Carl and Randy at Cook Forest:  
Deer Meadow and Foundation Ridge
  Carl Harting
  Oct 12, 2006 17:37 PDT 

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.   

bl_cherry_succumbs.jpg (92012 bytes)  
Deer Meadows Black Cherry Snag - 
photo by Carl Harting

IMG_0107a.jpg (90257 bytes)
Cherry Snag - photo by Randy Brown
IMG_0109a.jpg (92656 bytes) 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_chestnuta.jpg (71484 bytes)
Big chestnut - photo by Randy Brown
IMG_0119a.jpg (90196 bytes)
New chestnut - photo by Randy Brown
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New chestnut - photo by Randy Brown

 

randy_brown.jpg (93216 bytes) Randy Brown IMG_0105a.jpg (87767 bytes)
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

RE: Carl and Randy at Cook Forest   djluth-@pennswoods.net
  Oct 17, 2006 14:02 PDT 

Carl & Randy,

WAY TO GO !!!

I never thought we'd have a scarlet to break 110ft at Cook, let alone darn near
reaching the 120ft class. Absolutely incredible find.

Thanks also for the update on the loss of our massive black cherry. I sure
hated to see that one go. I think I'll still keep the geocache there. I'll
just have to update the website:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=314548db-aff3-484f-bc51-2914d58e873e

Thanks again for taking another look at that 120ft class white ash in the Deer
Meadows Old Growth Area. Sure was hoping that tree would at least break 125.
Ashes are a hard find here at Cook.

Nice 70ft class chestnut! The 'Foundation Ridge' area is really becoming a
little hotspot.

Dale
Re: Carl and Randy at Cook Forest   Jess Riddle
  Oct 18, 2006 15:00 PDT 

Carl,

Those are some nice finds. Even tromping around in areas with much
longer growing seasons, I struggle to find scarlet oaks over 110'.
The 8.2' cbh is respectable too. The chestnuts on that Foundation
Ridge area sound very refreshing. I've seen a chestnut here or there
in that size class, but never a whole collection of tall ones. Bummer
on the cherry.

Jess