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Ed Hazel
07-20-2009, 4:39 PM
I will be traveling by Hartwick Pines State Park, (upper lower Michigan) which I have done countless times but I have never stopped in to check out the Virgin Pine Forest.
With all the Michigan members I am sure many of you have been their, any tips on what to see for sure?

David G Baker
07-20-2009, 11:36 PM
Hartwick Pines is awesome. We went when they were having Black Iron Days. There were a bunch of metal workers using forges for blacksmithing. There was a working sawmill. It was sort of a rainy day but we made it through the pines before the rain really hit. Next to the Red Wood forests in the West it was some of the most impressive trees I have ever seen. If there isn't any event going on just viewing the trees will give you some lasting memories. If I remember correctly there is an Internet site that shows some photos on what to expect and gives some great history. There were quite a few buildings that showed how the early loggers lived and worked.
After your visit let us know your opinion.

Chris Damm
07-21-2009, 8:12 AM
When you visit just try to imagine that Michigan was covered with forests like that prior to the lumbering boom in the 1800s.

David G Baker
07-21-2009, 9:07 AM
Chris,
I was born in Lansing in 1944 and left Michigan for California in 1959 when I was 14. I had no idea how Michigan's lumber industry had slaughtered its forest until I returned in 2001 and started reading about and talking about what happened to all the trees. Hartwick Pines and maybe some areas of the Upper Peninsula are a few of the only surviving "Old Growth" trees left. The same thing is happening in California with the Red Wood forests.
At one point in Michigan's history Congress declared that Michigan was unfit for human habitation due to the high density of vegetation, sounds like the lumber industry may have had a little to due with that declaration.

Larry Edgerton
07-21-2009, 7:31 PM
It is well worth the short trip off of I 75.