The Sequoia

Mariposa Grove was an hour's drive south of the valley. Ranger Tomas had dropped Polly at the trailhead and gone off-duty. "Go see the old ones," he said.

Mariposa Grove lå en times kørsel syd for dalen. Skovbetjent Tomas havde sat Polly af ved stistarten og var gået af vagt. "Gå hen og se de gamle," sagde han.

The old ones were giant sequoias. They are the biggest trees in the world by volume.

De gamle var kæmpe sequoiaer. De er de største træer i verden målt på volumen.

The first thing Polly noticed was the colour. Sequoia bark is not brown. It is a deep rust-orange and looks spongy. She landed on a low branch and pecked the bark with her beak. The bark gave a little. It was nearly half a metre thick, soft to the touch. This thick bark is the tree's main defence against fire.

Det første, Polly lagde mærke til, var farven. Sequoiabark er ikke brun. Den er dyb rust-orange og ser svampet ud. Hun landede på en lav gren og hakkede i barken med sit næb. Barken gav lidt efter. Den var næsten en halv meter tyk, blød at røre ved. Denne tykke bark er træets vigtigste forsvar mod ild.

A family walked past. A little girl said, "Look, a parrot!" Her father said, "It's a stuffed toy someone forgot." Polly did not move.

En familie gik forbi. En lille pige sagde, "Se, en papegøje!" Hendes far sagde, "Det er et tøjdyr, som nogen har glemt." Polly rørte sig ikke.

She flew up the side of the tree, level by level. At thirty metres up, the branches began. They were as thick as her own body. She perched on one and looked up. The crown was another forty metres higher.

Hun fløj op ad træet, niveau for niveau. I tredive meters højde begyndte grenene. De var lige så tykke som hendes egen krop. Hun satte sig på en og kiggede op. Kronen var yderligere fyrre meter højere.

The trail ended at one tree: the Grizzly Giant. It was about 2,995 years old. Its trunk was wider than a city bus.

Stien endte ved et træ: Grizzly Giant. Det var omkring 2.995 år gammelt. Dets stamme var bredere end en bybus.

Polly perched on a low spot in the bark. She looked up.

Polly satte sig på et lavt sted i barken. Hun kiggede op.

Three thousand years. The tree had been here when Egyptian pharaohs were building the Valley of the Kings. It had been here when Rome was a small farming village. It had grown about one centimetre wider each year, in steady silence.

Tre tusinde år. Træet havde stået her, da egyptiske faraoer byggede Kongernes Dal. Det havde stået her, da Rom var en lille landbrugsby. Det var vokset omkring en centimeter bredere hvert år, i stille ro.

She stayed a long time. A small fire scar on the trunk was older than most countries. The tree had survived dozens of fires.

Hun blev længe. Et lille brandsår på stammen var ældre end de fleste lande. Træet havde overlevet adskillige brande.

A seed about the size of an oat flake fell past her. Sequoia seeds need fire to grow. The cones only open in the heat. Every new sequoia is the result of an old burn.

Et frø på størrelse med en havreflage faldt forbi hende. Sequoiafrø har brug for ild for at gro. Koglerne åbner sig kun i varmen. Hver ny sequoia er resultatet af en gammel brand.