Howland Hill Road, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte County, California, USA.

Howland Hill Road, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte County, California, USA. The last major free flowing river in California, the Smith River, flows past old growth redwoods protected in this coastal park established in 1929. As part of two trapping expeditions from 1826-1830, explorer Jedediah Smith was the first white American to travel overland from the Mississippi River to California, and the first to reach the Oregon Country overland via the California coast. The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens, in the cypress family Cupressaceae) is the tallest tree species on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) high and up to 26 feet (7.9 m) diameter at breast height. This evergreen tree can live 1200 to 1800 years or more. Since the 1850s, more than 95% of the original old-growth redwood forest was cut down for lumber along coastal northern California and southwestern Oregon. The coastal redwood forest is a remnant of a larger group of trees that has existed for 160 million years. California's Redwood National and State Parks were honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.

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Contained in galleries: California: northern coast, redwoods

Howland Hill Road, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte County, California, USA. The last major free flowing river in California, the Smith River, flows past old growth redwoods protected in this coastal park established in 1929. As part of two trapping expeditions from 1826-1830, explorer Jedediah Smith was the first white American to travel overland from the Mississippi River to California, and the first to reach the Oregon Country overland via the California coast. The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens, in the cypress family Cupressaceae) is the tallest tree species on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) high and up to 26 feet (7.9 m) diameter at breast height. This evergreen tree can live 1200 to 1800 years or more. Since the 1850s, more than 95% of the original old-growth redwood forest was cut down for lumber along coastal northern California and southwestern Oregon. The coastal redwood forest is a remnant of a larger group of trees that has existed for 160 million years. California's Redwood National and State Parks were honored as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.