LOCATIONS

Old Growth In The East

Some Old-Growth Sites To Visit
The Hermitage, Appalachian Trail, West Branch of the Pleasant River, Maine. The Hermitage, with some of the tallest white pine in Maine, is a registered National Natural Landmark. The trees average 130 feet tall and up to three feet in diameter. The site is reached along the Appalachian Trail near Gulf Hagas, which features five waterfalls and more old growth. Access is via a logging road seven miles beyond Katahdin Iron Works.

Gifford Woods State Park, Vermont. Though only seven acres in size, the park was designated a National Natural Landmark by Congress because of its large sugar maple up to 300 years old and more than 48 inches in diameter. One hemlock is documented to be 419 years old, and an American beech was found to be 240 years old. Other large trees found here include some impressive American elm and basswood.

Five Ponds Wilderness, Adirondack State Park, New York. The Five Ponds Wilderness in the western Adirondacks hosts the largest tracts of virgin forest on the East Coast. The trail to High Falls from Inlet provides access to some of the trees, including yellow birch, white pine and sugar maple, some of which are up to 4.5 feet in diameter and 400 years of age.

Jockey Hollow, Morristown National Historic Park, New Jersey. The Garden State has converted so much of its forests to farmland, and now suburbia, that less than a thousand acres of old-growth forest is thought to exist in New Jersey. Nevertheless, there are some trees that are thought to be at least 200 or more years old in Jockey Hollow, where George Washington and his revolutionary army spent the winter in 1777 and again in 1779-1780.

Cook Forest State Park, Pennsylvania. Known as the Black Forest for its towering pine and hemlock that form sprawling canopies, the park is a registered National Natural Landmark. The park contains the tallest pines in the Northeast, many of them more than 150 feet tall and as much as 400 years old. Longfellow pines have reached 180 feet in height, while seneca pines have measured nearly five feet in diameter.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains the second-largest known tracts of virgin forest in the East—estimated at more than 200,000 acres. The four-mile-long Ramsey Cascades Trail is one of the better places to find large old-growth deciduous trees in the park. The Appalachian Trail traverses the spine of the park for 69 miles and passes through numerous tracts of virgin high-elevation spruce forest.

Congaree National Park, South Carolina. This park boasts approximately 11,000 acres of old-growth bottomland hardwoods and cypress-tupelo systems on the floodplain of the Congaree River. While the large bald cypresses are the major attraction of this park, there are 90 species of trees in the park and many state or national record holders. The largest loblolly pine in the nation is found here, standing 167 feet tall and more than 15 feet in circumference.

The Loxahatchee “Wild and Scenic” River, Florida. The Loxahatchee was the first designated “Wild and Scenic” River in Florida. The gentle river flows into Jonathan Dickinson State Park near Juniper, Fla. Along its banks, in the upper reaches accessible by canoe, you’ll find some large 500-year-old bald cypress. Canoes can be rented from several outfitters, so you don’t have to bring your own.

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