# General Sherman



## firecracker_77 (Nov 10, 2012)

General Sherman in Sequoia Nat'l Park contains 51,500 cubic feet of wood or approximately 400+ cords of firewood. That would be enough for a lifetime of heavy burning. Not that I would ever think it was a good idea to kill such magnificent trees or that they wouldn't be a protected landmark, but it is interesting to me at least to quantify their massive size in terms of something I can relate to...firewood cords


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## nrford (Nov 10, 2012)

Here he is!


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## nrford (Nov 10, 2012)

That's me in front of the General.


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## milleo (Nov 10, 2012)

Wow!


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## rideau (Nov 10, 2012)

Amazing tree.  Can't even imagine what it would feel like to stand under that tree, or walk through the forest.


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## fossil (Nov 10, 2012)

If you have never visited Yosemite & Sequoia National Parks in California's Sierra foothills, or the Redwood forests along the Pacific coast from south of Monterey all the way up to the Oregon border...you don't know what big trees are.  Worth a trip for a lot of reasons.  Maybe a bucket list entry.  Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees

Take it from a native Californian...if you ever manage to make it out to see these trees in person, you won't be disappointed, nor will you ever forget it.  Rick


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## Bacffin (Nov 10, 2012)

Amazing !!


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## Bacffin (Nov 10, 2012)

Is it an evergreen?


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## nrford (Nov 10, 2012)

Bacffin said:


> Is it an evergreen?


 
Yes


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## fossil (Nov 10, 2012)

Check out the tables of sizes of the largest known...height, DBH...these are some mind-boggling trees. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens


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## fossil (Nov 10, 2012)

I'll probably end up moving this thread over into the Perfect Picture forum.
Check out what these old boys did with nothing but hand tools.  I can't imagine.


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## nrford (Nov 10, 2012)

fossil said:


> If you have never visited Yosemite & Sequoia National Parks in California's Sierra foothills, or the Redwood forests along the Pacific coast from south of Monterey all the way up to the Oregon border...you don't know what big trees are. Worth a trip for a lot of reasons. Maybe a bucket list entry. Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees
> 
> Take it from a native Californian...if you ever manage to make it out to see these trees in person, you won't be disappointed, nor will you ever forget it. Rick


 
Agreed, it was well worth it!


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## gzecc (Nov 10, 2012)

Could you imagine the first logger that saw these trees? They must have been salavating. I am still surprised there are any left! Probably because its not the best wood for building.


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## firecracker_77 (Nov 11, 2012)

I have been to Sequoia.  Was an awesome place to visit.  It was upper 80 degrees in the valley and cold and snowy up there.  I live in the Midwest.  We don't have elevations like that. 

I would imagine that the first European to see one of these giants was totally blown away.  You can't really get right up next to General Sherman, but he's a massive sight looking straight up from the perimeter fence. 

Here's some more on impressive trees, but my favorite story in here is a guy cutting down a bristlecone pine tree in California to determine it's age without realizing it was the oldest tree in the world....5,000 years.  What a dipstick  5,000 years this thing has survived and he takes it upon himself to end it's life.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/21...aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582


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## Adabiviak (Nov 11, 2012)

There's a local grove of these giant sequoias in nearby 'Big Trees' state park. An ex girlfriend worked there, and was allowed to bring home some firewood as part of being an employee (biggest knots I'd ever had to deal with). The thing about this park is that all the trees are larger than usual, but they're still dwarfed by the giant sequoias, so they don't get much of the spotlight.

The stump of the 'discovery' tree... wish they hadn't cut it down. The story goes that there wasn't a saw big enough to go through it, so they severed it by lancing it numerous times with augers. Once it was severed, it took some time (a couple weeks?) before it actually toppled due to high winds.





One of the trees in the park.


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## firecracker_77 (Nov 11, 2012)

Park literature from Sequoia Nat'l Park says those trees draw huge quantities from the moisture at the top of the canopy.  That and the other unique environmental characteristics at that particular location allow a massive tree that couldn't grow that big anywhere else.  As much as humans can do, nature still amazes.


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## Gasifier (Nov 11, 2012)

Cool thread. We are going to make a trip to the west coast next July for a vacation. I would like to see the Sequoias if we have time.


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## fossil (Nov 11, 2012)

gzecc said:


> Could you imagine the first logger that saw these trees? They must have been salavating. I am still surprised there are any left! Probably because its not the best wood for building.


 
They (the old growth Redwoods) were dang near logged into oblivion.  What's left is protected, and it might seem like a lot of acreage, but it's just a fraction of how the forests were originally found.  Redwood logging was a thriving industry for a long time (decades).  The lumber is dimensionally stable, naturally resistant to insects & rot, free of pitch/sap, and takes finishes beautifully.  When I was growing up in California, virtually every deck & fence & outside structure of any other kind was built of Redwood...but it was also used in framing & many, many other applications.  Whenever we drove north for a while from the Bay Area, we'd see lumber trucks (lots of them!) bringing Redwood down to the mills.  The remaining protected forest remnants contain many of the world's oldest and tallest trees.  If you ever get a chance, go and see them...they are really amazing.  Rick


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## firecracker_77 (Nov 12, 2012)

Gasifier said:


> Cool thread. We are going to make a trip to the west coast next July for a vacation. I would like to see the Sequoias if we have time.


 
They are beautiful.  So is that Nat'l Park.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Nov 12, 2012)

fossil said:


> Meantime, read this book (the cover photo shows two people climbing a redwood):
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Trees


 
Steve Sillett was one of my college professors at Humboldt State.   

One time I was mountain biking in Redwood National Forest when a big one fell pretty close


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## bfunk13 (Nov 12, 2012)

Awesome!


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## Eatonpcat (Nov 12, 2012)

Way cool...Now that's a tree!


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## jharkin (Nov 12, 2012)

Thats just amazing..  There was a special on national geographic channel a couple months ago. The researchers who discovered what firecracker mentioned where on- the fact that these trees get most of there moisture from the mist.  Apparently they only figured that part out in the last few years. There is a limit to how high a tree can draw moisture up from the ground via gravity, and these giants only exceed that due to being able to draw moisture from mist (which is why giant redwoods wont thrive anywhere but the upper west coast ?) The canopy of the tree is its own microclimate. 

Just fascinating.  Thanks for sharing.


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## fossil (Nov 13, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> Steve Sillett was one of my college professors at Humboldt State.
> 
> One time I was mountain biking in Redwood National Forest when a big one fell pretty close


 
Wow.  When I was a kid, we (family of 4) were picnicking at "Happy Isles" in Yosemite Valley and a big (~8+' DBH) redwood came down almost right on us.  Totally terrifying and amazing.  Not something one forgets.


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## firecracker_77 (Nov 14, 2012)

fossil said:


> Wow. When I was a kid, we (family of 4) were picnicking at "Happy Isles" in Yosemite Valley and a big (~8+' DBH) redwood came down almost right on us. Totally terrifying and amazing. Not something one forgets.


 
Did it move the ground when it landed?


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## Eatonpcat (Nov 15, 2012)

fossil said:


> Wow. When I was a kid, we (family of 4) were picnicking at "Happy Isles" in Yosemite Valley and _*a big (~8+' DBH) redwood came down almost right on us*_. Totally terrifying and amazing. Not something one forgets.


 
Bad aim???


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## Pallet Pete (Nov 16, 2012)

Pifft I could take that with a Fiskars x27000 

Pete


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## woodchip (Nov 17, 2012)

They have to be unbelievably impressive to see in person.
If I ever made a bucket list, seeing them would have to be somewhere on it. Probably near the top.
Something that never gets much mention anywhere is the pressure on the sap as it gets pushed up from the roots to the top.
Knowing how sap flows so freely in some trees I've seen cut in summer, the sheer weight of sap pressing down against the upward flow must be incredible, at least 120psi !


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## RK_MacKendrick (Dec 10, 2012)

If you head out this way, shoot me a message, I can direct you to some very nice places.

Yes, they make quite a thump when they hit the ground.


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