Just visited the Grove of Titans again, May 1st, to see how the redwoods and area were doing, and capture the present scene in photograph. Last time I saw these redwoods was summer 2012. It’s evident than more than a handful of people are not limiting movement to packed spots for photos. Also, some folks with good intentions laid sticks to block some areas, but failed to realized that visitors stomp down vegetation going around the debris. So the wear and tear widens. Actually, it would be better to leave tiny inconspicuous paths alone. Also, within the grove, some paths vanished, and between trees, doubled. So the positive and negative sort of neutralize one another. The one spot most obvious for wear is Screaming Titans.  Some visitors to the grove are getting sloppy about how they walk around the trunk. It would be little problem if they remained low down on a packed needles. The existing number of visitors would be no big deal if everybody was more precise about  movement. Unfortunately, one man altered that a couple of years ago by “opening the valve” to some of the less considerate. ….. So my report for this redwood grove May 2013, is that wear and tear has increased slightly between the trees, more noticeably around Screaming Titans. The photo below shows Lost Monarch, Coast Redwood and 7th or 8th largest known tree in the world. This photo got over 90,000 views and 900 shares on Facebook, which is more like what some National Geographic posts get on that social site.

Lost Monarch, Grove of TitansTo