Big Trees!

last weekend we took a road trip to Auburn

to visit the parents.

it was almost an 8 hour drive from Auburn to Santa Barbara,

big state!

a little over an hour beyond the parent's house

is a small hike in the 

Tahoe National Forest.

we wanted to see the 

Placer County Big Trees Grove

big states need big trees!

the trail

various varieties of enormous trees along the trail

the trail's highlight is 

a small grove of six living (and two fallen) Sequoias.

hard to get perspective here; the tree in the foreground is 12 ft in diameter,

tiny by Sequoia standards

first discovered in 1855 by a gold prospector, 

they have been protected by law since 1892.

this group is thought to be 500-800 yrs old,

but since they are 50 miles from the next closest group of Sequoias 

(these are the northernmost group in the country)

and the germination rate is less than 1% 

(an immature, green pinecone can stay on the tree for over 30 years),

  these trees are, sadly, on their way

to extinction

the two fallen trees came down in a storm in 1861 

amazing lichens and moss

knee-high pine cones!

the next day on the ride home.....

crossing over from the Central Valley to the coast,

from moist forest

to barren, waterless space.

scary