Besides the headwaters of the Mississippi, Lake Itasca State Park is also touted as a surviving example of an "old growth" pine forest. When we were in Virginia, we had had a discussion about "old growth" pine, given that the lifespan of pine is relatively short compared to hardwoods. It appears that the definition here of an "old growth" pine forest is one that has not been logged.
We took a drive along "Wilderness Drive", a route where the park has purposely kept little development (though there are maintained trails and information along the way).
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| One of our stops was at this area where trees were planted by the CCCs in the late 1930s |
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| They had nice little information boards along the way... |
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| The path started out quite nice... |
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| Nice trees - the information board indicated that these were competing for sunlight so no lower branches. |
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| As I went along, the path got narrower... and the mosquitoes ("muskeetoes" from the sign board yesterday) got more numerous... |
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| And narrower (is there really a path there? I don't think many people make the whole loop)... |
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| Still beautiful skies and trees, but LOTS of mosquitoes! They were easy to kill, once they attached, they didn't leave until you squashed them! |
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| So, we found bug spray in the Jeep, and stopped at another spot to see the Larges White Pine Tree. |
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| It was documented at 112 feet, with a circumference of 173 inches, 48.75' crown spread, and age of 300+ years. |
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| It *was* big! |
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| Looking up... |
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| Dwayne near the trunk to give perspective |
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| Another perspective shot - Dwayne leaving the area around the tree. |
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| After the "Largest White Pine", we planned to stop at the Largest Red Pine, but found this sign at the parking lot... is it no longer there? Or did they find one larger? |
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| It is still there, but the top was broken out of it by a storm about 10 years ago |
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| A story of its history |
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| From its 1996 measurements - circumference of 120", height of 126', spread of 48', age 300+ years |
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| Then we stopped to climb the Fire Tower |
There were cautions that no more than 6 people should be on the tower at the same time, so we waited for a little while until our turn to climb it.
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| View from the bottom while we were waiting |
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| going up |
Views from the top:
Since we were cognizant of others waiting at the bottom, we didn't spend as much time at the top as we probably would have enjoyed doing... but it was a good walk and climb and worth it.
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| The path to/from the fire tower was a nice broad dirt road. |
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| We passed a couple of pretty lakes on the walk |
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| Finally, we finished up at the visitor center where I saw this appropriate display! After applying the bug spray, though, I didn't have any more problems with mosquitoes biting, though other bugs swarmed at times, they didn't seem to land or bite. |
Information about old-growth forests from the Visitor Center:
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| Close ups to follow... |
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| Ah - 120 years... |
We also stopped at Preacher's Grove, a beautiful spot:
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| zoomed in pictures to follow... |
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| So beautiful |
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| So peaceful... |
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| The lake was down the path... |
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| There was also a path that went alongside the lake, we did not take it... |
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| Looking back up the path |
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| bright blue sky with brilliant puffy clouds |
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| I guess they leave the fallen trees to rot and go back into the soil |
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| I am not sure whether this is evidence of long-ago fire damage or not.. |
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| Another example of what might be long-ago fire damage |
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