October, 2020
Reader Robin mentioned that there are a number of massive trees near this very campground that are world record holders for size. We found one of the trees! It’s not just near the campground, it’s right on this campground/resort that’s on the edge of Lake Quinault. This particular tree is well-marked and well-known. It was just a 3-minute walk away from my campsite.
Here’s my campsite, looking towards the lake.
And, when I simply pivoted in place, turning 180 degrees to look the opposite direction, away from my truck/trailer, then the view was this …
The RED arrow in the photo above points to a dark path through the trees at the far end of the campground … the path that, supposedly, we were told, led to this world record holding monstrously large tree. Hmm, but that dark path looked awfully dark to us … ok, you go first … no, you go first … oh no, please, after you. In the end, we went in together, and we were fine. We lived to tell the tale. 🙂
We saw the tree before we read the sign. But my photos simply don’t show how huge this tree is. We were amazed at how large the tree was, truly amazed.
The tree we spent time with today is a Sitka Spruce, lots of them around the State of Washington, and most of them are not large enough to notice really. Sure some are tall, but “nothing to write home about” as they say.
But THIS tree … wow. With a circumference of 58’11”, that means the diameter of the tree was 58’11” divided by pi. Quick now, do the math. That means the diameter of tree, probably very near the base, was 18.75 feet, almost 19 feet thick.
I’m 5’8″ tall, just 4″ shy of 6 feet tall. So three of me could lie end to end, head to toe, and still not fill the trunk of this tree from one side to the other.
Ok, here’s a photo of the whole tree.
Almost 200 feet tall, almost 19 feet in diameter, and 1,000 years old. Keep in mind that the blue/white sign at the bottom of the tree was significantly taller than I was. Keep in mind that your car is probably just 7 feet wide, or so. The trees around this tree were large trees, full grown, yet some looked like saplings compared to this Sitka Spruce.
This is the largest Spruce tree in the world.
The photo above is zoomed in on the tree trunk where the lower branches start. Even the branches are massive.
The branches are so large and so heavy that in wind storms, and with ice and/or snow, many of the branches have broken off causing live burls to form where the injury happened.
Photo below … looking straight at a live burl with a bit of the original branch still sticking out.
Look at the skin … I keep thinking of it as skin … look at the bark on the tree in the photo above. It’s some where around 1,000 years old.
Further yet up the tree, you can see obvious broken branches and the start of more live burls.
I was so impressed by this old soul.
Check out that blue and white sign again above if you didn’t already to read about the other record holding trees here … not just on the Olympic Peninsula, but right HERE, right here in this valley of the Quinault River, where water is so abundant that everything grows almost beyond measure.
After we spent a good bit of time with this Sitka Spruce and after we had admired her appropriately, and blessed her many times over, we took a different path on our way away from her. Our path away led over a small foot bridge, then out to the road, then back to the campground and the cabin. Just to prove how abundant water is around here, a creek flowed quietly under that foot bridge. How rich, and how perfect.
