I remember as a kid, my father loaded the family into our small home-made motor home proudly dubbed the 'Travelon' and headed west. The next 30 days would prove to be one of the best geography lessons my brother, sister, and I would ever have.

My most vivid memory was our visit to the Redwoods National Park in Northern California. I had never seen more massive tree trunks or a taller specie than the magnificent Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).
A beautiful site I treasure to this day.

National Geographic announced a little while ago a newly discovered giant in California's national park. A stellar Redwood christened 'Hyperion' was found to be almost six stories higher than the Statue of Liberty - and may be the world's tallest measured tree at 379 feet.

The most accurate way of measuring a tall tree like Hyperion is to climb to the top, and drop a weighted tape measure. So that's what Steve Sillett did. Dr. Sillett has climbed many of the world's tallest trees to study them and is recognized as an authority on tall trees such as the redwoods.

I hope you enjoy the amazing video footage of Steve climbing to the top and measuring the world's tallest tree for The Guinness Book of World Records. This video footage was taken for National Geographic. Take a moment to view the video and climb the world's tallest tree with Steve. The view at the top is unforgettable.

And speaking of unforgetable, perhaps its time to start planning my own family trip to share one of the best geography lessons with them.

-- Mark Johnson