On 12/6/2009, the day after DeBo's "Trip #5", we made the trek south to investigate.
At location #1, we found two interesting trees, but no "record" bald cypress within several hundred feet. First, a very large oak. The base is impressive, but it was the canopy of the upper tree that really impressed, and that can't be seen in this photo. :
Near there, we found a very interesting tree, apparently created when one tree fell against another. After time, these trees fused together into one.
(My "secondary" title for this photo was, "yes, this suit makes you look fat".)
Both of the above photos were several hundred feet from the gps coordinates as given. Standing at the exact location (within normal gps error tolerances, of course), and looking in all directions, we saw many big trees, but none that we believe to be state records.
Finally, two shots of the record cypress, as found at the second location, and highlighted in the Dovish video:
As compared to DeBo's 13 foot canoe
As compared to my 12 foot jon boat.
CONCLUSIONS: If the tree dimensions were different in at least one of the characteristics, I would say there is a simple typo and that there might be two "record setting" trees. But since the dimensions are exact on all three counts, my conclusion is that the first set of coordinates is probably simply an error. The one and only record bald cypress is located at N34.24807 W91.10619 At normal river levels, this can be reached via 2-wheel drive automobile with a hike of less than 0.25 miles. At yesterday's level of 25.5 feet on the Clarendon gage, it took a boat trip down Hurricane Bayou, up Essex Bayou, a short trip through flooded timber along a four-wheeler trail that was now a Class 1 rapid, and a very short drag across a mud flat. Ending at 11 minutes before sunset (of course)
