง
Amazing. I did visit Mariposa Grove in 1978. Pretty overwhelming. Thanks for posting.
Nice video. Very nice. Thanks...
To "Ape" and Others: on this Page of "Ape Man's" devoted to Sequoias, you may discover a whole slew of other vids, devoted to the people who CLIMB SEQUOIAS, for a living, depending upon how you browse for stuff on TH-cam. I'm staggered, not only by these trees, our 'big red friends", but by the LOVE that these Sequoia Climbers demonstrate, in their work, very high up in the crowns of these trees. I do not know how much more LOVE you can show these trees, by caring for them, as they do. The weather is quite different, too, at the top, than it is on the ground. Check those out, too.
Since they are tall enough, I wouldn't be surprised that there have been instances where it may be raining at the roots and snowing at the top of the tree!
"Brian", strange and wondrous stuff, is ALWAYS happening in the Sierra--sometimes very subtle, that you need the sensitivity of Johnnie Muir to catch it--there's NEVER, EVER a "dull" moment, in our sweet Sierra Nevada!!
@@swithinbarclay4797 I totally agree with your sentiments. I feel quite an aura of happiness and wonder in the mountains, a feeling I scarcely, if ever, feel at home or at work I also have to extend that statement to the mountains in Southern California. I am NEVER bored on my hiking excursions. I have had weeks of work-related agitation and depression, only to feel at an all-time high when I get into the mountains. Each hike has a magical feel that is very hard to articulate in words. I feel full of hopefulness, confidence, happiness, peace, and positivity. I am hoping to be able to spend some time in the Sierra this year, on the Kern Plateau and hopefully on top of Olancha Peak!
Happy New Year with great hikes. Another fine vid on a most beautiful and interesting tree. I've begun reconditioning to do my first 50mile bite of the Arizona Trail. Lower altitudes, but really scarce and far spaced water sources. Going to be interesting. Yes, I will again be solo and probably solitary as not so many are doing the AZT yet.
Hi Trilby. Summer hike planning is always a good motivator to get into hiking shape! Be careful out there!
Damn I need to make a tree watching trip to California. Btw loved the comment to the people off the trial!
The Please Stay on the Trail signs don't seem to work and I'm not afraid to speak for the trees!
Happy New Years! This is a great ode to a wonderful tree species! I have had the fortune of seeing a couple groves myself in the Southern Sierra Nevada. I have seen the Sherman tree in the Giant Forest in Sequoia Nat'l Park, and the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest. The Trail of 100 Giants has an interesting novelty, the "Sequedar," which is an Incense-Cedar and Sequoia growing together, or more likely, the cedar is being "swallowed" by the expanding girth of the Sequoia! Sequoias are heavily planted in the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests in Southern California, and they are actually naturalizing in a few spots!
Hey Brian. I've heard of the Sequedar tree. It sounds amazing. Young Sequoias are quite hardy and can grow as long as they have unlimited water. Most groves have some sort of year round water supply from a stream and a very reliable shallow aquifer. A warming climate and threats to their water supply are my biggest fears for the long term survival of these giants.
@@ApeMan I agree with the climate/drought fears! There are a few young Sequoias in the Angeles National Forest near Angeles Crest Highway across the highway from the exit of Buckhorn Campground. They are about 110' tall and are narrower than an Italian Cypress! They are very vigorous and are shooting up rapidly. There is a spring nearby with a constant supply of water and tall White Firs and old White Alders, and thickets of Thimbleberry and Sierra Currants. I've seen a few younger sequoias in the understory, and copious cone production. Despite years of drought, these youngsters are doing really well with the underground water sources. I believe the source is Buckhorn Spring nearby up the hill which produces a small brook that runs down the canyon where the trees are thriving. Their trunks are still thin, but are already starting to show the beginning of buttressing that is characteristic of the trees!
Those are some skinny Sequoias! Let's hope the big groves are around for many future generations.
"Ape", "Brian", when Sequoias are just "Tiny Princelings", they'll often have those stiletto crowns, like landscaping in ancient Imperial Rome. Beauty like this, only makes me love these trees, so much more. I guess that you could then call the youngsters, Stiletto Trees?
I like the way you put that! These trees are incredible in every stage of their lives!
Thanks for another great video!
Ape Man, so happy to see you out and about and sharing your expert knowledge with all of us. Happy 2020!
I would love to take my kids here! I’m adding this to our bucket list.
They have great camping facilities and the nearby towns have everything you need to keep the kids happy. I always enjoyed the evening ranger shows with my daughter when she was little. You can also head up to nearby Ebbetts pass for some great high Sierra hiking options as a day trip. I watched your bridge to nowhere video. Looks really fun.
Happy New Years Ape Man , I'm gonna make that JMT Hike this Year ! Thanks for all the Info and Vids over the Years. Much Love Dave !
Awesome! Hopefully we have a normal winter so we have a long JMT hiking season. Hit me up if you have any planning questions and keep that new year resolution because hiking into shape on the trail is not a desirable option!
@@ApeMan Agreed. Sticking to St Louis to Reno, EST to Lee Vining, Hitch 120 into the Park, Permit Pending. Hike then Shuttle the 395 Back to Reno. Think I'm gonna break up the Hike into 2- 2 week Hikes. That way I can Fish and Explore More.
Dave Elias Sounds like you have the transportation logistics figured out. Hitch hiking is pretty easy in that area and I have included it in many of my hikes with no problems. The work is all the planning. The hiking part is easy. I like your plan to take it easy and to do some fishing. Latest snow survey numbers have the Sierra at 90 percent but it’s early.
Happy New Year! Another great video.
I've spent all my time on the Eastern side of the Sierra so have missed out on these. Going to have to change that someday.
You gotta see the giants in SEKI in person at least once!
"Ape", you have no idea, how happy it makes me, that you've FINALLY done a vid about Sequoias--"Wellingtonia(s)", as they are called in the UK, in honour of Napoleon's "bete noir". And, speaking of things British, they may have known about these trees, closer to 200 years ago, starting with Master Botanist, David Douglas--he, of the DOUGLAS Fir fame--who also discovered the Sugar Pine. J.R. Walker's discovery of Yosemite in 1833, I believe, has mention of "astonishing" trees, but, really nothing else. Anyway, the English were crazy to ornament their big country estates with these, Ponderosas, Jeffreys, Sugars, and Coastal Redwoods. I like period dramas on PBS, but, if they have pieces that take place in the Eighteenth Century or before, it is VERY BAD FORM, to let slip in a shot of Wellingtonias, as it would be quite some time before you would find these in England. At about 15 minutes in, I like the shot of a Sugar next to a Sequoia--adds perspective and context--to the Sequoia's smaller, yet no less grand companions. Back in '73, I worked at Giant Forest Cafeteria, and had the ENTIRE RUN of the GF Grove, in my spare time, and found pockets aplenty in the Grove, where no one else seemed to go--plenty of "private conversations" with my big red friends. Those fire scars are called goosepens or catfaces--sometimes providing denning places for bears, coyotes, etc.--and sometimes I'd find unoccupied ones and I'd take a bit of a snooze, inside of a Sequoia tree. When you get used to the prickliness of Sequoia needles, the duff makes for an extremely comfy mattress. And Muir might have agreed with me! The youngsters of these trees are quite impressive too--many with stiletto-shaped crowns, that could have fit in quite nicely, to the Patrician villas, and cities of ancient Imperial Rome. I loved the piano piece for the final few minutes, mysterious and ethereal; was that Claude Debussy? I do have a new comment in you Lodgepole vid, for you to check out.
Yes I waited too long to do a Sequoia video mainly because the most impressive groves are in SEKI and it's been way too long since I've visited the west slope there but spend plenty of time on the east side. It is surprising that David Douglas didn't come across these trees. He almost certainly came across Coulter Pines but mistook them for Grey / Digger Pines which opened the door for a relatively unknown Dr Coulter to document and name them. What fun it must have been to come across new species and bring back seeds so the aristocrats could grow them on their estates. I suspect their forays must have been funded in great part by the wealthy of the day. There were some extremely large Sugar Pines at Calaveras Big Trees and I meant to get a picture of a huge one I saw earlier in the day but forgot its location. The forest service has a research forest in Placerville called the Institute of Forest Genetics. They have a test forest of Sequoias all about 50 years that you can see of highway 50 as you drive by and their perfect conical shape betrays their identity immediately.
I get the curling up under trees. My preferred conversing tree partners are old weathered Sierra Junipers. How cool it must have been in the 70's to work and play in the Giant Forest! I may have even crossed paths with you in that time frame on our many summer trips with teacher parents who had summers off.
I'm glad you asked about the music. That is Agnes Obel. A Danish hippy girl whose music is very moving. I already used her "Under Giant Trees" for my Foxtail Pine video. This was called September Song and perhaps her most well known song is The River. Despite being used in Grays Anatomy, Hunger Games, and various vampire shows I still love to relax to her music.
Something else, "Ape", about my '73 SEKI Idyll. I'd even hit the core of the GF Grove, during FULL MOONS!! Oh, to be there, when the sky glowed a light navy blue; the Sequoia trunks a dark purplish red; and, their foliage a dark, unfathomable green. As you may know, up in the High Sierra, you may not even need a flashlight when the Moon's full (I've got "vampire" vision!), unless your night vision's all shot to hell. A bunch of my buds 'n' me even summited Moro IN THE MOON, and boy is that EVER A TREAT, TOO! Could you imagine being there, during a WINTER FULL MOON, when all the Sequoias are wearing their deep snow slippers?? The woods would be even BRIGHTER, with moonlight reflected off of the snow ("Moonblindness", anyone??)! Something in SEKI that I would like to do, is to explore the Redwood Mountain Grove, the biggest grove of them all. There are fairly vast tracts of this grove, that the species composition, is 100% PURE Sequoia, and you can not see any other species, even in the mid-vicinity--or so I'm told. You will find the all-time TALLEST Sequoia(s) in RM, too, some verging on 320'. Ever been to the Freeman Grove, East of Porterville/Camp Nelson, North of Kernville? On the East side of the grove, Sequoias are actually mingled with Single-Leaf Pinons, Yucca, and CACTI! I should have traced that perimeter more, to see if I could have found any Joshua Trees, as well. Sigh, oh well. Being an alpine skier, I'd always wanted to "turn on my 'gravity rockets'", during full moons, with all of the slope floodlights doused. Now that . . . would be MAGICAL!!
People don't know what they are missing with full moons in the Sierra. I did a snowshoe trip on New Years eve and we never broke out the flashlights. I've spent many nights above tree line in the granite and if the moon is out you don't even need a flashlight. I've actually hiked by starlight in the granite the stars are so numerous and bright. You just have to let your eyes get adjusted. I've enjoyed quite a bit of night hiking mostly without lighting. Done 3 night hikes up Whitney and a couple up Shasta. Nothing like a sunrise from a 14er!
I need to check out the Freeman Grove. I would love to see the juxtaposition of Sequoias with cacti and pinyons. That area and the nearby Kern Plateau are magical places for sure. Southern California also boasts some incredible diversity and juxtapositions; I have been fortunate to see Mojave Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia phaeacantha), Mojave Mound Cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis), Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris), Limber Pines (Pinus flexilis), Sierra Junipers (Juniperus grandis), Sierra Lodgepole Pines (Pinus contorta murrayana), White Fir (Abies concolor), Jeffrey Pines (Pinus jeffreyi), Curlleaf Mtn Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intermontanus), Singleleaf Pinyon (Pinus monophylla), Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum var. diffusum), Creek Dogwood (Cornus sericea ssp. occidentalis), Utah Service Berry (Amelanchier utahensis), Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii), Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), and even Pacific Ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa ssp. benthamiana) all in close quarters in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. the Sugarloaf Mountain/Green Canyon area near Big Bear area is one place to see such diversity It is beyond impressive what diversity can be found in such a small area. A few minutes walk can go to both extremes of the vegetation!
And, "Brian", I do not think that you could REALLY FORGET the Coulter Pines that you may find in this area, especially if you suffer a near-miss from their nasty cones being yanked off, when a mean Santa Ana's a'blowin'! I have never personally been in this area, though I do so much want to go. I have seen pictures, though, and it looks like that Coulters and Jeffreys create some very exotic hybrids, between them. The Jeffreys, and other wetter regime conifers look to dominate Big Bear's South Shore, whilst Junipers and Single-Leaf Pinons hold court on the North Shore. The Junipers, from those pictures that I've seen, remind me of the Baobabs of Africa--outrageously fat trunks, with very little height to them. "Big Bear 'Baobabs'" . . . that has a certain ring to it!The Kern watershed, through the Monache/Olancha region--yes--quite a biological/ecological JUNCTION, where you end up with an ecological "milkshake" of the Southernmost San Joaquin Valley, just recently designated as a Desert in its own right; the Scodie/Tehachapi Ranges network; the NW Mojave "shaking hands", here and there, with the two previous geographies (Grey Pines being found as "strays", in the Mojave, and Joshua Trees in isolated San Joaquin Valley locations.). And, the invaginations of the White and Tule Rivers, invaginating throughout the lands of the Greater Kern Watersheds, (Hint: These Two rivers' Headwater Rises, IN NO WAY EVEN approach the Greater Crest of the Sierra Nevada.) further "complicates" matters--and you end up as well, with MULTIPLE sub-crests of the Sierra (Might as well throw in the Kahweah, Kings, and Roaring, while we're at it!), giving you the illusion that you're in a mountain range that's far, far larger. And there's spots on the Sierra West Slope, here, that get pretty sheer and steep, to somewhat mirror the East Slope's topography.