 |
Searching for Old Growth In the Areas below Cold Springs Gap, Including Coon Den Ridge and Soapstone Gap |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2020) |
|
Searching for Old Growth In the Areas below Cold Springs Gap, Including Coon Den Ridge and Soapstone Gap |
All Text & Images: Copyright (2020) |
| January 2020 I spent a day exploring the woods for large old growth trees with Cliff Shaw and Alan Cressler on either side of Cold Springs Gap in the Chattahoochee National Forest. On a cold morning with some snow, we started out on old logging roads, transitioning to some steep bushwhacks on the upper slopes, and ending with an unexpected encounter with a black bear. |
|
 |
|
| After a steep climb up to Cold Springs Gap, we followed the A.T. for a while In 1934, the CCC began building a road in this area as part of the same national initiative that resulted in the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. When the Georgia AT Club discovered it went by their brand new hikers' shelter, they were a bit upset, and successfully appealed to the Forest Service to stop building the road, because it conflicted with the Appalachian Trail. Evidence of the CCC work is still evident at the head of each drainage in this area, where the stone culverts remain in place after 85 years. |
|
 |
|
| First of the large Tulip Trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) that we encountered. |
|
 |
|
| We saw a lot of blow-down from some recent wind events in Coon Den Cove. |
|
 |
|
| The trunk of this large Tulip Tree had recently snapped. Cliff had measured and documented this tree when he previously visited the area. |
|
 |
|
| While not monstrous, this was yet another large Tulip Tree. Finally coming across a sunny spot with little snow, we ate our lunch nearby. |
|
 |
|
| We came across some extremely large Yellow Buckeyes (Aesculus flava) below a boulder-field. |
|
 |
|
| Old growth Yellow Buckeye |
|
 |
|
| This boulder-field would probably be worth a return visit in the spring... |
|
 |
|
| Walking Fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum) |
|
 |
|
| Old chimney, high up on a gap. I had photographed this chimney a year ago, with better lighting conditions.... |
|
 |
|
| Alan with another big Tulip Tree |
|
 |
|
| A large Red Oak (Quercus rubra) |
|
 |
|
| Spotting this monstrous Tulip Tree, we asked Alan to go stand next to it for scale. As he approached it, a big old black bear came scrambling down the back side of the tree trunk and then loped off up the hill. Despite all three of us with cameras, we were so surprised that no one got a picture. |
|
 |
|
| The "bear tree" was our last big tree of the day, as well as our biggest (in girth). It measured just shy of six feet in diameter! |
|
 |
|
| A wide angle view of the "bear tree". |