Summit Road Tree facts for kids

The Summit Road Tree is a super tall and wide tree called a giant sequoia. You can find it in a special forest called the Mountain Home Grove. This grove is one of many places where giant sequoias grow in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains in California. The Summit Road Tree is one of the biggest trees on Earth! It's currently ranked as the 16th largest giant sequia in the world. Some people even think it might be the 15th largest. This depends on how much another tree, the Ishi Giant, shrank after a big fire in 2015 called the Rough Fire.

Discovering the Summit Road Tree

The Summit Road Tree is also known as the Summit Tree. It got its name and was first measured in 1988. A person known as a "big tree hunter," Wendell Flint, found and measured it. He had help from his friends, Mike Law and Jerry Latham.

How the Tree's Ranking Changed

After measuring, Wendell Flint figured out that the Summit Road Tree was the 16th largest tree in the world by its total wood volume. Later, another very large tree, the Washington Tree, was damaged by lightning in 2003. Because of this damage, the Washington Tree lost its high ranking. This meant the Summit Road Tree moved up and is now considered the 16th largest giant sequoia.

How Big Is the Summit Road Tree?

The measurements of the Summit Road Tree were taken by Wendell Flint and his team. These numbers help us understand just how huge this tree is! The volume calculation does not include any parts of the tree that might have been burned.