In its life the Dyerville Giant stood about 362 feet tall and was reckoned the tallest known tree in the world. It was around 1,600 years old. In March 1991, after a month of heavy rain had turned the ground to soup, a neighboring tree came down and took the Giant with it. People a mile away said it sounded like a train wreck.
Rangers left it where it fell. In a redwood forest a fallen giant isn’t garbage, it’s a nursery that will feed seedlings, fungi and salamanders for centuries. You can stand at the great torn disc of its roots, two stories high with the soil still in its grip, and then walk along a trunk that goes on longer than a city block.
Coast redwoods have no taproot, only a wide, shallow plate of roots, and they hold themselves up partly by interlocking with their neighbors underground. That is why a waterlogged spring and one falling neighbor were enough to bring down a tree that had stood through the whole of recorded European history.
Look along the fallen trunk for young growth already taking hold. Over the coming centuries the log will slowly turn back into soil and forest.
Pro tip: Start at the root wall and walk the full length of the trunk. The length is what lands, and most people turn back halfway.
- • You reach it on the Founders Grove loop; there’s no separate trailhead.
- • Please stay off the log itself; it’s fragile habitat.
- • It is one of the most photographed spots in the park. Put a person by the roots for scale.
- Where is the Dyerville Giant?
- The Dyerville Giant lies in Founders Grove, just off the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. You reach it on the short, flat Founders Grove loop trail.
- When did the Dyerville Giant fall?
- It fell in March 1991, after weeks of heavy rain, when a neighboring redwood toppled into it. It was about 362 feet tall and roughly 1,600 years old, and it was left where it fell.
