Went out again yesterday to poke around a few local areas to feel them
out, see what they had to offer in terms of possible big trees.
Started the morning off making a short loop through a local campground
at Barton Cove in Gill, MA. Its on a small "peninsula" in the
Connecticut river, forming a small cove before heading over the
Turners Falls dam. Measured a few White Pines in the parking area,
none of which came up over 95-100'~ so if the pines arent that
big.......

Sure enough, spent about an hour and a half trudging through the shin
deep, crusty snow, just about fighting for every footstep. Most of the
hardwoods (Red and White Oaks, Pignut Hickory, Black Birch, Red and
Sugar Maples, Beech, and very few White Birch) topped out about 95',
with the vast majority being closer to 80-85'. The White Pines were
the biggest things going out there per usual, a few had some very neat
trunk shapes (bends/curves at the base, heading back to straight
growth). But the largest of them I could come up with barely tickled
105'. Most of the Hemlocks were well short of that. I did however come
across a small plot of seemingly random Red Spruce and White cedar,
I'm assuming they were planted, but could be way off. They were all
small trees, nothing over perhaps 20' for even the largest of the
Spruce, but neat to find nonetheless. I found some native Dogwoods as
well which was nice to see as its been awhile since I've come across
that as well.

Bar none the most interesting tree I found stood no more than perhaps
12' tall and spread maybe 10' wide. I'm certain its Beech based on the
buds and the overall appearance of it, but the structure was just
wild, such a cool tree. The trunk and main limbs had almost a twisted
look to them, like a piece of wrought iron a blacksmith had heated up
and twisted. Got a few pictures of it to share.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/beech1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/beech2.jpg

Left there with nothing else remarkable in mind and headed a bit
further down Rt. 2 into Northfield where I walked down to a small
picnic area/boat launch across from the Northfield Mountain Project.
While the trunks of the trees here got much larger, the heights looked
very similar to those from a few miles down the road at Barton Cove.
Nothing even notable for pines here, all young trees, and most the
hardwoods just barely making it 100' tops, even though the trunk sizes
were significantly bigger than those down the road. This area was a
mix of Red and White Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Cottonwoods and Aspens,
Sugar, Red and Silver maples, Yellow and White Birch, Black Cherry,
White Ash, and a few rather peculiar looking varieties of Hickory or
Elm that I wasnt able to identify. They had a long almost Ash like
seed, but looked almost like just an elongated Elm seed, while the
bark also had that fine fissuring of White/Green Ash. Oh well, leaf
out is just a few months away. ;)

Found a small grouping of Tamarack down next to a stream running out
into the river, the largest of which being 92.1' and a trunk measuring
4.8' CBH.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/tamarack.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/jlacoy82/tamarack2.jpg

I had also revisited the Howland Cemetery in Conway, MA I last posted
about with the large pines, and yet again have disproved myself and
learned a lesson in the process. DONT RUSH! It was snowing heavily,
the wind was blowing, my notebook was getting soaked, and I obviously
incorrectly entered a distance measurement or angle reading before
doing my calculations, there was no such 152' pine there, as Bob was
correct, the tallest there being just about 140'~. I did however
record one Norway Spruce to 114.2' right next to the pines.

While again in Conway, I visited another cemetery just another mile up
the road I had previously worked in, and while none of the Pines here
were quite as impressive, I did however come across a few White Cedars
that were fairly notable, two of which I measured. The first of which
coming up to 78.1' in height and 7.1' CBH, with a thick, full crown
coming nearly to the ground, the first branch being about head height.
The second came up at 70.7' and 6.5' CBH. Both great looking, full
trees.

I've spotted a few Pitch Pines locally as well that I've shot for
height which werent too remarkable, for but Barry's sake I think I'll
scale a few snowbanks and get some measurements, a couple of them
might make it to 7.5-8' CBH if I'm thinking correctly. Have to get
some pictures of them as well. Discovered our own little "Pine
Barrens" up here as well in an upland flat that is almost 100% Pitch
Pine, looks really great driving through and seeing nothing but those
chunky barked trunks and fluffy looking crowns. If I'm back in the
area again tomorrow and the suns out, I'll be sure to pull over and
take a few pictures.

I'll be out hunting again tomorrow, but this was just this weeks worth
of rambling I had to share!

Jeff