Visiting the Big Trees
Today we took a trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Arnold, California. This was another location to mark off of the bucket list. For years I have wanted to see ‘the big trees’. Before visiting California and the Redwood National Park I did not know the difference between Redwoods and Sequoias. Both Redwoods and Sequoias grow quite tall (over 300 feet), but it is the Sequoias are the tree that have such a large diameter (over 33 feet). Until I actually saw the size ‘in real life’ I could not grasp just how gigantic these trees are. Truly, even the pictures do not do them justice. They are massive. Here is a picture of my girls posing in front of a Sequoia at Big Trees State Park.
Per usual, once we got to the park we had a picnic. The scenery was incredible. The girls ate their lunch on a downed tree.
In the picture below Juliette is standing on a stump of a tree that was cut down in the 1850s. This stump was actually used as a dance floor for a period of time.
You can see the ridges in the tree where it was cut down. Due to the diameter of the tree they had no tools long enough to saw through the tree. They ended up using augers (a tool used in plumbing) to be able to cute through the huge width.
California State parks have a Junior Ranger program similar to the National Park System and my girls were able to participate. They always enjoy the Junior Ranger Programs- they learn and have fun and score- fieldtrip day!
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