The biggest of northern California’s giant redwood trees grow more than 250 ft. tall, with a circumference greater than 90 ft. at their base. The oldest have seen more than 3,000 years.

The area is open to the public and offers visitors a chance to see giant sequoias and redwoods outside of California. The ...

“Gesundheit,” I said. David Quammen’s new book, Spillover, is about zoonotic diseases. Michael Nichols photographed California’s giant redwoods for the October 2009 issue.

Ask a nature enthusiast in California to name a famous tree, and they might mention Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree, or General Sherman, the massive giant sequoia in Sequoia National Park.