Google Mapping Heritage Trees: Victoria's Albert Ave. Giant Sequoia

The Albert Ave. sequoia is towering over the neighbourhood on the right. Note the sizable native Garry oak on the left side of the street.

Recently I attended a doctor appointment at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, and ended up discovering another of Victoria's amazing Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Actually my tree hunting partner, Linda, was the one to spot it in our on-going game of 'find the big trees' that we play wherever we go on Vancouver Island.

Now, I have discovered another way of visiting the big trees - at least those that can be seen from roadways. I have been exploring using Google Street View on Google maps to see if I can do some virtual big tree hunting in the greater Victoria district. I started with the Albert Avenue Giant sequoia, and was pleased with the results. See the map below for details.










The ten story tall sequoia grows magnificently beside a large older home half a block east from the hospital. It is on a nice urban street unusual enough to be interesting. This narrow dead end lane is only accessible from Shelbourne Street, and contains not only the sequoia, but also a big native Garry oak.















This heritage tree most likely came to Victoria as a sapling from California around 1900, making it about 110 years old. In that time it has attained great height, and girth. The canopy of feathery needles is supported by graceful reddish-barked limbs as big as tree trunks themselves.

Imagine this tree in 2000 years, three times the height and as wide as the house next to it.




The three tallest Sequoia sempervirens in the world are:

Hyperion	Redwood National Park, California	115.55 m (379 ft)
Helios	Redwood National Park, California	114.34 m (375 ft)
Icarus	Redwood National Park, California	113.11 m (371 ft)

Getting There

The map below shows the location of the Giant sequoia in this post. The area is serviced by public transportation, and is a nice place for a bike ride.

Or you could do a virtual visit to this location by clicking on the link below the map which will open a new, larger map. Then click and drag the tiny person icon on the left down onto Albert Avenue. A window will open that will allow you to manipulate the location and picture in Street View. Good luck on your virtual tree hunting.


View Victoria's Giant sequoia: Albert Avenue in a larger map