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National Geographic : 1964 Jul
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tell a tree's life history developed with National Geographic Society backing. Young Paul Zahl in Muir Woods, near San Fran cisco, counts the rings of a giant that was 583 years old when Columbus reached America. Determining the ages of uncut monarchs, such as the Rockefeller Tree at right, poses a problem; rain, drought, shade, and crowding vary yearly growth rates, and corings from trunks prove difficult to obtain and interpret. Stumps 12 feet across have shown ages ranging from 550 to more than 2,200 years, the oldest coast redwood on record. Recent measurements show the Rocke feller Tree has lost 2.8 feet off its top. seemed exceptionally tall, even for redwoods. I recalled what Lowell Hagood had told me in Orick about those trees. He, too, had described them as "great timber." Lowell had never seen the trees himself, but he knew log ging lore. He had pointed to dense ridges rising like walls east of town: "The valley be hind that ridge is real virgin country. Too bad there's no road." But now, as a result of my trip with Casey, I knew there was a road. Curiosity gnawed as I prepared for my first lone visit to the valley of Redwood Creek. The sun was shining brightly that October day as I drove eastward off U. S. Highway 101 (map, page 16). About ten miles inland, the road descended into the valley; Redwood Creek flowed northward, bright and blue. I parked by the stream's gravelly bed and took my bearings. Rising several hundred feet to the left was a ridge recently logged. To the right, eastward beyond the stream as far as eye could see, lay a forest of virgin redwood, towering, richly dense (foldout, pages 2-4). Rain had been sparse, and the creek at this point was only knee deep and 100 feet across. The tracks of elk, deer, and even bear were scattered along the water's edge, and fighting to get upstream against the rapids were sev eral big steelhead trout. To complete the picture of authentic wilderness, a flock of merganser ducks sped low over the water, veering sharply as they saw me. I hiked half a mile or so downstream, then 35
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