This is a 160 feet tall Eastern Cottonwood tree located in the forest of the Boone’s Cave State Park. Reportedly this is the tallest known Eastern Cottonwood tree in North Carolina. I don’t know how they know this — perhaps they have someone who measures the height of Eastern Cottonwood trees. The base of the tree appeared to be over 7 feet in diameter.
This photo does the tree’s height no justice as the surrounding dense brush/trees and my choice of lens didn’t provide me the option of capturing the whole tree without shooting straight up or through dense forest. Instead, I chose this shot. I like the warm morning light, the details of the branches and earthy tones against the deep blue of the sky.
Impressive, especially for a cottonwood!
Steve, yes, certainly one of the largest I’ve seen.
The photo gives a fairly broad hint as to the impressive height. Besides, all the other attributes of this one are engaging enough to fully satisfy a devoted tree lover. Do you have these clouds on special delivery sent ahead to locations? I am impressed.
Standing next to such a tall and old tree must be moving. The warm light and the beautiful blue and brown tones are incredibly beautiful – what a great image!
I had no idea cottonwoods got that big. It dwarfs most of the ones I see around here, and we have lots of cottonwoods. Some folks find them a nuisance, but I think they’re beautiful, with or without leaves.
I have a few big ones right behind my yard. Always interesting come spring time when the “snow” starts falling from these trees.
@Anita, @Martina, @Ken and @Mark…I’ve been remiss in responding to comments. I’ll make no excuses but simply thank-you all and express my appreciation for your visit and input.
I like the small sign at its base and its simple message. Massive trees are difficult to capture in densely forested areas, another reason I like the isolated tree(s) in vast open vistas. You’ve stirred up some reflection as I think back over my time in Columbus, Ohio. Off the top of my head I do not remember seeing any cottonwood trees back there. Was I just caught up on the beauty of the hardwoods and missed them or did I just not see any there?
Wonder what the pay would be for someone to wander the forests measuring trees? What a great office view that would be.
Monte, good question about the pay rate for that tree “measurer”…and how would they know they’d found them all so they could actually pronounce a single tree the tallest in the state? :-)
I need to visit that park. Missed my chance today, in fact. Maybe next week.
As big cottonwoods go, that one’s not that impressive. It’s a very nice tree, and all, but compared to some cottonwood giants, it’s medium-sized. It does have height…but it lacks the volume of a truly big cottonwood tree.