The Big Pine
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
Canada
March 10, 2017 7:12am CST
We camped and still do in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. We had a good hiking book.
This hike was perfect for our younger children. My oldest son was a young teen and his best friend went camping with us for years. The other children were not teens yet...
We asked the ranger at the camp what she thought about the trip to the “Big Pine”. She said it was a perfect easy trail to follow. She told us about the tree and the old man who lived in a cottage near the tree. She said it is a State Trail but the old man who lived in the cottage sits on his porch and watches the families walking by. She suggested we ask him for permission to cross his land and we did that, he just smiled and pointed the way the trail went.
The tree was huge, the oldest and biggest standing live tree in the Adirondacks. It was four and a half feet around and a 140 feet high. Our six children held hands around the tree. I think I had to go hold their hands to reach all the way around..
I see on the web site, hikers are asked to not to ring around the tree so to protect its roots. We never thought our little children could do damage but I guess they can...
The photo above was taken that day around 30 years ago. I'm glad to see it is still a destination. The website link is below. More photos on the website.
http://www.cliftonfineadk.com/bigpine
20 people like this
20 responses
@moffittjc (118403)
• Gainesville, Florida
11 Mar 17
It always brings a smile to my face to see stories like this! I am a big fan of trees (but no, I'm not a tree-hugger in that sense! lol), so it's nice to see when big, old trees are protected and preserved. It's too bad we don't try to do more to protect trees in our communities, instead of bulldozing and paving everything over in concrete and asphalt.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (118403)
• Gainesville, Florida
21 Mar 17
@PainsOnSlate I am very worried about our national parks and national forests being sold off piece by piece. They are preserved as national treasures for a reason, and I don't think any President should have the authority to sell them or reduce in size their acreage. Many people don't realize how important parks are for our health and well being.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Mar 17
@moffittjc sadly its obvious he is in it for him and not the country, I know they are talking impeachment and I hope they act on it before he starts a war...No PBS, no meals on wheels, no heath care, no clean air...you wonder what is next
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
I often wonder about that too, the cutting down trees and building more homes...I guess that is why we have parks and its a bit scary that that idiot in Washington is talking about selling our national parks... I'm thinking my sister and I should do that hike again this summer...
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111094)
• El Paso, Texas
11 Mar 17
Sounds like they were seeded around the time the settlers moved in @PainsOnSlate
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
11 Mar 17
@rebelann This whole area was wild, it still is to a degree. The trees were seeded by mother nature.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
11 Mar 17
i read some where the oldest trees in the Adirondacks are 350 to 400 years old.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
10 Mar 17
I don't think in our book 30 years ago they even mentioned the roots but I'm glad they do now.
2 people like this
@Juliaacv (48292)
• Canada
10 Mar 17
@PainsOnSlate I think that we know more now, and how to protect things better.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
Most of the Adirondack were clear cut years ago and we wondered how this one was saved.... but we were very happy to see one that big and that old while hiking.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
I never thought of that but now I know!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Mar 17
@JudyEv I see that with the giant sequoia and redwood in California...never seen it myself but lots of photos...I wonder if your tree fell down because cutting into the bottom hurt it...I often think that about California but haven't heard of any falling down...
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325442)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Mar 17
@PainsOnSlate We had one old tingle tree that was so huge but burnt out that cars could drive through it so of course everybody did and stopped and took photos etc. It eventually fell down.
1 person likes this
@almostoveryou (4175)
• Philippines
13 Mar 17
What a beautiful tree! My dream is to see a forest of ancient trees like the Redwoods.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
13 Mar 17
I would love to see them too. The redwoods are so much bigger than the pines. So beautiful.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
17 Mar 17
I was thinking we might (my sister and I) might take that hike again. The gentleman in the cottage was very old so I doubt he would still be there but it will be fun to do it again.(and easy - we're old now)
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71659)
• United States
10 Mar 17
That is interesting as I never thought about how standing around the bottom of the tree like that could damage its roots but it makes sense. Some roots are far enough under the ground am doubt you would have to worry but with this tree it must have been easier to step on the roots.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
I'm glad it was mentioned in the link, we were new to hiking and had never heard that until now so will keep that in mind in the future.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
11 Mar 17
I shall have to look it up, and possibly visit on our next trip to the Adirondacks!
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
15 Mar 17
@PainsOnSlate we like easy hikes
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@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
10 Mar 17
I wonder if the old man is still around, I guess it depends how old he was 30 years ago.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
10 Mar 17
Probably not, He was old back then - I would guess he was in his 70's when we did the hike.
2 people like this
@MarshaMusselman (38617)
• Midland, Michigan
22 Mar 17
Wow, that tree is huge. I knew oaks could get that big and probably a lot of other trees, but even the taller pines we have in Michigan have smaller trunks, so I'd not have guessed that to be a pine.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
23 Mar 17
It was pretty impressive and I hope we get to do the hike again this summer..it been 30 years since we say it in the photo..
1 person likes this
@Fleura (29097)
• United Kingdom
15 Mar 17
I was going to ask how old it is - the site puts it as an estimated 300 years or more. Sounds like a lovely outing. But yes I guess even few children's feet can cause damage if repeated thousands of times, and it sounds like a popular walk!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
It is popular because its an easy hike, no climbing mountains but beautiful views of the trees, marshes, lakes and ponds.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
10 Mar 17
Wow that's huge. Great shot. We had a maple tree in the middle of our driveway when we bought our current house. It was only about 40 feet tall and it was dying and leaning towards our house. We took it down and at it's largest point it was 5 feet across at about 6 feet above the ground. I could lay fully across it.
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@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
There is a famous Maple nearby that is huge too, its a destination to see it and its old, I noticed the last time I visited it the town has filled some open holes with bricks and mortar, I'm assuming to keep critters out and helping it live longer... It must have been fun to lay over the space and have it that big..
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@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
15 Mar 17
@PainsOnSlate It was pretty cool, I was amazed by it's size. We burned that wood in our barn for heat for like 5 years.
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@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
23 Mar 17
Yes we all enjoyed it , the photo was around 30 years ago, I'm not as good as i was when it comes to hiking but I still enjoy short ones.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Mar 17
It was an easy hike for our children and I think now that we are old we might want to visit it again this summer..
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
11 Mar 17
I would have been about Fourteen when our family hiked to the top of Cornell Mountain and Wittenberg mountain. There was a third mountain we climbed the same day but I don't recall the name. This sounds wonderful....in reality it would have been consider d insane. We carried my one year old baby sister for the entire hike....the four year old twins were also carried by oldr siblings for much of the hike.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
12 Mar 17
I don't remember hiking with my parents but when my sister and I started camping with our children we decided to take advantage of what the mountains gave us and we did many hikes but there were no babies, they could carry themseves, we took lots of breaks and enjoyed almost every minute of it (didn't enjoy the black flies when the weather allowed them to be nasty...)
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
11 Mar 17
it was pretty impressive to walk up to it and then look up...
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@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Mar 17
it was impressive and we wondered how it got to be that old, most of the mountains were clear cut for lumber and replanted..
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