Big Basin in the Santa Cruz Mountains

[gaeln]

A few days ago, our Arizona friends, from left to right --Jason, Joanna skip skip skip, Regina, Todd, and James-- came for their yearly bay area visit with us. Also pictured are our San Jose friends, Jimmy and Cindy, plus my son, Aaron in the middle. Jason, being from Utah, hadn't seen Redwoods so, instead of our usual trek over the Santa Cruz

Comments

[beauty_forashes]

Wow, I'm so far behind on LJ! That tree looks amazing, like something you'd expect to see in a fantasy film, but not real life.

[gaeln]

I know, right? Many of the trees actually have little park signs telling what went different during their growth which, given that they can live to 2,000 years old, gives them a lot of time for different things to happen to them :) One, still alive, has been hit by lightening THREE times!

[beauty_forashes]

Holy crap! The resilience of plants always astounds me. 2,000 years - the only other tree I know nearly that old (minus 600 or so years) is the Ankerwycke Yew. I wish trees could talk, because of the history they've witnessed. :)

[gaeln]

There's also this narley little tree, a Bristlecone Pine, found in Utah, Nevada, and south east California, that can live upto 5,000 years!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine

Your Ankerwycke Yew certainly is a much nicer looking tree :)

[beauty_forashes]

What I'd give to see and touch a tree that's lived that long. Just...wow! :)

There seem to be a lot of legends around the yew, but it did witness the signing of the Magna Carta, which is cool.