The Grandest and the Smallest
“Whenever you go somewhere that speaks to your soul, you are going home to yourself.” Martha Beck
The grandeur of the sequoias and the majesty of the Sierras spoke to my soul. When one looks up, towering sequoias dignify the skyline, and when one looks down, delicate flora peak through the pine needles covering the forest. I am but a speck in the midst of such magnificence, but I am reminded that I am treasured by the Creator who made it all.
The Sequoias are the largest trees on earth in volume. The Redwoods are taller, but the Sequoias have a bigger circumference. Some are have a circumference of over 100 feet. One fun fact I read stated that if the trunk of the General Sherman Sequoia was filled with water it would provide enough water for 9,844 baths. That’s one bath every day for 27 years (not that I would want to take a bath from the water of an ancient tree!)
Sequoias live a long, long time. It is suspected that some are over 3,000 years old. The bark of the sequoias serve as a protection against forest fires. The bark can be up to 2 feet thick. The pine cone of the Sequoias does not open up until it is exposed to fire.
The indigenous people of the mountains and the prairies knew the value of restoring and replenishing the earth through fire. However, that lessen had been lost as fires were not allowed to burn for the past century resulting in little new growth of the sequoias for over a century. Fire management has changed over the past few decades to include controlled burns so new growth can be seen in the sequoias today,
It was amazing to see how many sequoia are badly scarred by fire but continued to thrive.
Notice the new sequoia growing beneath this burned sequoia.
The sequoias need moisture and the ecosystem of Sequoia National Park provides that through streams and meadows. The rangers have been working on restoring the marshy meadows and they were beautiful, but I wish I could have seen them when the spring flowers were in bloom
The trails were crowded with people, so there was little opportunity to see wildlife but a few creatures appeared.
In closing I share a quote that John Muir wrote in 1901, which was sent to me by my dear friend, Michele Hermansen.
“The tendency nowadays to wander in the wilderness is delightful to see. Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
For me, being in the wilderness is a necessity, whether I am walking around McKusick Lake in Stillwater, kayaking at Willow River, seeking photo opportunities at Crex Meadows in Grantsburg, WI or relishing in the beauty of the towering timbers and the tiny flowers of Sequoia National Park, I find myself homing in the presence of God in the fountains of life.
