Up close to the tallest living things on our planet.

If you want to feel small, stand next to a redwood trunk.

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About The Author

Hal Amen

Hal Amen is a managing editor for Matador. His personal travel blog is at WayWorded.

  • http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/xtremxpert XtremXpert

    just WOW…

  • http://www.discoverourtown.com Molly Bermea

    Excellent photos! I live 2.5 hours from these beautiful trees and have been going since a child. LOVE THEM. Great hiking too.

  • http://milesofabbie.com Abbie

    The redwoods were just featured in National Geographic, too – I definitely want to see them for myself someday!

  • joshua johnson

    My time with old growth trees is some of my best, most magical memories! I have a special connection to Redwoods, especially the Western Red Cedar.
    Can you imagine the forest that stretched form Northern California to Alaska? What a sight that must have been.

  • Kathy

    Hard to imagine that much biomass just growing into existence. Gorgeous pix!

  • http://meganahill.wordpress.com Megan Hill

    Beautiful photos!
    (But can’t standing that close/on a tree HURT it? I think I read that somewhere, and I’m pretty sure that’s why a lot of them are roped off.)

  • http://musictravelwrite.wordpress.com Michelle

    Gorgeous! I love all the ground shots looking up.

  • http://dirtbagwriter@gmail.com Amiee

    Wow beautiful shots – the Redwoods are now on my ever expanding must see list!

  • kmye

    Some nice photos here…just wanted to mention it’s “Jedidiah,” not “Jebidiah” (#6 & #9). It’s “The Simpsons’” fault…

    • http://matadortrips.com/ Hal Amen

      Sweet, thanks kyme. Perhaps I’m dyslexic and don’t realize it…or, as you say, it’s probably The Simpsons. :)

  • http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/candicew86 Candice

    Wow, incredible. That last picture especially.

  • http://onceatraveler.com Turner

    Just saw the forest in Rotorua, NZ. Tall as.

  • Jessica

    They never cease to be amazing. Sometimes when you live where you’re surrounded by the coastal redwoods you take them for granted. Its been awhile since I really took in what I’m surrounded by. Its time for a hike, thanks for the reminder!

  • http://bayarea-wedding-photography.com San Francisco Photographer, Amanda

    They are gorgeous aren’t they ? I love way it smells in the Redwoods too!

  • Cullens

    Actually, it’s “Jedediah,” rather than “Jedidiah.”

    Jedediah Strong Smith was a very early “mountain man” and fur trapper. A very interesting man, one who blazed many trails into California. He is considered the first non-Native-American to travel overland from the Mississippi and across the Sierra Nevada into California. He was a young scrap of 22 when he made this first foray. When he was 27 he led a party from southern Utah, across Nevada, Arizona, the Mojave Desert and the Cajon Pass to Mission San Gabriel in southern California.

    In 1831, Jedediah Smith was at the Cimarron River near Santa Fe, New Mexico looking for a water source to serve his latest trading party, and was ambushed by Indians. When he failed to return from the scouting trip, his group went on to Santa Fe without him, hoping that he might have gone on ahead. Eventually his companions on the trip, finding some of his personal possessions for sale by a Santa Fe merchant, learned that he had been killed by a group of Comanches along the Cimarron River.

    • http://matadortrips.com/ Hal Amen

      That’s one troublesome name, eh?! Thanks for sharing the historical background.

  • http://wwww.themightysparrow.com The Mighty Sparrow

    Great selection of redwood photos. I don’t even think NatGeo has a selection this diverse. Well done.

    • http://matadortrips.com/ Hal Amen

      Hey, thanks Sparrow. That’s quite a compliment.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003004252697 Drega Baltimore

    Awesome.. Fantabulous!

    Elie Saab

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