This tree is completely dead because people stripped it of all its protective bark. When fire hit the tree was badly damaged and died.

I went to Calaveras Big Tree State Park this summer.  It is one of my favorite state parks.  I have little to say.  The pictures speak for themselves.  The Redwoods are one of California’s greatest treasures.  It is likely that when I was little, it was among these very trees that I really became an environmentalist.  They remind us of the great beauty in the world that exists independently of us and of the great damage we can cause when we do not respect the environment around us.