World's Tallest Trees

via LiveScience.

These two guys have an interesting hobby. Using laser range finders (since they became commercially available in 1995), they seek out the tallest trees in world (coastal redwoods), and have found the vast majority of them, including the four tallest.

"Coast redwoods grow in a 470-mile ribbon from southern Oregon to Big Sur, and routinely top 300 feet, or the height of a 30-story building. (The giant sequoia, the redwood's inland cousin, have massive trunks that make them the world's biggest trees by volume.) Only 36 coast redwoods taller than 360 feet have been recorded. Atkins or Taylor had a hand in locating 28 of them. In the 370-feet-and-up category, there are only four. Atkins and Taylor found them all. "

They are almost done with their survey and expect to complete it next summer. They believe there is almost no chance of finding any tree taller than the 379 ft Hyperion they found last summer.