It’s really hard to get perspective of these giants until you have someone next to the tree. Apparently, these trees have fairly shallow root systems that spread out and don’t go too deep. That’s different from our pine trees which send out a single tap root deep into the soil (as deep as the tree is tall).
Mariposa Grove is a little distance from the main features of the park. There are two species of redwoods in the United States, these and the coastal redwoods found in Muir Woods and other area along the coast. The coastal redwoods are taller but these are much more massive in size.