The Millennium Tree and part of what was once the largest tree in Big Trees Park

 

Sam figured that a Park called Big Trees would have a lot of live trees and maybe a few dead ones. So when he spotted the Millennium Tree he figured he would see something like it when we went camping.  While he didn't see a Millennium Tree when we visited Big Trees he did see the remains of what was once the world's largest redwood tree. It was perhaps 3000 years old when it was cut down. :o( 

 

 

The Redwood Creek Challenge Trail in the middle with Big Tree's North Grove Trail on either side

 

Both Susie and Sam decided that maybe Big Tree's Park had a whole trail like the one at California Adventure.  As you can see the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail does resemble the North Grove Trail at Calaveras Big Trees.  Perhaps an imagineer visited the Park when he was Sam and Susie's age. ;o)

 

 

A Tower on the RWCC Trail and the pictures (on a wall inside one of the stone towers) of the Fire Spotter Towers that inspired it

 

Finally Elaine suggested Big Trees might have a tower like the ones on the Challenge Trail. We did see a tower there but in an unexpected place. It turns out that the CCC (a Depression Era government agency that employed young men building trails and structures in National and State Parks) built fire spotter towers very much like the towers on the Challenge Trail.   We learned this at a Big Trees Campfire Program that featured a slide show about the CCC.  The slides in the show included fire spotter towers that looked exactly like the tower pictures you can see on the Challenge Trail. 

 

So thanks to my wife's quick thinking we had a great visit. Once we got Sam going back and forth between Tom Sawyer Island and Redwood Creek Challenge Trail he started wanting to do other things in the Parks. So after the first couple of days we didn't have to spend so much time on the Island and on the Trail. Even better than making a great time at Disneyland possible Elaine's idea made Sam and Susie want to read more about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  It also got them excited about looking for and appreciating the natural beauty of the world around them.

 

Maybe Elaine should be the teacher. ;o)