Bennett Juniper 7/23/20

The Bennett Juniper is the oldest and largest known juniper of its species. Twelve and a half miles of forest service roads will put you at the doorstep of this protected 80’ tall behemoth that is estimated to be over 4000 years old! Two minutes of walking on a well-graded trail will put you in the shade of one of the most magnificently gnarled trees you’ll ever see.

Once you visit the juniper, return to the main road and head east to the next small spur in the road several hundred yards away. Take the spur north to its cul-de-sac end and enjoy a lunch while taking-in the glorious views of the Dardanelles and the Stanislaus River canyon. This lunch spot sits on a volcanic mudflow deposit that bulldozed some trees as it covered this area 10.5 million years ago. As a consequence there are many small pieces of very white petrified wood scattered about the hillside. There are worse ways to spend 30 minutes than perusing a hill for ancient forest bits. Please only take photos, though.



For specific directions and more info on the tree, visit the SAVE THE REDWOODS site.

https://www.savetheredwoods.org/project/bennett-juniper-stewardship-project/

Start slideshow
Dardanelles
Dardanelles and the Stanislaus River canyon.
Lunch spot with VIEWS!
Petrified wood chunks.
Very cool breccia.
Looks to have been a place where a larger chunk of petrified wood weathered into bits.
An old sign from the 60's that mistakenly claims the age of the juniper is 6000yrs old. Current thinking is that it is about 4000yrs old.
Trail.
Two minute hike to the Juniper from the parking area.
The scale of the tree is evident once people stand next to it for scale.

Labels