[Hugh G. Trey]

Whilst hiking up the West Fork Foss River trail, we chanced upon a gigantic tree. It must have been 12 or 15 feet in diameter at the base. It's only a mile or two up the trail, and right next to the trail. Anybody know if it's high on the list of biggest trees? Got recommendations for other big tree hikes?

[MCaver]

Ah, I love big trees. Mount Rainier NP has quite a few. Just drive through the East Side Road (SR-123) and the Carbon River Road and there's a lot right on the side of the road. For hikes there, you can't beat the Grove of the Patriarchs trail in the Ohanapecosh area. It's a bit touristy, but the trees are huge. There's one called "Big Cedar" that is the largest tree I've ever seen. At least 15ft in diameter. The East Side Trail between Deer Creek and Stafford Falls also has some pretty impressive trees. Another nice big tree hike I've found is the Harold J Engles Memorial Cedars Trail off the North Fork Sauk Road. It's a simple loop trail that passes by many old growth cedars, including one section where they grow in a ring, reminding me of something out of Lord of the Rings. Very cool. The trail isn't shown on the Green Trails map and doesn't have a Forest Service trail number, so I'm assuming it's not "official", but it does have a sign at the trailhead giving the name and brief history. I don't remember where it starts right off the top of my head, but I can dig out the information if you're interested.

[Hodgeman of BC]

Hugh - You may want to try and find the book "Hiking the Ancient Forests of BC and Washington" by the late Randy Stoltmann and Lone Pine Publishing. It's published up here, in BC, but Lone Pine also has a Redmond address. I would expect that it's available, in your area.

[Backpacker Joe]

That tree you're talking about is THE big tree on the Foss trail. A douglas fir. WAY BIG, and short! I've got a picture of that tree somewhere. I found the biggest tree I've ever seen up the Downey Creek trail. About 4 miles upo in the right side. The base must have been 17 feet in diameter. About 25 feet up she split into three individual cedars!!! TB

[Hugh G. Trey]

Ah Joe, you could probably put that big Downey Creeker in the back of your mondo truck. Hey, you web experts should have found a site that lists all the biggie trees by now... I'm disappointed! C'mon, get to work!

[Hiker Boy]

Strider and I saw that exact same tree three weeks ago. I was impressed! One of the biggest I have seen.

[Sore Feet]

There is also, of course, the Quinault area. There's the big one with the board walk built around it on the Willaby Creek Nature trail, and the giant Spruce near the Rain Forest Resort at the northeast end of the lake. Lots of big ones along the North Shore road too (crappy road though). Probably loads of biggies at Hoh and Queets, but I've never been up there.

[JimK]

Tallest Doulas Firs?? Doug Fir

[ajgoodkids]

Here's a pic of the base of that West Foss River tree:

big tree

[nitpacker]

There is a grove of ancient trees just off the Mt Baker Hwy between milepost 40 and 50 on the left side. It is difficult to spot from the road but there is a small road widening on the north side in the viciintiy. You can hike back and find close to twenty of the spared relics. The best grove I have seen was near ross lake on the Big Beaver Creek trail about 4 miles up from the lake. The whole ecosystem has been preserved in a way that cannot be felt by finding isolated trees. There is almost a spiritual quality to this area especially at low light times. The cedar carpet has eliminated all undergrowth for a large area. This is also a great area to spot bear.

[#19]

I am almost ebarrassed to admit that I have never been up Big Beaver to see the famously huge trees. As much as I like the high country, experiencing that catherdal-like forest is high on my list of unique places I want to visit.

[cookiejar]

Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast by Robert Van Pelt is a good book about the biggest trees around. Doesn't give you explicit details on exact location of the less famous trees, but gives you an idea of where you can find some monsters. He has pretty interesting "full frontal" sketches of each tree, so you can see the tree through the forest, so to speak.

[MCaver]

I was in the area, so I did the Harold J Engles trail this weekend. After having done Grove of the Patriarchs a few weeks ago, I thought I might be able to tell which has bigger, but I couldn't. Next time I'm taking a tape measure!

[McPilchuck]

Here, here for BIG TREES! I love 'em frankly. Have seen the huge ones in the Olympics up Hoh and Queets. But over here in the Puget Sound area(excluding Mt. Rainier) I've yet to see any bigger (in circumference) than the two separate trees I ran across some years back. 1. A cedar measuring 15 feet thru on the Mt. Pilchuck/Bald Mtn divide below Twin Falls Lake on a shoulder slope above Wilson Creek, a 1/4 mile or so above the logged off stuff (Martin Jensen and I found in 1979)...you can't drive in there that way anymore BTW. Mt. Pilchuck has some tremendous cedars and firs, especially on the hidden way trail that connects to Ashland Lakes Trail before the first creek crossing, and then the other huge cedars on a bench above Black Creek via an old log spur now overgrown. 2. The other tree, a Douglas fir maybe 12 feet thru up Squire Creek (Squire Wall side- not on trail- and still there)...and the one I told Harold Engles about in 1985 - a few years before he died.

[Timber Cruiser]

Two spots come to mind where you can find some very large "old-growth" trees. The first is a drive-to-spot on HWY 410 between Enumclaw and Greenwater - Federation Forest. A small grove of very very old, very defective trees begining to show signs of transition to a climax forest. Laced with trails and some camping opportunities. The other is on the east side of Baker Lake. Used to be part of Scott Paper timberland in the 80's and has since become a part of the Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness(sp?). There was an old trail following Noisy Creek (#609?) to the east that had some of the most impressive Doug-fir I have seen for size and quality at a relatively low elevation (that are still standing).