Another view from the road, but with only a 300 mm lens.
A view from the road. Specimen Ridge. is completely covered with little pieces of petrified wood. There are over 40 different varities of trees found in the remains.
Petrified trees in a vertical position, in their native soil. These are redwood trees at an 8200 foot elevation.
Explorer and photographer Lowell Baker provides scale for size.
This is the biggest tree there on the mountain. As you can see, the original preflood ground is under the tree, roots and all. It is also about to fall down the mountain side as the soil has eroded better than halfway under the tree. This all suggests that these trees could only have been here 1000’s of years, not millions. This is a redwood tree, which most of the trees still standing are of that type. There is supposed to be 40 of these vertical trees in the area.
A redwood trees that is petrified in the original soil it grew in. Redwood trees do not grow above the 2000 foot level and are a coastal tree as we know of it today. As you can see, there has been enough erosion that it is going to fall in the next few years.
Note how the winters have cracked the petrified wood. Another hard winter and it will probably fall, which suggests a relatively young age.
The first 1000 years following the flood it was probably covered in glacial ice, which is in line with the current data the our oceans have risen about 180 feet in the last 3500 years. All that water came from areas such as this that were completely covered in ice.
Shows the sedimentary material that these trees were buried in. Silica soup petrified them, and then they were covered by the sedimentary material.
Lowell Baker - 1200 feet up, 1.3 miles in, and 4 hours of pure exercise.
A tree that bent over and was petrified and is still buried.
The trail that goes into the area. Full of tiny pieces of petrified wood.
The top area of the big stump (5') that is about ready to tumble down the mountain.
Another of the stump ready to fall.
