- Freeman Creek
Freeman Creek Grove is a sequoia grove located in
Giant Sequoia National Monument in theSierra Nevada in eastern California, It includes The Great Goshawk Tree (Named by Bill Croft in 1988), the 28th largestgiant sequoia in the world. This large grove covers about 1,800 acres in the Freeman Creek Watershed. The area is botanical reserve under the sequoia national forest administration except for one small private plot.Freeman Creek Grove is the largest unlogged grove outside of a National Park. It is fairly easy to get to by car throughout the summer by dirt or paved road. The grove is about 1,425 acres with sequoias mainly south of Freeman Creek. There are several noteworthy sequoias to see in this grove. Foremost among these is the President George Bush Tree. President Bush delivered his presidential proclamation setting aside giant sequoia groves on National Forest System lands for protection, preservation and restoration while standing beside this tree. You can visit the George Bush Tree by taking Forest Road 20S78 east to the trailhead.The Great Goshawk Tree is the largest in the grove at 32,783 cubic feet in volume. Near the Goshawk Tree is the broken-topped, fire-hollowed Telescope Tree, also known as the Castro Tree. Freeman Shaft and Loren's Tree are also some of the larger trees to be seen. The broken-topped Freeman Stub, also known as Bannister's Tree, is one of the first large sequoias you can see entering the grove on the west. The popular Ride-Through Tree in the lower grove as it's name implies, has a huge split in its base.
Noteworthy trees
Some of the trees found in the grove that are worthy of special note are:
* Great Goshawk Tree: The largest tree in the grove at 32,783 cubic feet.
* Loren's Tree: This is one of the largest tree's in the grove with of volume somewhere between 28,000 and 30,000 cubic feet.
* Bannister's Tree: A remenant of a once larger tree, but still around 26,000 cubic feet.
* George Bush Tree: Fair sized tree that PresidentGeorge W. Bush has visited.
* Castro Tree: A telescope giant sequoia.References
*cite web | url = http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/sequoia/recreation/giant_sequoia_groves.html#alder_creek
title = USDA Forest Service - Sequoia National Forest | accessdate = 2008-04-29
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