Finding the Floyd Otter Tree - #3 Giant Sequoia

[Treelore]

Greetings,

My wife and I found and photographed California Tree aka Otter or Unnamed, which we called Firescar, in July 1999. I measured the base with a steel 100 ft tape in 2002 with Dwight Willard after camping overnight at the base of KA. While California-Firescar's ground perimeter compares to the largest specimens known, the DBH just above is not quite as impressive. Viewed from uphill the oval base appears unusually wide. There is alot of taper to the main trunk and if one subtracted the missing scar volume, and added the unimpressive branching, my guess this tree would rank around top twenty 'only'. In 2002 there was an interest in Garfield centered on KA among big tree researchers incl Van Pelt, Sillett, Willard, and Evans partly as a result of the image of KA that I circulated which was taken in 1999 from just uphill of Flint's image appearing on the cover of his first edition. There is a telltale small scar on the uphill bark low down that confirms it is the same tree. KA as Flint notes in his second edition has little taper making its trunk volume quite large.
As far as the Homer's Nose Phantom, Flint obviously was intrigued by possibilities of a large undiscovered specimen somewhere out in the backcountry, and he put HN on the cover of his second edition in that spirit of mystique. Flint told me before he died that he knew HN grove did not have an exceptionally large tree but that the Phantom was in Board Camp Grove. I did locate the BC Phantom with Willard in 2002.
I have been to lower Dillonwood GS regrowth acreage from the south, and to Dennison Ridge from Garfield several times but not yet into upper Dillonwood. Given the grove size I would budget two days on foot to survey it. I heard that the biggest trees were mostly all cut, but how high up have no clue. Last summer I found stumps in upper Atwell at around 7300 ft. I plan to be in upper Dillonwood this July 2019 from out of state. If there is anyone with sufficient GS/Sierras background and interest to join my survey for several days, they can leave their email in a reply to this comment.

Doug

[suecag]

Doug/Treelore, how did your survey go last year? I've been to King Arthur and California Tree/Floyd Otter and thought about continuing above them and over the ridge to take a look. I've been to lower Dillonwood. I could see sequoias on the ridge above the cut area of Dillonwood and looks like the road continues almost up to them (too much snow/too little time during my visit to go all the way up).

[Lenier]

Count me for exploring in this area!

[Igneous1]

Sorry to be joining this conversation so late. Too late, considering the sad plight of the trees.

Regarding trail proximity, I think King Arthur is within about 200 horizontal feet and 80 vertical feet of the old South Fork Trail. That's pretty close. What I am calling "the old trail" might represent a relatively recent re-routing. I don't know when the current trail was turned further down slope (I think it may have been within the last 18 years), but the old trail can still be identified at places. Seeing that the "California Tree" was evidently forgotten after 1925, we might guess that local slides or deadfall could have led to reroutings that could have caused the trail to stray from the tree and cause the tree to pass out of memory.

My book about the Hockett Trail is available on Amazon.

There was a tree listed in Dept of Interior reports from 1900 - 1925 as the "California Tree" in the Garfield Grove with a 30' diameter (presumably at ground level) and 260' high... did you see any sign that this tree had been recognized by previous generations...(Trail Proximity, Plaque Mounts, Carvings in the trunk?)

[shtinkypuppie]

One of my first ever backpacking trips was stomping around Garfield Grove looking for the largest tree in it (King Arthur?) according to that old book by Wendell Flint. I'm still not sure I found it, but I did have a good time. Thanks for this post.