Howland Hill Giant Coast Redwood - 6th (2009)
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Another fused redwood titan.
by Mario Vaden
Note: When you have a moment, read the page about trunks Fusion vs. Confusion
Update January 2017: natural light was optimum around the trunk and revealed where two large trunks fused centuriies ago to form the Howland Hill Giant (aka the Weyand Tree). Nowadays it seems like one trunk at a casual glance. Its original two trunks were north and south. Just like Sir Isaac redwood it's easier to show someone on-site how these redwoods formed and the clues relate to cambium, growth and linear shapes from included bark. I shared this with Chris Atkins. Barely 2 minutes after walking up to it, he concurred and we also discussed how General Sherman many hours south in the Giant Forest has the same "fingerprint" of double trunk origin.
I left 6th largest archived in the heading which dates back to 2009. After new discoveries Howland Hill Giant is at most the 8th or 9th largest coast redwood. This is one of few redwoods where tips are offered to find it. Just keep an eye out for when you drive through the park on the old road. When first discovered by Michael Taylor in 1990 it was found to be one of the largest coast redwoods, the 6th largest known in those days.
2009 data was: 330 ft. tall, 19.1' diameter dbh ... 33,500 cubic feet wood volume
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The 3rd photo below shows my van in comparison to the redwoods along this Howland Hill Rd. The van is a 2015 Ford Transit, slightly larger than a quad cab Ford F150. The Howland Hill Giant is the largest coast redwood in view of this road.
The trunk grew slightly larger and Michael Taylor upgraded the diameter to 19.8 ft.. The 330' height is impressive for a titan size redwood. The lower trunk was not as wide as Lost Monarch, Arco Giant and others, but its bole does not taper much. That and the extra height placed this coast redwood among the 20 largest known coast redwoods. It was once measured from the ground and stated to be the only trunk on earth known to have a stem 6 ft. diameter at 300 feet. But one researcher (either Dr. Sillett or Dr. VanPelt) told me that the trunk is not that wide at 300 ft.. The slow taper makes it look smaller than it really is.
Some speculated this is one of few true single stem coast redwoods titans, but that's speculation. In 2015 I looked more carefully at the trunk and both opposite sides indicate being two fused boles. Both sides of Howland Hill Giant above 60 feet have tell-tell signs of included bark from centuries ago.
Here are photos from two different years. The first photo was the cover of 101 Thing to do Southern Oregon, Del Norte magazine in 2014. The second photo has a woman from Brookings Oregon. and the third photo shows my Ford Transit van along the road that passes close to this Howland Hill Giant.
