In this adventure, we invite you and the kiddos in your life to look up — and take a moment to marvel. No, we’re not celebrating the glorious appearance of the sun in South Sound skies for more than two days (although that’s been truly spectacular, hasn’t it?).
We’re actually here to say hello to a tree. A very big tree. A rustic conifer, if you will, that’s been standing tall and mighty since before Washington was a state — or even a territory. Locals know it as the Mountaineer Tree, an approximately 218-foot-tall living legend that’s called Tacoma home since the 1500s.
This Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) in Point Defiance Park is more than huggable with its span of nearly 8 feet in diameter. It even made the list for Tacoma’s 2023 Heritage Tree Program for “trees of exemplary size, age, and/or significance.”…