goetze@pa.dec.com
This panorama was shot on top of a giant ancient redwood which had fallen recently along the south side of Bull Creek in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California. These trees grow to over 300 feet tall, and sometimes live for over 1700 years. The scene shown is perhaps a kilometer east of the Big Trees Area of Lower Bull Creek. It appeared that this tree took out at least one other tree on its way down. The forest floor was an impenetrable thicket of broken redwood branches for hundreds of feet around, and I spent an hour looking for the trail under all this debris. In my inexpert view, this giant tree fell in the winter's El Nino storms. To give you an idea of the scale, I'm six 1/2 feet tall, maybe 4 feet sitting down.