I met Randy Brown at Cook Forest today to show him some
interesting
trees and do a little exploring. We began by hiking in the Deer
Meadows
Old Growth Area and made our way to the top of the ridge to look
for the
huge 12.7 x 120.1 black cherry, but were disappointed to find
after much
searching that the entire crown has broken out of it to leave a
60 foot
stub. The crown portion that blew out of it this year fell right
on top
of the crown that blew out in 2004. We’re both curious to see
if any
new sprouts will grow from the trunk.
Deer Meadows Black Cherry Snag -
photo by Carl Harting
Cherry Snag - photo by Randy Brown |
Cherry Snag - photo by Randy Brown |
I also took Randy to the American Chestnut champ and we spent a
good bit
of time searching for others on Foundation Ridge. The best we
found was
one of Randy’s at 2.4 x 73.0, but there were many smaller ones
to be
found, including several infected with blight. We even found 2
down on
the river flats along a gas line.
Big chestnut - photo by Randy Brown |
|
New chestnut - photo by Randy Brown |
New chestnut - photo by Randy Brown |
Randy Brown |
Double Hemlock - photo by Randy Brown |
I should also report on several trees I measured this past
weekend. I
followed the North Country Trail from my property down toward
the
Clarion River and measured a couple striped maples for Bob.
Unfortunately none approached the heights of those in
Massachusetts.
Thompson Hill, Clarion County
striped maple 0.6 x 27.0
striped maple 1.2 x 32.1
striped maple 1.1 x 39.9
striped maple 2.3 x 41.4
Next I quickly measured 1 tree in the Deer Meadows Old Growth
Area:
white ash 7.8 x 123.1
Lastly I went back to remeasure the scarlet oak I measured a
couple
weeks ago in the fog but found a much nicer tree right at the
base of
Foundation Ridge.
scarlet oak 7.6 x 111.0 remeasured
scarlet oak 8.2 x 117.9 new Cook Forest record
Carl Harting and Randy Brown
|
