Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Near the town of Arnold is the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. This is one of the several locations scattered along the Sierra Nevadas where sequoia are still found and thriving.

As you can see above, there are (in this case, were) some really enormous trees. I'm told that the stump was at one time used for a dance floor. 

You can see from the bottom of the tree above that it was not simply sawn. It was repeatedly drilled to weaken the tree to bring it down.

Even in death, these trees are impressive and long lasting.

While alive, these trees dominate the landscape. The forest floor is pretty open and the location of this particular tree is clear, it fills the space in ways more normal trees just can't.

I saw a photo of a tree similar to these in the Natural History Museum in London several years ago. It was a vertical panorama of the tree assembled to show the tree without any of the distortion you see in my photos here. It was large and very impressive. The real thing leaves you speechless.

There were fallen giants in the forest, no doubt a part of the plan to give the still living a natural setting. Gauging yourself beside one of these tree ends leaves you dwarfed.