Tim
I've been waiting to share these two hidden giants with you. They
are fabulous trees.
This weekend (Sunday - Tuesday) I'm headed over to the Cape to
check out pitch pines. Our tree search widens. Any chance of
increasing the number of trees to be displayed to 12?
Bob
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 9, 2009, at 8:47 PM, Timothy Zelazo <[email protected]> wrote:
> I planned on looking for them on Thursday, but we spent our time in
> the Mohawk Trail State Forest while Bob was involved with a school
> group. I wanted our trail coordinator to walk and talk with
> Leverett, so I wanted to wait until Bob would be available. Andrew,
> after reading your email, I'm up for a treasure hunt. Thanks for
> making my week complete.
>
> Tim
>
> On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 8:07 PM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> Andrew,
>
> Thanks much for sharing. Good to see footage of the great tree and
> know there are folks who can truly appreciate these massive
> Massachusetts pines. They are our greatest trees in my humble opinion.
>
> Bob
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrew Joslin" <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: "Ian sporre" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Friday, October 9, 2009 7:51:29 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: [ENTS] Visiting the Thoreau Pine
>
>
> I managed to finally reach the Thoreau and Grandfather white pines in
> Monroe State Forest last weekend. Those who've been in these woods
> understand but it's worth saying, these trees while very large are
> exceptionally subtle in their habitat. They are ghostly giants, you
> can
> be 40 yards from one of them and not see it, top or trunk, except
> maybe
> after the leaves are down. What's interesting to me is the near total
> lack of white pine near them so there are no clues that beyond the
> next
> ash or yellow birch stands a northeast monarch. Bob's work to locate
> these and many other fine trees can't be underestimated, the terrain
> is
> steep and difficult, there are no sign posts or trails to show the
> way.
>
> After a restful night and a hearty breakfast at the Charlemont Inn I
> headed out to the woods with Connecticut climber Ian Sporre and his
> fiancee Leslie. On the hike in we found a plentiful stand of Black
> Trumpets under a rocky overhang and enjoyed a tasty snack, a good
> supplement to our standard PB&J climber's rations. After reaching the
> general area where I figured the trees were we cached our gear and
> worked through the steep forest unencumbered. Our eyes were wide open
> taking in the sights of towering white ash, sugar maple and yellow
> birch. After locating the big pines we returned to our cached gear but
> going back with packs on were unable to relocate the shifty ghosts
> which
> had decided to disappear. Fair enough, the woods don't give up their
> gifts so easily. We split up and finally relocated them. After meeting
> up again we worked back to Thoreau, just downhill from the tree we
> found
> this delight:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we6ZTLtdJpQ
>
> By the time we were setting up to visit Thoreau's crown the sun was
> going behind the ridge above us. Thoreau's trunk is substantial for an
> eastern woods tree and maintains diameter on a straight column rising
> above the hardwood canopy. Some epicormic "fans" graced the upper
> column
> before the real limbs started, something I haven't seen much of on
> white
> pine. Once up in the crown we were impressed by the large diameter
> limbs
> at height, we were content to sit and take in the view and then the
> moon
> rising over the opposite ridge as we descended. Adventure part two
> took
> place getting out of the woods in the dark, we were forced to to slow
> down and really take in the feeling of being in the heart of the
> forest.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS-4Nlohm4w
> -AJ
>
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