Ed & Will, You guys make me jealous!
Joy I and the Tench family are planning a trip to the beach this next year. Probably St. George Island Florida. I had rather go see those big trees and walk among them, but with Joy and Clay, the beach rules. JP On Nov 16, 12:43 pm, "Edward Frank" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Will, > > Excellent account of your trip and adventures in Big Basin Redwoods State > Park. My first encounter with really big trees was a couple years ago in my > 2005 western trip. I did not make it that far south and have yet to see the > redwoods. I had seen some descent sized trees in North Cascades NP, but > nothing really spectacular. I ran into Seattle to get my tracker fixed, and > then headed to Mt. Rainier NP. I camped at a forest service campground > outside the park called "the Dalles." I wrote a brief note about the > encounter at the time. > > "I arrived at the Dalles campsite about 5:30. There were numerous campsite > still available. I picked out one set amongst a grove of tall trees. I was > curious as to how tall they were and got out my laser rangefinder. The trees > were measuring out to be over 200 feet tall. I wasn't sure my instrument was > measuring correctly, because to tell the truth they did not look that tall to > me. The Longfellow Pine at Cook Forest, PA measures 181 feet tall and looked > bigger in my minds eye. There are three predominant species of trees in the > area: Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, and Red Cedar. The fir and hemlock were > the largest. There was a family in the next campsite setting up their tents, > including a number of teenage boys. I ask if they could help me lay out a > measurement line to check my instrument. The rangefinder I was reading > correctly, trees around the campsite were over 200 feet tall. I showed them > how to use the instruments and we measured several trees in and adjacent to > their campsite. > > One person driving down the campsite road said there was a really big one > down this way. So I walked down. There was a massive Douglas Fir at the > beginning of a short 0.8 mile nature trail. The sign said the tree was > estimated to be 700 years old, was 235 feet tall, and 9' 6" in diameter. > Naturally I had to check the measurements. The best height I could get from > the campsite road area was only around 218 feet, but I knew I was not hitting > the top. A short distance down the trail I managed to find a spot where I > could see the top of the tree. Correcting for the elevation difference > between that point and the base of the tree I con firmed a height for the > tree of 242.1 feet. That is probably accurate to within a foot. I measured > the circumference breast height of the tree to be 31' 11", that converts to a > diameter (assuming a round trunk) of 10.16 feet. I was surprised the tree > was actually bigger than listed on the sign. Perhaps it had grown taller > since the last measurement. The difference in diameter could easily be which > particular bumps on the trunk the taped passed across. > > I did not find any bigger trees in the area, although down the trail were > several with similar diameters. Within the campground area itself were at > least a dozen trees over 200 feet tall. So for the day I did get some first > impression of Mount Rainier, and see the biggest tree I have yet seen in my > life. I'll take some pictures of the big tree and the sign in the morning > when there is more light. Not bad for a day devoted to maintenance." > > Kalaloch Cedar > > The next few days found me visiting Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks. > Some of these are described in Bob Van Pelt's Forest Giants of the pacific > Coast. The trees encounters included the Kalaloch Red Cedar in Olympic > National Park This was once the National Champion western red cedar at 19.6 > ft diameter, and 123 feet tall. Interestingly I had a photo of the tree on > my laptop at one of the Forest Summit meetings. I was sitting at Monica;s > kitchen table one morning and Jess Riddle immediately recognized the tree, > shot from the back side based just upon photos he has seen of it. Another > named tree was the Queets Sitka Spruce at 14, 9 ft diameter, and 245 feet > tall. In the Hoh Rain Forest itself were Douglas firs in the 280 range. > What struck me was how you had to change your perspective on estimating > heights when visiting these extremely tall trees. As for the canopy species > diversity, Bob Van Pelt commented in a post dated October 29, 2002, "The low > diversity of trees in some Western forests quickly reduces the Index to below > 200. Humboldt Redwoods SP, for example, has the world's tallest tree, and 86 > trees over 350'. Due to the overwhelming dominance by redwood, the Index > drops below 200 after only six species are included!" That was one of the > reasons I was arguing for compiling the RI5 for a minimal species comparison > for various sites, to deal fairly with sites with a low canopy species > diversity. > > Sounds like it was a great trip. I hope it gets you psyched for more eastern > tree research as well. The first encounter with these giant trees is really > something hard to describe. > > Ed Frank > > "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both. " > Robert Frost (1874-1963). Mountain Interval. 1920. > > aug20-002a.jpg > 90KViewDownload > > aug20-010a.jpg > 109KViewDownload > > aug21-020a.jpg > 99KViewDownload --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. 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