Sunday, February 21, 2010

70 degrees and a walk to see a tree.

Today was one of those ah days.
 It promised to be at least 60 degrees with blue skies.
Lucky us it turned out to be 70 degrees.
We used the morning to work a bit and then jumped in the car and went off to eat Thai food down in the Pines.
After lunch the plan was to find a pine tree we had read about.
 Last year someone went out and took core samples of some of the pines in Weymouth Woods in Southern Pines. They found when taking the samples that one of the pines was 462 years old.
We went over and started walking the trail with no luck.
Mark thought there should be a billboard announcing this tree or at least a big sign pointing to it.
No luck.
We did find some nice trails and just as we were heading back to the car a ranger walks up.
Perfect! Mark asked him about the tree and he told us he would be happy to take us out there.
We were not quite in the right area.
We  walked back to our car and then followed him several miles down the road, down a dirt road, parked and walked in to see the tree.
Four hundred and sixty two years old.
Pretty amazing.



A little bed of moss....


a few red berries.....



the tree, the bottom third....
Look close for holes of core samples.




Ranger Scott Hartley

Turned out to be a great day to soak up some sun before the glazing begins.

11 comments:

Shortstuff said...

Wow...the shot with the ranger in it really gives you a sense of perspective. That's an enormous pine. Glad you guys got out to do something fun. We're still hoping for melt here.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

dang, did you say 70?????

cookingwithgas said...

Yes Gary- 70!
Shortstuff come on down!

Tracey Broome said...

The weather was amazing today wasn't it! I fired my raku kiln, just had to be out there. Gerry and I have eaten at that Thai place in Southern Pines, really good food. What a nice day the two of you had :)

Liquidambar Studio said...

Spent the day in the woods too!

Laurie said...

Nice pictures! Haven't seen any red berries here in a while. It WAS an awesome day. Warmth, more daylight... it gave me cheer. You'll have to share the name of the Thai restaurant.

T.Gray said...

Another beautiful day in paradise, huh?

Linda Starr said...

oh happy day and amazing tree

Shortstuff said...

I'll be there soon. Make sure the weather is warm for us!

Anonymous said...

i'm a sucker for trees myself. it's great to know some dimwit hasn't cut that beauty down. a friend of mine had a coffee table book of the oldest trees in n. america and in the book it told of a young man who was curious of the age of a secluded tree and bought a 600.00 bit to drill into the tree and get a core sample to determine age. the bit got stuck in the tree and he ended up cutting it down to save the bit. i still haven't gotten over it. sorry for the downer comment, i love trees.

cookingwithgas said...

we are big on tree hugging around here and it breaks our heart when one has to go.
Cut down the tree for the drill bit- he should be whipped with wet noodles!