Everyone’s heard of the Biggest Tree!

 

And, of course, that meant everyone wanted to visit it. 

 

Since ancient times- as long ago as the tree is tall- people worldwide have wanted to get a glimpse of nature’s magnum opus. It lies dead center in Adam’s Grove, a country-sized forest in Iceland. Nobody knows exactly when it first grew, but scientists say it could have been millions of years ago. 

 

When humanity first learned to build airplanes, everyone had to avoid the Biggest Tree for how tall it was.The clouds themselves parted in the Tree’s presence, and its highest leaves reached out to touch the edge of space. When Mom and I first flew to visit dad in Germany, I remember so vividly trying and failing to see it out of the window. Though I still wonder if the weather hadn’t been so cloudy that night I could have seen it earlier. 

 

Growing up in Toronto, Canada didn’t make seeing the Biggest Tree easy. Granted, I lived closer to it than most people in the world, but to fly out to Iceland specifically to see a tree wasn’t something Mom could afford. 

 

Despite this, I loved plants. I read every book and watched every movie imaginable on the Biggest Tree, and while I had never seen it personally, I’d gawked at enough pictures of it to where I’d practically memorized every groove in its bark. Every fiber in my body wanted to see the biggest tree in the world- Earth’s beauty solidified. 

 

But, when I was ten, my mom finally let me. She had finally settled into a stable job and could afford the flight to Iceland. 

 

I stand by that hearing that news made me the most excited I’ve ever been or will be in my life. 

 

While the plane ride lasted all through the night, I didn’t sleep a wink, so of course, my mom wasn’t too happy. I ended up passing out at six AM and didn’t wake until 2 (something which she still won’t let me live down today). 

 

And at 4:00 we left for the three-hour car ride that was driving through Adam’s Grove to reach its center, and with that, seeing the Biggest Tree. 

 

Being mid-fall, Adam’s Grove was bursting with fiery color. More shades of red, yellow and brown than I had thought imaginable. It was like driving through the most detailed painting by the most inspired artist, the only semblance of reality in the scene being the black pavement we drove on. 

 

And after the longest three hours of my life, we arrived. The regular trees in the forest began to clear into a grassy, open field, completely treeless for an entire mile around. 

 

Except for the Biggest Tree in the middle.

 

I didn’t want to look at it at first. I wanted to run towards it through the soft grass until I reached its colossal trunk and then look up. I had pulled my winter hat over my eyes and let my imagination drive my legs forward. 

 

As I ran, I heard more and more crunching under my sneakers. I was getting closer and closer to the trunk, and the brittle leaves that had fallen from sometimes miles above cracked and snapped as I trampled over. 

 

Upon hearing my mom’s warning calls, I knew I was close to its base. The grass had now completely given way to a thick coat of dry leaves on rich dirt, so I slowed, walking, then stepping, then still. I didn’t move for a long time, seconds or minutes, for no reason in particular. All I knew was that I was waiting. 

 

Then, I felt something touch my head. A leaf, large, dry and cold, had landed on top of my winter hat. I knew it was time to look. 

 

I pulled the winter hat from my eyes, still facing down towards the ground, and grabbed the leaf from off my head. I looked at it for a moment. It was a vivid red, stricken with veins of yellow and orange. I had never seen a more beautiful leaf in my life. Then, I looked up. 

 

It towered into the air higher than any eye could ever hope to see. A dominating and colossal presence, a stonelike trunk that was a town wide stretching up into the exosphere, reducing to nothing. Around it was an infinite number of branches, each carrying an infinite number of leaves, each as striking and colorful as the one I held. It was raining a crimson rain, Autumn colors falling from the sky, all around the clearing and beyond, blanketing the forest’s canopy with vibrant color. The Earth was its own greatest artist. 

 

Awe glued my feet to the leaf-strewn earth, and in that moment I felt closer to nature and life than I ever have or ever will. It was such a beautiful and amazing feeling, and I had the acute realization that I was part of nature, that in a sense I was one with this tree. 

 

But despite such a profound feeling, all I could do was grin from ear to ear, the Biggest Tree’s endless leaves and branches reflected in my hazel eyes. 

 

And while today I am no longer ten, I still treasure and remember that memory. Its impact on me still sticks today. At a moment's notice I can still close my eyes and dive into that spot by its trunk, staring up into the beyond and into the Earth’s own gaze. I am 26 now, a botanist, and even today, I smile at the prospect of seeing the Biggest Tree again.