Re: Finding the Floyd Otter Tree - #3 Giant Sequoia
Posted: Wed Apr 24, 2019 3:28 pm
Greetings,
My wife and I found and photographed California Tree aka Otter or Unnamed, which we called Firescar, in July 1999. I measured the base with a steel 100 ft tape in 2002 with Dwight Willard after camping overnight at the base of KA. While California-Firescar's ground perimeter compares to the largest specimens known, the DBH just above is not quite as impressive. Viewed from uphill the oval base appears unusually wide. There is alot of taper to the main trunk and if one subtracted the missing scar volume, and added the unimpressive branching, my guess this tree would rank around top twenty 'only'. In 2002 there was an interest in Garfield centered on KA among big tree researchers incl Van Pelt, Sillett, Willard, and Evans partly as a result of the image of KA that I circulated which was taken in 1999 from just uphill of Flint's image appearing on the cover of his first edition. There is a telltale small scar on the uphill bark low down that confirms it is the same tree. KA as Flint notes in his second edition has little taper making its trunk volume quite large.
As far as the Homer's Nose Phantom, Flint obviously was intrigued by possibilities of a large undiscovered specimen somewhere out in the backcountry, and he put HN on the cover of his second edition in that spirit of mystique. Flint told me before he died that he knew HN grove did not have an exceptionally large tree but that the Phantom was in Board Camp Grove. I did locate the BC Phantom with Willard in 2002.
I have been to lower Dillonwood GS regrowth acreage from the south, and to Dennison Ridge from Garfield several times but not yet into upper Dillonwood. Given the grove size I would budget two days on foot to survey it. I heard that the biggest trees were mostly all cut, but how high up have no clue. Last summer I found stumps in upper Atwell at around 7300 ft. I plan to be in upper Dillonwood this July 2019 from out of state. If there is anyone with sufficient GS/Sierras background and interest to join my survey for several days, they can leave their email in a reply to this comment.
Doug
My wife and I found and photographed California Tree aka Otter or Unnamed, which we called Firescar, in July 1999. I measured the base with a steel 100 ft tape in 2002 with Dwight Willard after camping overnight at the base of KA. While California-Firescar's ground perimeter compares to the largest specimens known, the DBH just above is not quite as impressive. Viewed from uphill the oval base appears unusually wide. There is alot of taper to the main trunk and if one subtracted the missing scar volume, and added the unimpressive branching, my guess this tree would rank around top twenty 'only'. In 2002 there was an interest in Garfield centered on KA among big tree researchers incl Van Pelt, Sillett, Willard, and Evans partly as a result of the image of KA that I circulated which was taken in 1999 from just uphill of Flint's image appearing on the cover of his first edition. There is a telltale small scar on the uphill bark low down that confirms it is the same tree. KA as Flint notes in his second edition has little taper making its trunk volume quite large.
As far as the Homer's Nose Phantom, Flint obviously was intrigued by possibilities of a large undiscovered specimen somewhere out in the backcountry, and he put HN on the cover of his second edition in that spirit of mystique. Flint told me before he died that he knew HN grove did not have an exceptionally large tree but that the Phantom was in Board Camp Grove. I did locate the BC Phantom with Willard in 2002.
I have been to lower Dillonwood GS regrowth acreage from the south, and to Dennison Ridge from Garfield several times but not yet into upper Dillonwood. Given the grove size I would budget two days on foot to survey it. I heard that the biggest trees were mostly all cut, but how high up have no clue. Last summer I found stumps in upper Atwell at around 7300 ft. I plan to be in upper Dillonwood this July 2019 from out of state. If there is anyone with sufficient GS/Sierras background and interest to join my survey for several days, they can leave their email in a reply to this comment.
Doug