December 19, 2008

Where've you been all these millennia?


We found this huge alerce (fitzroya cupressoides) on the trail to Volcan Calbuco. The route is actually an old logging trail once used to extract this super-resistant wood for bombproof shingles and building materials. Now only a handful remain in the 10th Region and they're illegal to log, though it still happens.

Alerce grow about a millimeter a year, so we guessed this one had about 2000 years on us.

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