I've been quite absent (gotta tell you that the new forum version may have played a role), but a cursory search doesn't turn up a recent report on recent changes at Orchard Camp. Seeing as the Mt Wilson trailhead is about 0.75 mile from our house, we hit it fairly regularly. We were last there within the last couple months, I think probably November. Went up to Orchard Camp on Saturday, and on final approach I started to feel like something was different in the way the stone foundation was lit. Turns out the big old oak has fallen!
I wondered if it was in the recent rainstorm, but the leaves on the fallen portion looked too dried out for it to have been that recent.
Found this report that it happened Christmas day. Must have been quite something.
The sign will need updating. It says "Large oak tree in center still stands."
I recall on our prior visit thinking of my first arrival there in 2009, when another hiker offered to take our photo "in front of that big, beautiful old oak," and I made a remark wondering how much longer the oak would be there. I didn't think the answer was "not much!"
It bummed us out a little. A reminder that natural things that may seem permanent are not. That evening, we raised a glass to the big old oak and thanked it for its service. ??
Orchard Camp, Old Mt Wilson trail
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Slowest_Hiker
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Sean
- Cucamonga
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Someone should try to count the growth rings to see how old it was.
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Paul Ayers
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Really sad-did a FB post on the oak less than 2 months ago.
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Paul Ayers
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:21 pm
Here is a photo with my friend Richard Hart standing in front of the oak on 10/16/1991
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Slowest_Hiker
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Thanks for the photo. I moved to Sierra Madre just a couple months later, Dec 1991. It would be another 18 years before I imagined I could maybe make it to Orchard Camp. Glad the oak stuck around for me to meet it.