In May 2022, a group of men climbed to the top of Hyperion, a 380-foot tree that is currently the tallest in the world. When their leader, Simeon Balsam, reached the crown, he and another climber drank a cup of tea. “What absolute legends,” Balsam said from behind a camera trained on the beaming group of climbers. Balsam documented the adventure in an hourlong film posted to YouTube. It’s a braggadocious watch, full of self-satisfied narration, and inspirational house music — and proof of illegal activity. According to the film, the 11 men spent months planning the trip within Redwood National and State Parks and accumulating gear before flying from the United Kingdom to California to climb Hyperion and other old-growth redwoods. They did not obtain required permits. Furthermore, they climbed into an ecologically sensitive habitat during the breeding season of threatened marbled murrelets, according to park officials and court documents obtained by SFGATE.