Like many curious children, Kellan Phillickan has cycled through plenty of interests over the years.
“By 18 months, it was construction vehicles,” said his mother, Cass. “Then it became robots. It very quickly became Transformers, then Minecraft, then rocks.”
His latest fascination, however, began a few months ago at summer camp during a tree-measuring activity.
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“We were going to measure trees. I was pretty bored. I didn’t want to,” Kellan recalled. “But then I measured one that was 44 feet tall, and I started to like measuring it, and I started liking trees.”
That interest grew during the family’s vacation in the Sierra Nevada, where Kellan found himself surrounded by giant sequoias.
“He was so curious,” Cass said. “These are some of the biggest trees I’ve ever seen. How tall are these trees?”
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On the drive home, Kellan asked what seemed like a simple question: What is the tallest tree in San Francisco?
The family searched online and found a listing on MonumentalTrees.com, a crowd-sourced database of notable trees. According to the site, San Francisco’s tallest tree was a 218-foot Tasmanian blue gum in Stern Grove.
Excited to see it, the family headed to the park.
There, they discovered a surprise.
“It’s not there anymore. Not there at all. No stump,” Cass said.
“Worst day of my life,” Kellan added.
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The family later learned that after a water main break flooded Stern Grove in 2021, dozens of trees were removed from the area, apparently including the tree listed as the city’s tallest.
What surprised them was that no one seemed to know which tree had taken its place.
That realization sparked a new mission.
“We decided to try to find the tallest,” Kellan said.
Using a classic Boy Scout technique involving a stick and a long tape measure, the family has been crisscrossing San Francisco in search of towering candidates, carefully measuring each one.
To officially verify a new record, however, they will need more precise and significantly more expensive equipment. The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost.
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Kellan’s parents say the project has given their son a reason to explore the outdoors and look up from screens. They also believe the effort could help San Franciscans better appreciate the natural treasures in their own backyard.
“California is known for its trees,” Cass said. “There was just something odd about San Francisco not even knowing its tallest tree had been cut down, and not knowing what the new one was. It just felt weird and wrong.”
For Kellan, a simple camp activity has become something much bigger: a chance to solve a mystery hiding in plain sight among the city’s tallest trees.