THE 9 OLDEST, TALLEST, AND BIGGEST TREES IN THE WORLD
4. THE TALLEST TREE IN THE WORLD: THE HYPERION
The world's largest tree by height is the Hyperion, which is a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and is located somewhere in the heart of Redwood National Park in California. This should come as no surprise: majestic redwoods are among the tallest and oldest trees on the planet, and their existence dates back a whopping 200 million years, to the Jurassic period.
So, how tall is the tallest tree in the world? The Hyperion reaches a staggering 379.1 feet high! Discovered in 2006 by two naturalists and confirmed by redwood expert Stephen Silett, it has quietly grown for an estimated 700-800 years.
Access to this tree by recreational hikers, climbers and tree enthusiasts has been blocked by the National Park Service, with a hefty $5,000 fine for violators. This is for the protection of the tree itself, and the surrounding old growth redwood forest, after visitors were bushwhacking to the remote tree, damaging the understory and leaving trash behind. Park rangers say that from the ground, the tree doesn't really stand out, because you can only see the first 150ft — but the curiosity is understandable.
Just a few hundred feet away from this giant is a clearcut from the 1970’s. That means that Hyperion was maybe weeks away from being cut down due to deforestation before the land was protected with National Park status by the Carter administration.
The world's largest tree by height is the Hyperion, which is a coastal redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and is located somewhere in the heart of Redwood National Park in California. This should come as no surprise: majestic redwoods are among the tallest and oldest trees on the planet, and their existence dates back a whopping 200 million years, to the Jurassic period.
So, how tall is the tallest tree in the world? The Hyperion reaches a staggering 379.1 feet high! Discovered in 2006 by two naturalists and confirmed by redwood expert Stephen Silett, it has quietly grown for an estimated 700-800 years.
Access to this tree by recreational hikers, climbers and tree enthusiasts has been blocked by the National Park Service, with a hefty $5,000 fine for violators. This is for the protection of the tree itself, and the surrounding old growth redwood forest, after visitors were bushwhacking to the remote tree, damaging the understory and leaving trash behind. Park rangers say that from the ground, the tree doesn't really stand out, because you can only see the first 150ft — but the curiosity is understandable.
Just a few hundred feet away from this giant is a clearcut from the 1970’s. That means that Hyperion was maybe weeks away from being cut down due to deforestation before the land was protected with National Park status by the Carter administration.
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04 April 2024
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