Stumbled on a giant bald cypress grove in a park near Baton Rouge last weekend and it blew my mind

I was just walking around some little nature trail off Highway 61 (honestly just killing time) and found this whole stand of bald cypress trees that must have been 200 years old minimum. The buttresses on the bases were like 6 feet wide. I've climbed a lot of these in my career but never seen a natural grove that dense and old in a public park. Anyone else come across a hidden spot like that where the trees are just way older than you'd expect for the area?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa3941mo ago

Oh come on, "blew my mind"? It's a tree. A big tree. I grew up near a park in Ohio where they planted a bunch of bald cypress like 80 years ago and nobody acts like it's some hidden treasure. You probably walked right past a bunch of other cool stuff like birds or a creek and got hung up on the one thing that's basically just a big plant. Plus those "200 year old" trees you found probably aren't that old. People love to guess tree ages and they always round way up. I'd bet money those trunks are closer to 100 if you actually count rings. Forests are full of old trees, that's kinda what they do.

grant.jason1mo ago

People get weird about finding wonder in their own backyard.