Horsetooth tree stan

Yes, I mean stan, not stand. One quarter mile below the top of Horsetooth's Spring Creek Trail, at 6770 feet elevation, there is a gnarly old Douglas fir that has grown up against a large boulder that rolled to rest in the drainage long ago. The trail goes right under it and I love pointing the tree out to people who've never noticed it before.

One day I'm going to bring my better camera up there along with some cord to measure the tree's circumference. I estimate its diameter at breast height (dbh) to be almost 36 inches. Some formulas for estimating the age of a Douglas fir say to multiply the diameter in inches by 5 to get the age of the tree in years. Rocky Mountain Douglas fir grow more slowly than trees in the Pacific Northwest and grow extremely slowly after 200 years. Is this a 180 year-old tree or is it older? I haven't noticed a larger or more lichen-covered specimen anywhere in the park.

I'd love to know more about this tree. Please Send me an email if you know anything about its history.