Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble Fir

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
Post Reply
User avatar
Sean Thomas
Posts: 1647
Joined: February 25th, 2012, 11:33 pm

Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble Fir

Post by Sean Thomas » July 27th, 2014, 9:53 pm

A few years ago I read about the location of the worlds largest Noble Fir in a book about ancient forest of western Washington. The book was published the year I was born(1989) so I knew to expect the unexpected and to just go in and have fun exploring in one of my favorite areas. One of the entries in the book mentioned the worlds largest Noble Fir living up Yellowjacket Creek, one of the major drainages that lends its crystal clear water to the mighty Cispus River south of Randle Washington. The author, who died near the time the book was published, wrote that the Forest Service had plans for timber sales in the area back in the late 80's and early 90's and that the ancient grove was already surrounded by clearcuts. Wondering if we would just stumble upon a second growth forest or a fresh clearcut we drove up the Yellowjacket Creek Canyon with hopes for the best. The good news, the grove he wrote of is still standing and hasn't been decimated by fire or the saw :) The sad news, the once great world champion has fallen, leaving its proud position in the canopy and nearly damming Yellowjacket Creek where it will provide and nourish for the many plant species that call the creekside home. Standing next to this behemoth, even on its side, reaffirmed the humbling feeling that even the greatest of all things come to an end at some point:


Image


But before we went searching for the big fir Jojo and I had an awesome time hiking up to Langille Ridge and the summit of the lonely McCoy Peak. Starting at the "new" TH off a spur of FR 28 we hiked up the steep switchbacks up towards the ridge top. This being the Dark Divide, there was a possibilty we would run into motor bike riders, but after being up to Langille a few times before and never seeing any, we just assumed we would be spending the day alone as usual. We were wrong :lol: Nearly half way up about 10 plus riders came roaring up the trail. A few members of the extremely friendly group were former forest service workers who said they were doing volunteer work on the trail. These guys are seriously intense, not only are the trails not constructed for motor bike use(another issue in itself) making it difficult to ride they were also carrying full sized chainsaws, trimmers, shovels etc on their backs as they ripped up towards the ridge! Jojo and I jumped up slope as they rode by:


Image


Once on the ridge, we took a side detour up towards Langille Peak:


Image


Looking over to the summit:


Image


After a nice break at the viewpoint we opted to stay on the ridge to hit a cool highpoint further south. It was just a bit brushy at first :lol:


Image


But near the top views back to langille were great:


Image


On top there were great views out toward McCoy:


Image


Coming down off the ridge:


Image


Back on the trail and we saw some of the riders working on a few sections that really needed some help. One guy was using a huge trimmer he said the state bought so they could use it as volunteers, now theres some money well spent for once! Past the riders we stopped to enjoy some of the wildflowers, Heartleaf Buckwheat and many others were on display on the way over to McCoy:


Image


Image


The spur trail up to McCoy is hiker only and is in terrible shape, lots of white rhodies and huckleberry bushes etc have taken over the tread. We spent a little while pruning out some but it didnt do much:


Image


On top the views were awesome even though the far ranging views were under clouds:


Image


Image


Image


The trail passes right by the little pond below:


Image


Dropping back down the brushy spur we took a break at the pond pictured above and chatted with a few of the residents there:


Image


Tons of Porcupine peels everywhere:


Image


Beautiful trail near the ridgetop:


Image


Image


One of the reasons we went up to Langille was to see if we could spot the mountain goats :) Back near Langille we were in for a treat, heres mom and kid resting on the side of a cliff:


Image


Image


After admiring the goats for a while we dropped back down into the forest and headed back to camp for a night on Yellowjacket Creek:


Image


The water was cool and clear:


Image


The next morning we woke up and made our way further south up the canyon to the spot described in the book. The book also mentioned another grove further south so we checked that out first. I didnt have anything for scale nearyby so I took off my shoe and hopped a few feet back to a give a sense of scale for this large Douglas-Fir:


Image


Back to looking for the worlds largest fir had us parking on the side of road 2810 and bushwhacking up and down stream, crossing it many times to find the ancient champion. On the northern end of our exploration we thought maybe we had found it, still standing tall as we spotted four huge Noble Firs in the woods across the creek. This one was the largest of the four but wasnt the 6+feet in diameter the book had spoken of:


Image


Image


Looking up this giant was amazing:


Image


A dead and fallen branch illustrating the needle pattern:


Image


Not satisfied I continued upstream while Jojo went back to take a nap in the car. At a wide spot in the creek I was able to get a good look at the broken canopy, with lots of large Hemlocks easy to spot due to their drooping leader and small cones. There looked to be lots of Doug Fir too but finally it looked like there were some Noble Firs upstream. I continued up and found what I believe to be the former world champ, resting on its side and still boasting its incredible girth:


Image


Image


It was now late afternoon on Sunday with a long drive and work the next day, but I just couldnt pull myself away from such an amazing sight. I realized Im not much of a tree climber when I had trouble even getting on a downed tree :lol: but it was probably the coolest natural bridge Ive walked across:


Image


Getting back to camp to pack up and head home was hard as always :D But the experience was one I wouldnt trade for anything. If you ever find yourself unsure of what to do for a hike, head up to Yellowjacket and check out some of the ancient trees that call the canyon home, it wont dissapoint ;)

User avatar
Eric Peterson
Posts: 4097
Joined: May 11th, 2009, 5:39 am
Location: Oregon
Contact:

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by Eric Peterson » July 28th, 2014, 6:11 am

Massive fir!

Another great place to find old growth biggn's is in The Bull Of The Woods, saw a few large ones
while on the extreme edge of the wilderness last week but I've heard there are some seriously
big ass mothers deeper in. One of the last bigger areas of old growth left in Oregon.

Cool that those moto cross guys were doing some trail work, I bet you were glad they weren't Hells Angels or something! :lol:

User avatar
bobcat
Posts: 2764
Joined: August 1st, 2011, 7:51 am
Location: SW Portland

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by bobcat » July 28th, 2014, 11:53 am

What a great quest and goats for icing on the cake! Sad that the tree is down. Wonder where the new big one is. It can't be far away . . .

User avatar
Ryan Ojerio
Posts: 519
Joined: September 21st, 2008, 6:31 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by Ryan Ojerio » July 28th, 2014, 12:25 pm

Great trip reports on the Dark Divide, Thank You!
Washington Trails Association
Southwest Washington Regional Manager
[email protected]
(360) 722-2657

User avatar
Rustygoat
Posts: 507
Joined: August 27th, 2012, 2:28 pm
Location: SE Portland

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by Rustygoat » July 28th, 2014, 4:59 pm

Nice Sean! That tree was a monster. :shock: I've been up that way chasing waterfalls but not giant trees. I'll have to look for them next time I'm in the neighborhood. ;)
Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
NW Off-trail Waterfalls -Facebook Group

User avatar
Sean Thomas
Posts: 1647
Joined: February 25th, 2012, 11:33 pm

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by Sean Thomas » July 28th, 2014, 5:36 pm

Thanks guys. The Dark Divide does sounds like a place the hells angels would frequent :D Would also be awesome to explore some of the old growth in BOTW or Roaring River Wilderness Areas sometime too!


I have heard of possible record holders being up near Goat Marsh Lake, but I think it would be cool if it was still up Yellowjacket :)

User avatar
Gray Jay
Posts: 51
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by Gray Jay » July 29th, 2014, 11:17 am

Thanks for all the trip reports from Dark Divide! As you have described in words and photos, it is such a treasure and really needs some hiker love. Those trails were never built for motorcycles, as Ryan Ojerio pointed out in his Sunrise Peak trip report, but were intended to be the most direct way for a man on foot or horseback to access fire lookouts. Today, the motorcycles and ruts scare a lot of hikers away, while the motorcyclists put in trail maintenance effort to solidify their claim to the area.

User avatar
rainrunner
Posts: 627
Joined: June 29th, 2011, 6:55 am

Re: Langille Ridge and a search for the worlds largest Noble

Post by rainrunner » July 29th, 2014, 12:21 pm

It's nice to see your tent in a report as well as the giant trees and goats. Thanks for sharing your love of the outdoors once again.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
John Muir

Post Reply