Tallest Redwood in Muir Woods is Just 777 Years Old, New Dating Method Reveals

It turns out that the redwoods of Muir Woods may not be as old as researchers once thought. Scientists have dated the trees and found that the tallest trees may just be 777 years old.

In this case, the researchers focused on the 249-foot-tall coast redwood, named Tree 76, according to The Washington Post. In this case, the researchers developed a new way to decode the redwoods and see how they've been responding to environmental conditions. They used a technique that involves pulling out pencil-thin core strips from the tree at various heights, studying them, and comparing them with other trees, according to the LA Times.

Tree 76 is located on the southern side of the redwood forest on a thin coastal strip that stretches from Big Sur to southwest Oregon. Here, the trees are taller and their trunks are thinner than the giant sequoias in the southern Sierra Nevada area.

So what did the scientists find? It turns out that Tree 76, which is the tallest in Muir Woods, was only about 777 years old. This is far younger than expected, and younger than the trees in the surrounding area.

Currently, the researchers aren't sure why the trees of Muir Wood are younger than the ones in the surrounding area. However, it's possible that a natural catastrophe, such as fire or floods, may have destroyed the trees in the region nearly 8 centuries ago. Since then, it's been recovering.

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