King of the forest

We’ve found it – the biggest Christmas tree ever. Well, maybe not “ever.” But no doubt about it – this ancient ponderosa pine on Mica Peak, about 15 miles southeast of Spokane, is one massive tree. It measures 210 inches in circumference at chest height (17 feet, 6 inches), and it beats by at least two feet in girth any other ponderosa nominated by our readers. No, it is not a state record. The biggest ponderosa pine in the state measures 271 inches in circumference. That’s in the Cascades, on the West Fork of the Klickitat River. We can’t compete with that over here on the dry side of the state. But the Mica Peak tree comes close to the Idaho record (228 inches in circumference). We identified this tree after we asked readers to help us find the biggest ponderosa pine, by girth, in our readership area. Readers nominated a number of trees in the 14- to 15-foot circumference category. A 15-foot circumference tree is indeed huge – it’s about four-and-three-quarters feet wide. Yet it was clear from the beginning that the Mica Peak tree was the tree to beat. It isn’t just big; it’s the biggest tree that some old-timers in the area have ever seen. It’s more than five-and-a-half feet wide.

Here’s an excerpt from a letter written by Tom Collier of Coeur d’Alene: “I am near 90 years old now. I spent most of my working life in the woods and sawmills. … About 30 years ago, I was up on the side of Washington Mica with my brother exploring. … There I saw the most massive ponderosa pine I ever saw.”

Several other readers also nominated this tree, including Dale Mason of Spokane Valley, who wrote, “I think we have a secret that this side of the state should be proud of.”

One other thing about the Mica Peak tree: It’s not remarkably tall. Its top has been broken off, probably due to windstorms or lightning strikes.

“It used to stick up way higher than it does now,” said Lloyd Seehorn, 80, of Rockford, who e-mailed a picture of himself standing next to the tree.

A rough estimate of its present height is 130 feet, far below the ponderosa pine record of 227 feet high, held by a California tree.

Wayne D. Olson Sr., a retired technician with the U.S. Border Patrol, called in with detailed directions on how to find the tree. He has seen it many times, driving up the Mica Peak road to service the radio repeaters at the top.

“I’d love to know how old that tree is,” said Olson.

So would we, but without taking a core sample, there is no way to know. It was undoubtedly already a big tree when Lewis and Clark marched through the Northwest 200 years ago. A 14-foot-plus circumference tree at 303 Military Drive in Coeur d’Alene has been dated at 247 years old. So this one may be approaching the maximum age of a ponderosa pine – somewhere between 400 and 600 years.

How did it survive so long in an area that has seen plenty of logging?

Probably because it was simply too big.

“I told my brother the only reason that tree is still standing is its huge size,” wrote Collier. “The lower limbs were as large as the ordinary logs at the mill.

“Using my own powers, I decided the tree or the logs were too heavy. … All in all, it wouldn’t be the best of lumber, money-wise. So there it sat for a century or more, unwanted.”

The tree is on land owned by the Inland Empire Paper Co. However, the company has no plans to log it.

“We acquired that land in the early ‘80s, and when we logged in there, we said, ‘We’re not going to cut it down,’” said Dick Snyder, forest operations manager for the company. “There are lots of squirrels in it. We just decided to leave it for them.”

There is now a sign on the tree designating it as a “Wildlife Tree.”

You can see the tree for yourself, if you don’t mind hoofing it. The road to the top of Mica Peak has been gated and locked since shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, because the Federal Aviation Administration has sensitive radar equipment at the top. However, you can park at the gate and walk (or mountain bike or ski) a mile-and-a-half to the tree.

Here’s how to get there: Drive to Freeman on State Route 27 and turn east on Elder Road. Then, just before the Idaho border, turn north on Starr Road. In less than a mile you’ll come to a Y; the left side fork is the Mica Peak Road, blocked by a large gate.

Park there and walk up the road about a mile and a half until you come to a spot where the road bends sharply right. Look just behind the guardrail, and you can’t miss it. It makes every other tree look feeble.

Is it the biggest tree ever, at least in our region? No. There are bigger cedars in some northeastern Washington and Idaho Panhandle groves. Some Douglas firs and white pines (our other native pine) may exceed it as well.

We can’t even say for certain that it is the biggest ponderosa in our region – just the biggest ponderosa our readers found. Maybe a bigger ponderosa is hiding in middle of some untracked forest.

But after gazing at the Mica Peak tree, we doubt it.