Discovery of Largest Redwood Stand

April 2, 2007 9:50 PM

A Day of Discovery. Now Taylor and Sillett planned to push deeper into Jed Smith, beyond New Hope Tree, to try to explore valleys where they had never gone before. It seemed unlikely that anyone had gone there in many years, and they would discover, once they got into the valleys, that the U.S. government maps of the area were inaccurate and could not be used for guidance. For all practical purposes, the center of Jed Smith was a blank spot on the map of North America. A couple of guys out for a walk discover an unknown grove of redwoods.
posted by LarryC (24 comments total)

I've been there (Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park), in fact I was "kicked out" (strongly told to leave) when I took a 4x4 on an off-limits road and ran into some rangers on a training mission who were not pleased to see someone with a laptop and GPS mapping scouting out the forest. It never occurred to me until reading this why they would have been so concerned, maybe I stumbled on the way to the secret grove.
posted by stbalbach at 10:04 PM on April 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

See also: Climbing the Redwoods by the same author. (I believe this is the same article published in the Feb. 14, 2005 issue of the New Yorker. A follow-up on Hyperion, the world's tallest known redwood, came in the Oct. 9, 2006 issue [abstract]). Author's photo gallery of climbing the redwoods. Audio interviews on the author's website.
posted by spock at 10:09 PM on April 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Now Taylor and Sillett planned to push deeper into Jed Smith

Am I a perv, or did that sound dirty to anyone else?
posted by papakwanz at 10:24 PM on April 2, 2007

Thanks for the additions, Spock!
posted by LarryC at 10:25 PM on April 2, 2007

Wow, great post!
posted by nasreddin at 10:29 PM on April 2, 2007

Am I a perv, or did that sound dirty to anyone else?

The two are not mutually exclusive.
posted by spock at 10:34 PM on April 2, 2007

papakwanz: First thing I thought too.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:58 PM on April 2, 2007

Great story, thanks.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 11:30 PM on April 2, 2007

Am I the only one looking for money shots here? I want to see the trees.
posted by avriette at 11:31 PM on April 2, 2007

This isn't from the same grove, but it gives a good idea of how massive those trees get. From Spock's link above.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 11:40 PM on April 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Here you go avriette.
posted by srboisvert at 2:37 AM on April 3, 2007

That's the mind boggling thing about the Cascade/Sierra forests--they were full of trees like that, seemingly innumerable, from Alaska to central California. Except for a few pockets, they're all gone now. And tree poachers take another few every year.
posted by maxwelton at 2:59 AM on April 3, 2007

Awesome story - reminds me in a way of those guys who explored the tail-race at Niagara Falls. You have to be slightly insane to want to do this kind of stuff - but it sure makes for compelling reading.
posted by your mildly obsessive average geek at 3:00 AM on April 3, 2007

Thanks for the post, quite amazing, and Day of Discovery is otherwise known as ...(drum roll) my birthday. As a tree hugger, I appreciate that a lot.
posted by Goofyy at 4:21 AM on April 3, 2007

Here's the Lost Monarch in the Grove of Titans, avriette.
posted by dglynn at 5:49 AM on April 3, 2007

Wow, amazing post. I'm late for work now because I *had* to read it; thanks for that!
posted by delfuego at 6:23 AM on April 3, 2007

Second that late for work comment. I'm a sucker for redwoods. Thanks!
posted by ikahime at 7:12 AM on April 3, 2007

I loved the story. Thanks.
Orion magazine is top notch too.
posted by nofundy at 9:03 AM on April 3, 2007

Great post.

Now my having seen the General Sherman is hardly as cool.
posted by teishu at 9:06 AM on April 3, 2007

An hour later, they were still crawling in the creek. They began referring to it as Cocksmoker Creek.

And here they thought the reason the maps were blank was that nobody had explored it. No, it's just government rules against uncivil names....

Now Taylor and Sillett planned to push deeper into Jed Smith

Am I a perv, or did that sound dirty to anyone else?

I just thought of Roland Hedley deep inside Reagan's brain.

Michael Taylor is also the discoverer of the Taylor Diet. “It’s simple,” he explained to me. “I realized I was eating a lot. So I stopped eating a lot.”

Also known as the Hacker Diet.
posted by dhartung at 9:49 AM on April 3, 2007

Thanks for that link, Dglynn, it leads to whole photo gallery of the trees and climing the trees.
posted by LarryC at 2:50 PM on April 3, 2007

Yeah, that was my "photo gallery" link in the 2nd comment.
posted by spock at 6:52 PM on April 3, 2007

Great thread, LarryC and spock. Thanks!
posted by homunculus at 10:41 PM on April 3, 2007

stbalbach: that, and you looked like you were scoping things out for a grow op.
posted by five fresh fish at 11:55 PM on April 3, 2007