When a massive wildfire swept through California’s oldest state park last week it was feared many trees in a grove of old-growth redwoods — some 2,000 years old and among the tallest living things on Earth — may have finally succumbed.
But an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze.
Among the survivors is one dubbed Mother of the Forest.
The fire is still burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco.
The CZU Lightning Complex Fires have burned 78,000 acres, according to CAL FIRE, and are just 13% contained.
