In search of the Boogerman Pine and the Sag Branch Tulip

[dbhguru]

Patrick,

  Let me throw in my thanks also. Very delightful post. Seeing the images of your daughter reminded me of the times with my daughter. She was my hiking companion. Please keep the trip reports coming.

Bob

[greenent22]

great stuff

nice pics

..

[eliahd24]

Fantastic report!  Thanks for passing along your love and appreciation of nature to the next generation too.  

I hope to visit Cataloochee soon.  I live a mere 4 hours away, but still have yet to visit...

[pdbrandt]

Thanks everyone for your comments.  I strongly believe that the more children (and people of any age) we get out into nature to enjoy trees, the better stewards we'll be of the Earth.  Here's a neat program that gets kids climbing into the trees to learn about forest ecology:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdPFNQhWmdA[/youtube]  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdPFNQhWmdA

I'd like to see more programs like this!

On another note, my daughter gave a presentation yesterday at school about her trip to the Smokies.  She found a cool way to animate the high resolution stitched picture I took of her at the tree.  That slide from her powerpoint presentation is attached below. If you have the latest version of powerpoint and switch to "presentation view" the picture should pan up the tree, then back down the tree as you press the space bar (or the right arrow key).  Apparently that got some oohs and ahhs during her presentation.  The other pictures of tulip poplar leaves and flowers were taken in another poplar we climbed back at home.

[MickR]

Really enjoyed your report - I'd love to get back to GSMNP soon.