The Methusela Tree
Feb. 5th, 2022 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerWe made our hike last Sunday a twofer. Not only did we hike through Corte de Madera Open Space to the Tafoni Monolith (aka SKULL ROCK); after that we visited the Methusela Tree. It was right next to where we parked, so in that sense us parking at the "wrong" parking lot to hike to Sku— I mean,Tafoni— wasn't really wrong.
Methusela is a reference to the biblical character Methuselah, in the Book of Genesis, who lived 969 years. (The name is spelled various ways in English because it's translated from a language with a different alphabet. In Hebrew it's מְתוּשֶׁלַח.) This particular tree has lived almost twice as long as that patriarch, an estimated 1,860 years.
This tree is a California Redwood. While 1,860 years is very old for this type of tree— really for any living thing— it's not like the Bristlecone Pine. A grove of Bristlecone Pine on Wheeler Peak in the Great Basin desert are 3,000+ years old. A grove in the White Mountains of California has Bristlecone Pine trees over 5,000 years old. Even other redwoods, especially the Sequoia Redwood (different species from California, aka Coastal, Redwood) can live to 3,500 years old.
While Methusela here isn't the oldest tree, she's the oldest in the area. Most other redwoods around here are thought to be only several hundred years old. And because this tree is a redwood it's big. She topped out at 225' tall before a storm in 1954— a few month ago, in her life span— damaged her top, and it broke off. The base, where you see us standing in the pic, is 14' diameter.
Methusela is a reference to the biblical character Methuselah, in the Book of Genesis, who lived 969 years. (The name is spelled various ways in English because it's translated from a language with a different alphabet. In Hebrew it's מְתוּשֶׁלַח.) This particular tree has lived almost twice as long as that patriarch, an estimated 1,860 years.
This tree is a California Redwood. While 1,860 years is very old for this type of tree— really for any living thing— it's not like the Bristlecone Pine. A grove of Bristlecone Pine on Wheeler Peak in the Great Basin desert are 3,000+ years old. A grove in the White Mountains of California has Bristlecone Pine trees over 5,000 years old. Even other redwoods, especially the Sequoia Redwood (different species from California, aka Coastal, Redwood) can live to 3,500 years old.
While Methusela here isn't the oldest tree, she's the oldest in the area. Most other redwoods around here are thought to be only several hundred years old. And because this tree is a redwood it's big. She topped out at 225' tall before a storm in 1954— a few month ago, in her life span— damaged her top, and it broke off. The base, where you see us standing in the pic, is 14' diameter.
