Visiting the giant
in a Humphreys County swamp

Mississippi Seen
by Walt Grayson

Here we are smack in the middle of winter. I made a comment on Facebook the other day how I liked winter as much as the next person, and one of my friends up north quickly replied to never use the words “like” and “winter” in the same context. I apologized but reminded him that here in Mis’sippi our cold snaps rarely last more than 72 hours and then it’s back up to 70 degrees again.

The old folks used to say “three frosts then a rain.” That formula works pretty well here in the Deep South most winters. It takes about three days for one of those cold high-pressure areas to glide past and for the south wind to kick up behind it and warm us up and bring precipitation.

We hit it just right the other day. It had been cloudy and warm. Then the storms skirted past overnight and it dawned crystal clear the next morning. Cold, but sunny. And that was the day we went to Humphreys County to the new boardwalk at Sky Lake.

It is very satisfying to have been around long enough to see some “afters” to our “befores.” And one of those “before” stories was about the big tree in Sky Lake. Mark Simmons of Belzoni first took me to see it around 1989.

The big tree was discovered during a drought. Sky Lake was so low you could walk into the cypress swamp that normally surrounds the tree, where few people had ever been. Usually there are several feet of water, but it was dry and solid that year.

Mark told me his daughter was the first to comment on the size of the big tree deep in the swamp. And when measured, it turns out that the tree was the biggest bald cypress in the world, if you don’t count the one at Cat Island, La., which is actually two trees grown together.

My riding partner my next trip up to see the big tree was my friend Gary Arinder. We met his brother, Grant, who was pastor of a church near Sky Lake. We and Mark and Grant’s wife and a few others hit the four-wheelers and struck out to see the big tree.

In the process of exploring the swamp (we were probably lost, truth be known) we stumbled upon another big cypress, only this one was hollow. It looked pretty big, too, bigger than the champ. I recall that there were seven of us there that day. And all seven got inside that hollow cypress with easily room for seven more. (Now that number has grown to 13 in Mark’s version of the story. Mark’s wife, Peggy, says the fish Mark catches all grow a little every time he tells about them, too.)

All that to say that in the course of time, the state acquired the area where the two big trees are and recently dedicated an elevated boardwalk that goes out into the swamp past the first big tree and on to the hollow one.

The hollow tree did turn out to be bigger and was crowned the champion tree. And fortunately the other day when we went to walk the boardwalk, it was one of our cloudless, deep-blue-skied winter days. Perfect for a stroll in a Delta swamp.

I have to say that the boardwalk to the big tree is a lot easier than crawling in on four-wheelers. And it goes directly to the tree so you don’t have to “explore” as much of the swamp anymore.

Walt Grayson is the host of “Mississippi Roads” on Mississippi Public Broadcasting television and the author of two “Looking Around Mississippi” books and "Oh! That Reminds Me: More Mississippi Homegrown Stories."