Arco Giant ~ Coast Redwood
This page is an off-shoot of Largest Coast Redwoods
Copyright 2009 by Mario Vaden
Arco Giant is a titan size coast redwoods located south of the prairie located Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Its actually in Redwood National Park, and the 2nd largest in that park. Melkor or Fusion Giant would be the largest in Redwood National Park. This is a very stout and ancient looking redwood. Much of the upper trunk is in view. The lower trunk has another angle besides what you see below, which shows much more of the basal area, especially if you want to photograph your friend or family. Room for a tripod too. To the right, you can see me behind salmonberry.
So many people are curious about Del Norte Titan or Lost Monarch from what I've read online. And I'm surprised that more folks have not been on the lookout for this titan. The base of this is only 1.5' or so narrower than the trunk of Lost Monarch. For the average person who does not work around big conifers for a living, that's virtually the same trunk size. And Arco Giant displays a great amount more trunk up above, whereas Lost Monarch cloaks 95% of its stem. For that reason, Arco Giant appear to be much bigger when you look at it.
If you stand in the parking lot by the Prairie Creek redwoods visitor center and look at the forest surrounding the prairie, you can see its top sticking out. And to quote Dr. Robert Van Pelt "Arco Giant defines the word "character.
The land was purchased from the Arcata Redwood Company years ago. Hence the name of this redwood. This is one of the few top 10 or 12 largest coast redwoods not discovered by Michael Taylor. A photo of this redwood appeared in the 1964 National Geographic Magazine July issue. Last time I looked, National Geographic had that one available online in an archive. A storm in January 1998 broke a big piece from one of the big stem of the north facing canopy side.
For reference, the 2009 measurements are: 262' or 79.8 meters tall. Van Pelt listed 24.5' as the trunk diameter in 2001. This should be the 11th largest known coast redwood.
