About 65 million years ago in Earth's shifting, a huge area of land was lifted a mile and a half above sea level, forming what is now the Colorado Plateau. For the last 6 to 10 million years, the Colorado River has been slowly carving its way down through the center, exposing the many colorful strata of rock. The forest here exudes water vapor and oily residues which create a smoke-like haze that surrounds the peaks and fills the valleys. The park is one of the world's finest temperate deciduous forests. The two most spectacular live volcanoes are Kilauea and Mauna Loa.
Water seeping into the cave creates stalactites, stalagmites, and white gypsum crystal formations.
Rare and unusual animals, such as blind fish and colorless spiders, demonstrate adaptation to the absolute blackness and isolation. In the late 1100s they began constructing multistory stone apartment houses, or pueblos, tucked on ledges and under rock overhangs. Redwood National Park contains the tallest living things on Earth, evergreen trees that grow to 350 feet. Descendants of the giant evergreens that grew during the age of the dinosaurs, redwoods take 400 years to mature. Some of the survivors are more than 2,000 years old.