The Sag Branch Poplar.

“After three previous attempts to see the tree, I finally found the world's champion Tulip poplar located in the Boogerman Grove in the Cataloochee area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There are poplars around with a larger girth at the base, but nothing like this tree. It's about as wide 100 feet up as it is at chest height. Also the tallest poplar known, and the highest wood volume of any known poplar. It was stunning to stand at its base and look up at it.

Here's a composite shot I took just after locating it.

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last edited: 4/13/06 8:41:19 PM”

“Cool! Incredible tree.”

“that is right off the AT if I remember right”

“Nope. Nowhere near the AT. This one is located in Cataloochee, where the elk reintroduction took place.

You're probably thinking of the now-dead poplar tree near Standing Indian, which was actually several fused trunks and not a single tree (although it [i]appeared[i] to be a single tree.”

“What's the circumference of that tree, roughly?”

“I know someone I can ask, though.”

“Nice. That tree would be perfect for canopy-camping. Getting a line over the first branch might be a bit of a challenge, though.”

“This large yellow poplar cut in 1913 on Green Mountain, Tucker County, by the Otter Creek Boom and Lumber Co. at Hambleton, filled an entire logging train and furnished 12,469 board feet of lumber. The tree was taken from an area that is now part of the Otter Creek Wilderness. © McClain Printing Company

From Tumult On The Mountain

The most important cove hardwood tree was the Yellow Poplar, a species that grew to enormous size. The typical poplar attained a height of 120 to 140 feet, and a diameter of 7 to 9 feet, with a distance to the first limb of 80 feet. Several poplars 10 and 11 feet in diameter were located by loggers and cut down. Large poplars were not isolated freaks in the original forest. They often occurred in nearly pure stands. They were all clearcut.”

“There are a few virgin groves of poplars remaining. Several in the GSMNP, most notably the Boogerman Grove and the Albright Grove. And of course there's the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest also here in NC.

For what it's worth, the Sag Branch Poplar is 180 feet tall.”

“what part of the loop is it on...how far off the trail? i couldn't find it last time”

“If you recall hiking the Boogerman Trail, you should remember a grove of truly huge poplars along the ridge

with a very large tree just to the right, slightly downslope:


At that point you need to walk down the drainage past that huge tree about 100 yards. Then cross the drainage and begin to slab left and slightly upslope. As you cross a very slight rise you should see just in front of you:

The Sag Branch Poplar


From there you can walk straight up the steep slope and you will intersect again with the Boogerman Trail. If you turn around on the way back, you will get this view of the Sag Branch Poplar:

”

“thanks...i thought i was close when i got to the big stand of them on the ridge....i kept looking on the outside of the loop, not to the inside. my gps coords were jumping all over with the thick leaf cover!”

“Yes, the tree is [i]inside[i] the loop. And very easy to walk to from the point where you leave the trail.

It's also very hard to get lost in there. Just keep in mind that you're inside the loop, so just walk upslope if you feel lost and you will hit the Boogerman Trail. If you really [i]do[i] get "lost", just walk downhill and you will hit the Caldwell Fork Trail.”