Imagine walking through a misty forest, looking up, and not being able to see the top of the tree in front of you. In the redwood forests of Northern California, that's not hard to do. And somewhere among those giants stands the tallest known tree on the planet.
Its name is Hyperion, a coast redwood in California's Redwood National Park. It was most recently measured at about 381 feet tall, which is taller than the Statue of Liberty from the ground to the tip of its torch. It's estimated to be between 600 and 800 years old. And in a twist, its exact location is kept nominally secret, and the area around it is now closed to the public.
A Discovery in 2006
You might think the world's tallest tree would have been found long ago. But Hyperion wasn't discovered until August 25, 2006, by naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor. It stood in a remote part of Redwood National Park.
Its height was verified by scientist Stephen Sillett, who measured it using both a laser range finder and a fiberglass tape stretched from the base to the crown. At the time, it stood about 379 feet. It has kept growing since then.
The tree was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It contains an estimated 18,600 cubic feet of wood. When it first sprouted, the region was home to the Chilula, a Native American people of the Pacific Coast.
Loved a Little Too Much
Hyperion's fame turned out to be a problem. Although the location was supposed to be secret, it became easy to find online. Visitors started hiking to the tree, and their feet trampled the ground around its base. Ferns no longer grow there.
In July 2022, the park superintendent closed the entire area around the tree, citing the devastation of its habitat. Anyone who enters the closed area could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
How Redwoods Grow So Tall
Coast redwoods grow in a narrow strip along the Pacific coast, from Monterey County, California, up to southwestern Oregon. The tallest and oldest trees tend to grow in deep valleys and gullies with year-round streams and regular fog.
That fog is a big deal. Pulling water all the way up to leaves hundreds of feet in the air is hard work against gravity, so the leaves in the upper canopy are often thirsty. Redwoods fight back by drinking fog. Their leaves can soak up moisture straight from the air, and their bark can absorb water too.
Fog also collects on the leaves and drips to the ground, where the roots can take it in. This fog drip may make up 30 percent of the water a tree uses in a year. Scientists have found that the height of these trees is closely tied to fog: where fog becomes less common, very tall redwoods become rarer.
A Family of Giants
Hyperion has impressive neighbors. Redwood National Park is also home to the second-, fourth-, and fifth-tallest known trees, named Helios, Icarus, and Daedalus. All of them topped 360 feet when measured in 2022.
So while you may never stand at Hyperion's feet, you can still walk among its towering relatives in the redwood forests. Look up, take a deep breath of that cool, foggy air, and remember that some of these trees were already centuries old before the United States even existed.
