California Woods (OH)

[Matt Markworth]

I wonder if those tempting forest morsels continue over into Indiana? I've visited a few Indiana sites but was never lucky enough to measure trees of the caliber that you all are finding in Ohio. I expect that in historic times, the big stuff was spread across the Mid-west to eastern Missouri. Bob

Bob,

Indiana is definitely intriguing. I’ll take another stab at the Indiana LiDAR after some more exploration in SW Ohio. Here’s another beauty from California Woods. This tree pushes the RHI10 up to 138.8'.

yellow buckeye: 11’ x 133.1’

Matt

[Jess Riddle]

Matt,

That looks like an incredible site! Finding a cherry or bitternut like those would be enough to make my day, let alone those two new species height records. I did not expect to see numbers like those coming out of that region.

Jess

[Matt Markworth]

Matt,

That looks like an incredible site! Finding a cherry or bitternut like those would be enough to make my day, let alone those two new species height records. I did not expect to see numbers like those coming out of that region.

Jess

Jess,

I knew it was a special place just by hiking the trails over the last few years, and I knew it was tall, but I didn't expect it to be quite this tall. I have a preliminary measurement on a sycamore over 150', which would be 3 species over 150' at the site. Darkness and freezing rain finally convinced me to head home and I didn't have enough time to do a proper measurement.

Here's another photo showing the tall cherry and bitternut side by side . . .

Matt

[Ranger Dan]

Matt-

Have you seen the grove of big sassafras trees at California Woods? I've never seen anything like it. Across the road from the visitor's center in the downstream direction, I think. Been a while... seems to me there are several about 36" dbh.

[Matt Markworth]

Matt-

Have you seen the grove of big sassafras trees at California Woods? I've never seen anything like it. Across the road from the visitor's center in the downstream direction, I think. Been a while... seems to me there are several about 36" dbh.

Dan,

Yes, they're amazing. I've included some photos of the sassafras grove I think you're referring to. They're just down from the top of the ridge in the area you're describing. I measured one with a DBH of 28.3".

The last photo is the tall American sycamore I measured today. It's 8'11" x 152.5'.

Here's an updated Rucker 10:

tuliptree: 153.6'
American sycamore: 8'11" x 152.5'
bitternut hickory: 8'4" x 151.9'
black cherry: 7'6" x 143.1'
black walnut: 7'1" x 138.9'
yellow buckeye: 11' x 133.1'
white ash: 7'3" x 132.2'
red hickory: 7'6" x 130.5'
basswood (American or white): 8'1" x 129.2'
red oak subgenus (probably northern red): 128.7'

RHI10: 139.4'

American sycamore: 8'11" x 152.5'

Matt

[bbeduhn]

Matt,
I just read through your finds at California Woods. Absolutely sensational! I was planning a trip to Cincy and had California Woods on my list but that fell through, and there's no way I would've had enough time to do it justice anyway. All I can say is scour the area for more sites. CW may be the finest in the area but there could be another hidden gem. 6 state records and perhaps 2 national records--DAMN!
Brian

[Matt Markworth]

Matt,
I just read through your finds at California Woods. Absolutely sensational! I was planning a trip to Cincy and had California Woods on my list but that fell through, and there's no way I would've had enough time to do it justice anyway. All I can say is scour the area for more sites. CW may be the finest in the area but there could be another hidden gem. 6 state records and perhaps 2 national records--DAMN!
Brian

Brian,

If you ever have plans to head up this way we should do some measuring in California Woods. Who knows what we'll find!

Here's another Ohio height record, which brings the RHI10 for the site up to 140.2'. It resides farther up in the ravine that holds the tall bitternut hickory and black cherry.

shagbark hickory: 6'6" x 136.8'

Matt

[Will Blozan]

Matt,

Holy moly! What a super-site. I will be in Ohio end of the month and first week of April (Toledo area) and can meet up if you or anyone else up that way is free.

Will

[Matt Markworth]

All,

I had the pleasure of meeting up with ENT/tree climber Landon Smith and Ohio Big Tree Administrator Lisa Bowers at California Woods today. Thanks to Landon for the invite. Landon had some trees that he wanted to show her and I also pointed out some of the superlative heights. We got a spread on the shagbark hickory (Spread: 47' x 39') that is referenced earlier in this thread, which ended up being a co-champion for Ohio. The Trupulse 200 really proved it's usefulness, especially when getting spreads on steep slopes by using the horizontal function.

After leaving California Woods, Landon led the way to some nice hawthorns in a Cincinnati city park. Lisa had another site to visit, but next Landon showed me a river birch in another park. From there, we knocked on the door of a house that had a big white oak. It was pretty cool to see the appreciation that the owner had for the tree and the appreciation that she had for us, because we were so impressed with her tree. It measured 16'7" x 90' x 104'. To get the max spread of 106', Landon had to get permission to access the backyard and I had to run out into the middle of the road in front of the house in between cars flying by.

Here are some photos of Landon and Lisa at the shagbark hickory and also at a nice tuliptree at California Woods:

Matt

[Matt Markworth]

All,

Here are some nice forest-grown beeches at California Woods; all are on north or west facing slopes.

CBH
11'1"
10'7"
10'2" (dead)
10'
9'6"
9'3"
9'2"

CBH: 10'

CBH: 9'6"

CBH: 9'3"

CBH: 11'1"

Matt