Toppling a Giant

Many of my friends and family who came to visit me in Oregon will probably recall stopping off at "The World's Largest Sitka Spruce" which was also Oregon's tallest tree. The World title was debatable until this weekend. It is no longer either.

The tree had lost its top some time ago, was struck by lightning, had part of it's trunk ripped off in a storm, and was rotting from the inside. When this weekend's big wind storms hit with offshore winds reaching 80-90 knauts, the giant finally gave.

What do you say about a tree that size? Usually when we would stop off to see it you'd just look up and say, "Damn! That's a fucking big tree." The Redwoods are still more impressive in that you have a whole bunch of really big trees all together. But a really big tree is, well, big. What else can you say?

News reports have not mentioned if there was anyone there to hear it or if it did or did not make a sound.