The Gennett Poplar

The Gennett Poplar

 I recently drove over to Ellijay and rode the famed Bear Creek Trail.  Alongside this trail stands a tree of absolutely massive proportions named the "Gennett Poplar." Named for the people who sold this land to the U.S. government, its mightiness absolutely dominates the surrounding trees.  I tried to stretch my arms out to see what the diameter roughly was, and it looked to be more than my 5.5 feet!  Some more information:

Virgin forest is rare in the north Georgia mountains. The Bear Creek Trail contains what appears to be a never harvested section of land with trees so immense that they literally astound even the casual observer. Deep in this section of forest is the so-called Gennett poplar standing some 100 feet high and nearly twenty feet around. The tree is massive, and it alone is reason enough to try this hike. From GeorgiaTrails.com

Yes indeed, this tree was truly impressive, and wowed me enough to stop my downhill run for almost five minutes to take a few pictures. For a little perspective on the size of this tree, I leaned my bike up against it:

The Massive Gennett Poplar

That is one dang big tree, and is just one more reason Bear Creek is such a dang cool trail!