At the Feet of Giants —
The Giant Sequoias of the Sierra Nevada are the largest trees (by volume) in existence. Coast Redwoods are taller, but combine their height and enormous diameters, Giant Sequoias truly are massive. And at 3,200 years old, some of them have experienced an awful lot!
They are also very interesting trees to look at. Sequoias have very shallow root systems, and as a result as they age their base appears to spread out into a giant foot-like structure, often with large cracks and burn marks.
Burn marks on Giant Sequoias are quite common, and some still-healthy individuals even had gashes clear through the base of the tree that were completely burned-out. Sequoias are highly resistant to fire, and in fact need fire to reproduce (their cones will not open without the heat from a forest fire). Because the inner layers of the tree are essentially dead and decaying anyway, once a portion of the tree blackens from a fire, it will retain that appearance for a long, long time.