Redwoods are gentle giants that can live for centuries, but like all living things, they do eventually die; they are also subject to the ravages of inclement wather. This is a particularly pretty section of the trail in Muir Woods, where one tree has come down among a grove of even larger giants. I am not sure what caused this tree to fall over, but it must have been pretty significant!

Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.
-- John Muir