Monster Triple-trunker

Last year, my friend "Old Growth" Cliff came across a huge three-trunked Tulip Tree in the Mark Trail Wilderness. Due to its trunk configuration, it doesn't qualify for the Champion Tree species listings. But if one includes all three trunks, it may well contain the largest total cubic foot volume of any tree in the Chattahoochee National Forest. He and I were going to visit the tree in June and look for other old growth, but I was bitten by the copperhead the day before. By the time I was recovered, it was getting too hot for me to feel like making the trek into this isolated area. But, on a fine December day, I decided to combine an old home-site search with a look for the monster tree.

I have posted photos before of the CCC stonework at culverts on the AT in this area. This old forest road is nearby, and has similar stonework at the culvert in this cove.

Another section of the field stone retaining wall...

Approaching the monster triple-trunk Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), which is about 3/4 way down a steep cove.

This tree dwarfs any tree I've seen in the N. Georgia mountains.

The triple-trunk configuration. Measuring around all three trunks at breast height would result in a total "circumference" of 316 inches. That would be 8 feet in "pseudo" diameter.

The first split is just over 3 ft high; the second is about 7 ft up. I was only able to measure one of the individual trunks (the one on the right in this image); it measured 152 inches in circumference (just over 4 foot diameter). And it wasn't the largest of the three trunks.

There were other trees in the area that would normally be considered big. This one measured 150 inches in circumference (4 feet dbh).

On the way out, I came across this "Indian Trail Tree". lol! It points to the long lost Cherokee gold, no doubt!

Old Growth Index	Towns-Union-White Index
Hiawassee Index	N GA - NC - SC Index