I’ve been studying my Redwood Sky Walk Steward notes to learn more about the redwood trees. To help me retain the information, I thought I’d share some interesting facts about these magnificent trees with you.
1. A redwood’s shaggy bark can be up to a foot thick. It deters fire and insect damage and protects the cambium, the inner living layer of the tree.
2. The oldest trees in Sequoia Park are 600-800 years old. The oldest known coast redwood dates to 480 BCE.
3. Redwoods are social trees, growing in large groups called groves. Redwoods have shallow roots that are rarely more than six feet deep. Roots from adjacent trees fuse together, creating a connected “wood wide web” that helps neighbor trees share resources.
4. The largest redwoods measure nearly 30 feet in diameter at their base. Although ancient redwoods can be more than 350 feet tall, the average canopy height of the trees in Sequoia Park is around 250 feet.
5. Those knobby growths on the trees are burls. Burls are like scar tissue, growing where a tree was heavily damaged. While many species of trees can form burls, redwood burls are the largest ever known. One massive burl discovered in 1977, just 30 miles north of Sequoia Park, weighed about 432 tons. That’s the equivalent of nearly 90 elephants!
6. The lower half of the redwood tree is focused on growth. The needles spread out like fingers to catch the sunlight. The needles at the top of the tree grow upward and closer together to catch the moisture from the fog.
7. Secondary trunks called reiterations can emerge from the main trunk or on branches, acting like trees themselves. On ancient redwoods, reiterations may be as big as mature trees – and even have their own reiterations!
One thing that’s not in the training manual is how it feels to stand among these giant trees, high above the forest floor. A calm washes over you. You notice how quiet it is. You feel somehow connected to the magnificent forest around you.
I remember meeting a man in Redwood Park last year. He was from the midwest and had only seen redwoods on television. He said they called to him, told him to slow down, enjoy life more. And I believed him.
This past week on my first Redwood Sky Walk Steward shift, my intention wasn’t to be able to answer a lot of questions, but to simply share the awe and magic of being in the trees. And almost every person I asked said it was wonderful.
One woman, after walking the loop through the trees with her friend, said she could feel something opening in her body. She told me she has cancer, and her friend thought coming here would be good for her.
I asked where in her body, and she put her hand on her chest and said, “My lungs.” I reminded her that trees help us breathe, and I shared that, after living here for two years, I no longer use an inhaler. I encouraged her to find a big redwood to hug. And then we hugged each other. Twice. She said she really could feel the energy of the trees, and that she could feel my energy, too. We both acknowledged the serendipity of being there at the same time. And then we hugged a third time.
There is so much we are learning about trees, so much more we don’t know. And maybe we don’t have to know, as long as we’re willing to tune in and simply listen.
From my redwood-loving heart to yours,
