The General Sherman Tree has a circumference of 103 feet and soars 275 feet into the blue Sierra sky—and it's still growing. Every year it adds enough wood to make another 60-foot-tall tree.
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The General Sherman is as Tall as a 26-Story BuildingAnother interesting fact is that these trees are the third longest-lived tree species and typically have a lifespan of 3,000 years.
Here's how the General Sherman got its name(s). The largest tree in the world has lived through millennia, has been named for a Civil War general and has shaded a socialist commune that briefly called it Marx. Now the centerpiece of Sequoia National Park is endangered by the California wildfires burning nearby.
While it is the largest tree known, the General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Hyperion tree, a Coast redwood), nor is it the widest (both the largest cypress and largest baobab have a greater diameter), nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth ( ...
The Giant Forest alone is home to 8,000 giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree. The tree, which is roughly 2,200 years old, sits behind a fence and a giant sign displaying its name. While you cannot get close enough to touch it, it remains both a beautiful sight and a great photo opportunity.
The National Park Service estimates that the General would yield 630,000 board feet of lumber. That's enough, they say, “to build 120 average-sized houses. In fact, a single giant sequoia may contain more wood than is found on several acres of some of the finest virgin timberland in the Pacific Northwest.
Visit our restoration webpages to learn more about this exciting work. How many acres of old-growth forest are left? Fewer than 120,000 acres, or 5 percent, of the original redwood forest remains today.
Located in the Giant Forest surrounded by mature giant sequoia trees, tunnel log fell across the road nearly a century ago. National park visitors and tourists can come drive their vehicles through this fallen giant sequoia. This is a must stop spot inside the park.