Ed, We have talked about going to the Keys. Eventually we will get around to it. I would love to visit Florida from Miami southward. They have Baobabs and Camphors!
JP On Nov 16, 3:24 pm, "Edward Frank" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > James, > > Talk them into going to Key West. There is a Champion Tree's of Key West > tourhttp://prometheus.cc.emory.edu/kwbs/champion.htmlonline. They are mostly > weird tropical trees that nobody else in ENTS has measured. You could come > up with 8 trees on the champion tour, and there is a Tamarind Trail Tour of a > gardenhttp://prometheus.cc.emory.edu/kwbs/tamarind.htmland a Debiens Pond > tour with more unusual tress. And Hey it is Key West... in the Florida Keys. > > Ed > > "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both. " > Robert Frost (1874-1963). Mountain Interval. 1920. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: James Parton > To: ENTSTrees > Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 3:17 PM > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, CA > > 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- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
