This past weekend I made a “pilgrimage” to a tree that I’ve known about for a long time, but had never seen with my own eyes.

Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) is one San Francisco’s most common trees, especially in its parks. I’ve known for a long time that the largest Monterey cypress in the world was in Pescadero, California, south of San Francisco, but I’d never made the trek to see the tree. I didn’t even know how to find it, as there didn’t seem to be any information online about the exact location of the tree. My friend Matt Ritter (Cal Poly botany professor, tree savant and host of the California Big Tree Registry) solved that problem; he shared the address of the tree - which is 5751 Pescadero Creed Road in Pescadero - about 8 miles inland from Highway 1.

It’s a massive tree, and the owner is clearly very interested in preserving it, as there are many cables among the tree’s larger branches. That’s me in the photo above, and below is a photo taken from the uphill/east side of the tree, looking to the west.

This tree is on the National Register of Champion Trees and the California Big Tree Registry - it is 588 inches in circumference, 102 feet in height, and 111 feet wide.

Interestingly, according to Matt Ritter, the next four largest Monterey cypress trees are all in New Zealand!