Nat Geo In The Field: Mike Fay - Tracking Down Every Last Redwood

After 333 days and 2,000 miles, wilderness savant Mike Fay found every last redwood. Now he wants to save them.

Text by Cliff Ransom; Photograph by Michael Nichols

“I thought I’d be able to just Google it,” says biologist Mike Fay of locating the country’s southernmost redwood tree. Instead Fay and his hiking partner, activist Lindsey Holm, found themselves on the southern border of Los Padres National Forest in California, clawing their way up a steep-sided canyon.

“It’s thicker than hell. Impenetrable chaparral and poison oak like crazy,” Fay says. “After half an hour I get up to the top of this drainage where I see [what I think is] the southernmost redwood. Then I look around. Sure as hell, there’s another tree in a drainage farther south. So I’m like, damn, I’ve got to do this all over again. And I do. Then I see another tree even farther south. And it’s going on like this all frickin’ day.”

“You know where I found the southernmost redwood in the continental United States? Fifteen feet from California Route 1. I could have driven there.”

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Watch "Climbing Redwood Giants" on September 29 at 10 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel. Learn more at nationalgeographic.com/redwoods.

Comments

[Philadelphia House]

I've never thought such a massive tree exist, thanks for sharing this

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Looks like a great time, Sure would be eating a lot of great food in these regions. I commend this guy for taking up such a tremendous adventure.

[newport beach chiropractor]

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[hollister outlet]

s a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men. I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits dwaand the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens

[M. D. Vaden of Oregon]

The part about clawing up the hill is pretty much the way it is to really experience the redwoods off the beaten path. Likewise up north in Redwood National Park or Jedediah Smith redwoods. The way Fay did it is really the best way to get a feel for the nature of redwood forest.