Helios Coast Redwood .. the Mighty Quad
2nd tallest (2012)(2012) height: 376.54 feet
by Mario Vaden
Helios coast redwood was discovered July 1, 2006, a little past 6pm by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in Redwood National Park.
Helios is a compressed group of four trunks, hence the nickname Mighty Quad. The four trunk combo is distinct and easy to see. Approaching from one downslope side, that is more obscure. But from the other sides it's plain as day.
Previously, Stratosphere Giant was the tallest known. Helios became the tallest for a while until Hyperion was discovered by the same two men later that year in another valley on August 25, 2006. Also July 1, less than two hours after discovering Helios, they found Icarus which was 371' tall. That was 2 world records in one or two hours. Author Richard Preston described the time between them as "minutes", but I think the few minutes was more like 60 minutes or more. The area of Helios grove was nicknamed Dry Heaves Creek, mentioned in the redwood adventure book by Preston.
The only people I've been here with are Chris Atkins and Thomas from Germany, introduced on New Hope Grove. I had a small advantage when the trunk looked like a good possible candidate during my initial search looking. There was a GPS antennae laying on the needles near it's base. It also had the correct dimensions.
For the present, I'm not posting a full lower trunk view to maintain an element of mystery. Winter 2017 digging through old folders, I found an image from June 2009, on a day we measured in Helios grove. The photo doesn't compromise the area. Near the end of this page, you can see one of us behind the foliage.
Rhododendrons are all over the place, and those are the stems you see obscuring the big trunk. The only glimpse I offer for Helios is a small area of bark with a little fire scar on it's west side. I thought it was interesting, shaped like a Megaladon or Great White Shark tooth.
For reference, one reported 2009 measurement for Helios was 375.9' or 114.58 m tall, and 16.0' or 4.96 m diameter. The 2006 measurements and 2009 measurements suggest Helios was only few feet shorter than Hyperion. By 2012, the gap closed even more. When it surpasses the tallest, it's doubtful the change will be announced.
Dr. Sillett quit releasing names with data, and because the ten tallest changed heights nobody outside the researchers and a handful of explorers will know with certainty where these redwoods rank in the top ten. Any claims outside those few are speculation. But it's a fact that Helios was noted as the world's 2nd tallest in 2006. Helios is taller than originally reported.
Surprisingly, early 2017, someone photographed Helios and didn't have a clue what it was. They weren't looking for it either. I was browsing Flickr and 500px and an image seemed very familiar. I went into my Helios folder and realized it was the same redwood, from the same angle. This seemed peculiar that someone not looking for Helios would pass and photograph it, while countless other people searched intentionally without a trace of sighting. Apparently they camped along Redwood Creek and explored up one of the creeks for fun. Their album gave the impression of a wanderer of the woods.
One thing that never made sense was in Preston's book, where he said Atkins and Taylor took 7 hours getting into the valley and Helios, saying they found it around 6pm. I never asked them, but am positive they didn't spend the night. If it took about 7 hours like the book said, leaving around 7pm means getting back 2am in the morning. They must have explored an adjacent location first otherwise it makes no sense. I've been to Helios grove about six times. I tend to move slower than others with the heavy camera backpack, but I could reach Helios in 2 hours with a light daypack, not counting driving or parking. At best, I could reach it in about 50 minutes, but 2 hours would be typical.
This reminds me of The Wild Trees, in pages 191 - 194 where Preston described "several miles" to reach Grove of Titans. Today that grove is known by many people to be just minutes from parking.
The second image below taken April 18, 2009, shows where Helios's two largest trunks vanish upward into a thick canopy. It's amazing how forests change, that every one of these needles has fallen to the ground.
advertisement
