Welcome to the Farewell to Finder’s Fest geo-art, brought to you by the Forest Minions! This series celebrates weird and unusual things throughout the Sunshine State. Please do not go to the posted locations. Rather, solve the challenging quiz found at the bottom of each page, for the final location. For the letterbox caches, please leave the stamp in the cache. They are not trade items. For the discerning traveler, we’ve included the GPS coordinates for these bizarre locations, when we were able to establish them.
Big Tree – Location 28.7208, -81.3313
Longwood’s Big Tree at 3500 years old is the oldest living thing in Florida. Towering 126 feet the huge cypress, nicknamed the “Senator,” has a girth of 47 feet and contains an estimated 50,000 feet of lumber. Think about it, this gentle giant was an adult tree before the birth of Christ and although it has survived hundreds of lightening strikes, it is still alive and well. It was considered the largest cypress tree in the country until 1970 when a challenger was discovered in a Louisiana swamp and that began a squabble as to who has the biggest. The American Forest Association has now listed the Louisiana tree on Cat Island as the world’s largest cypress. The Senator’s supporters have argued that the Cat Island tree is only 83 feet tall but Louisiana says it’s fatter with a girth of 56 feet and has an 85 foot crown spread which beats the Senator’s 56 foot top.
But wait a minute complained the Florida tree’s fan club, that squatty Louisiana tree is only 1500 years old, no way can it compete with the Senator’s age. Yes, but age has nothing to do with size explained an arborist…that’s one of those guys who study trees. Florida foresters argue that the rating scheme is flawed because that big-butted bayou tree in Louisiana is really two trees that have grown together. Louisiana defenders say that’s not true, the trees in the Cat Island swamp are “multi-stem cypress caused by special genetics.
Of course, being that this is Florida, The Senator was burned down by a drug user who wanted to get warm, and decided to light a bonfire, in the trunk. Sigh…
Here is the super duper, way challenging, really hard trivia question, which, if solved properly, will lead you to the final coordinates:
Question: What common task does the average American do 22 times a day?
A: Chainsaw juggling = N29° 28.052' W81° 45.730'
B: Being abducted by aliens = N29° 28.042' W81° 45.730'
C: Opening the fridge = N29° 28.032' W81° 45.730'