Oregon's Biggest Tree

[RobertJ.]

Well, I don't know about the biggest tree, but until just a few years ago it was Oregon's largest Sitka Spruce. It shared the title of world's largest with a tree that's near Lake Quinault, Washington. It actually snowed here today (an extremely rare event!) so we went out to play in it, and I had never posted about this tree, so I photo'd it, and my wife's friend took the photo of me next to it for a size reference.

From the Oregon Travel Council Info website:
This is the first tree to be designated an official Oregon Heritage Tree and was once the biggest tree in Oregon and the National Co-Champion Sitka Spruce. It germinated from a seed onthe forest floor around the time of the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and grew to its mature height about the time Christopher Columbus sailed to the new world. A legacy of the primeval coastal old growth rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, it was also remarkable for being bypassed for logging when spruce was in high demand for building military aircraft, but it was considered to have too many limbs to meet the standards of the national aircraft board.

Sadly, this once magnificent tree suffered severe damage on December 2, 2007 when hurricane force winds snapped the tree about 80 feet above ground along an old lightening scar. The top portion shattered as it hit the ground.

Aware of the tree's significance, Clatsop County officials will let the trunk stand and the pieces lay on the ground to rot and provide nutrients for future Sitka giants. New interpretive signs will be developed to tell the history of the Klootchy Creek Giant and about the natural life cycle of trees in the forest.

Tree Facts
Approx. height: 216′
Age: Approx. 800 years
Circumference: 56′
Dedicated on: April 11, 1997
Crown: 93′

 

[boykinlp]

Would have made millions of grips!
Larry

 

[Rustyt1953]

All I could think of was guitar tops.

 

[Rudi]

Pretty darned cool.

 

[Autonomous]

Masts, booms, yards, oars and paddles.


Them ain't 'ores, that's me wife and daughter...

 

[llowry61]

I think it made a sound whether someone was there or not! Pretty cool picture and another example of how amazing nature can be and is. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Igiveup]

We don't have trees that size on the east side of the mountains, but we sure get a lot more snow.

 

[SS336]

That's cool. I didn't know about that tree. Sounds like a road trip this summer.
Northern Ca. and southern Or. have some big trees and it's a lot of fun to go camping and just hike around and find them.
At the redwood forest in northern Ca. a couple of years ago with the family. This is one big stump!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Those left coast mountains sure make some monsters, like the Sequoia that ate my father-in-law.

 

[RobertJ.]

That's cool. I didn't know about that tree. Sounds like a road trip this summer.
Northern Ca. and southern Or. have some big trees and it's a lot of fun to go camping and just hike around and find them.
At the redwood forest in northern Ca. a couple of years ago with the family. This is one big stump!

That is one massive stump!

Southern Oregon, with its redwoods, has some of the biggest, if not the biggest, trees in the state. We have some old-growth Douglas Fir up in this area that come close to rivaling them, though.

 

[lihpster]

That is one massive stump!

Southern Oregon, with its redwoods, has some of the biggest, if not the biggest, trees in the state. We have some old-growth Douglas Fir up in this area that come close to rivaling them, though.

The Doerner Fir is the tallest Douglas Fir in the world, and the largest in Oregon. It is located in the Oregon Coast mountains west of Roseburg, near the Burnt Mountain Recreation area in BLM forest. The Doerner Fir was measured at 327.3 feet in 2011. The trunk 11.5 feet diameter. It was discovered in 1989 by a man named Hank Williams. Two years later it was measured, at 329 feet.

 

[RobertJ.]

The Doerner Fir is the tallest Douglas Fir in the world, and the largest in Oregon. It is located in the Oregon Coast mountains west of Roseburg, near the Burnt Mountain Recreation area in BLM forest. The Doerner Fir was measured at 327.3 feet in 2011. The trunk 11.5 feet diameter. It was discovered in 1989 by a man named Hank Williams. Two years later it was measured, at 329 feet.

That's a big tree! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nevada Ed]

Grew up in the Bay area and lived with my family in Mill Valley.

Just over the hill from us, about 20 miles north of SF, was Muir Woods.

It has a huge Redwood tree forest that should be on your bucket list, if you ever get out that way.
Trails wind through the forest that is cool from all the shade and covereed with ferns from the fog & rain that comes to the area.

You can then go down to the beach and take off your shoes and walk in the soft warm sand, if you like doing that kind of thing
and watch the seagulls sail the breaze and see the little shore crabs run away from you, as you approch them, on the shore line.

 

[CH4]

Growing up near "Big Trees" State Park in NorCal, I was always fascinated with the giant trees, especially this stump. It was big enough to hold square dances on top.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Isn't there a big tree out West that has a tunnel in it to drive a car through? I thought I saw something like that in my school days. Seems like a cruel thing to do to a tree.

 

[CH4]

Isn't there a big tree out West that has a tunnel in it to drive a car through? I thought I saw something like that in my school days. Seems like a cruel thing to do to a tree.

Yes, There are more than one, but the most famous is the Wawona Tunnel tree in Yosemite.

 

[RobertJ.]

Grew up in the Bay area and lived with my family in Mill Valley.

Just over the hill from us, about 20 miles north of SF, was Muir Woods.

It has a huge Redwood tree forest that should be on your bucket list, if you ever get out that way.
Trails wind through the forest that is cool from all the shade and covereed with ferns from the fog & rain that comes to the area.

You can then go down to the beach and take off your shoes and walk in the soft warm sand, if you like doing that kind of thing
and watch the seagulls sail the breaze and see the little shore crabs run away from you, as you approch them, on the shore line.

I drove past there when I was 17. I was hitch-hiking, and the guy who gave me a ride was stopping to pick up pieces of redwood that he was going to sell to someone in the city. I spent the day helping him fill the back of his pickup. Beautiful highway!

There's no denying that Highway 1 is one of the most beautiful highways in the US!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Isn't there a big tree out West that has a tunnel in it to drive a car through? I thought I saw something like that in my school days. Seems like a cruel thing to do to a tree.

Dug up these low-quality photos from a National Parks trip 39 years ago that show a couple of drive-thru trees, and one drive-on-top tree. Of course, only the vertical one was still alive though.