Went to Congaree National Park in South Carolina. I wanted to see the world’s biggest loblolly pine and I did. The park was established in order to protect un-logged old growth timber. It is a wet land. The trees grow big because the fertile soil and frequent inundation from the Congaree River, which carries water and silt.
The big pine was hard to see, since I could not linger. Even in on this cool day, there were clouds of mosquitoes When I stopped more than a few seconds, they swarmed. I had to breathe through clenched teeth so as not to breathe them in.
My picture shows the big tree. I tried to get a picture of myself with it, for comparison, but I am not good at selfies. Loblolly live around 250 years, max. You can see that they then blow down or the tops come off.