Grove of Titans facts for kids

The Grove of Titans is a special place in Northern California. It's home to some of the biggest coast redwood trees in the world! These trees are super tall and wide, holding a lot of wood. The largest tree in the grove by how much wood it has is called the Del Norte Titan. Another huge tree, the Lost Monarch, is also very big, but it has a large sprout growing from its base that isn't part of its main trunk.

How the Grove Was Found

The Grove of Titans wasn't officially named at first. It was discovered on May 11, 1998. Two people, a botanist named Stephen Sillett and a naturalist named Michael Taylor, found it in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. They were the first to realize how important and special this group of trees was.

Protecting the Grove

Around 2011, someone shared the grove's exact location online. After that, many visitors started coming. Sadly, all the foot traffic damaged hundreds of native plants. People walking off the paths squished plants like ferns and made the soil too hard. This made it tough for scientists to study the area and put a lot of pressure on the park's resources. Between 2012 and 2016, about 8,000 square feet of plants were destroyed. The damage was really clear around a tree called Screaming Titans.

To help protect the grove, people started donating money. In 2016, a donation of $1,000 was given to the Redwood National and State Parks. The parks then shared that they needed a lot more money. They had a plan for a $1,000,000 boardwalk and trail to protect the trees and plants. By February 2017, a non-profit group had received $300 for the grove. Later, another update said $5,000 had been donated, but this was still far from the one million dollars needed.

The park hoped to raise $500,000 to get a special grant. This money would help build an elevated walkway. This walkway would lift people above the ground, stopping damage from foot traffic. Construction on a 1,300-foot-long elevated walkway through the Grove of Titans began on November 6, 2019.

Plants in the Grove

The Grove of Titans is home to many famous redwood trees. Some of their names are Lost Monarch, El Viejo del Norte, Screaming Titans, Eärendil and Elwing, Beregond, Aragorn, Sacajawea, Aldebaran, Stalagmight, and Del Norte Titan.

Underneath these giant trees, you can find many smaller plants. Two common ones are the California sword fern and Redwood sorrel.

Where to Find the Grove

The Grove of Titans is located in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park in Northern California. It's south of Highway 199. The closest town is Crescent City, California. The author Richard Preston described its location in his book The Wild Trees. He said it was "the bottom of a hidden notch-like valley near a glade." The exact spot within the park is not shared publicly. This is to prevent too many visitors from accidentally harming the grove.

Images for kids

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  A person looking up at Screaming Titans, one of the huge coastal redwood trees in the Grove of Titans.