Trees – Page 2 – Valerie's Voice

Imaginary Door

A few weeks ago we were hiking in a wooded area in Faribault and came across an intriguing sight. It made us stop in our tracks to investigate…

From the trail we noticed this secret door…

It looked like two roots from a large, tall tree that had grown down a cliff and into the soil at the bottom leaving an opening exposing the rock cliff. It formed a beautifully-shaped, arched doorway, and it was the size of one too.

We saw this from the trail at the bottom of a rock wall but we didn’t see an easy way to get to the top of the wall, and we were not equipped to go rock climbing that day. We left the trail and walked closer to the tree to inspect how the split trunk/roots were attached to the rock and found they were growing into the rock. It looked like the rock was sandstone so it seemed possible.

Perspective as to how large the fissure is.

We wondered how it grew to be this way. It was a fun and curious discovery. Gary went and stood in the opening to show perspective to its size.

It lends to one’s imagination of opening an adult-size fairy door and entering through the tree to mystical and charming wonderlands inside…

Someday I’d love to go back and strategically attach a door knob to the rock door…

A Winter Wonderland

As we were driving south towards Rice Lake State Park and the surrounding area the trees kept getting frostier…is that a word?

I believe it was ice crystals from the fog. It was not freshly fallen snow (it has not snowed for several days now), that covered and clung to every – single – branch.

The images were breathtaking and, of course, hard to capture on a camera, especially those from a moving car. We stopped to hike, and as I stepped out of the car I felt I stepped into Narnia.

Here are a few photos from that day.

Another from the car window…apparently blue tinted. 😉

We stopped along the road for these photos.

The weeping willow was my favorite…

The weeping willow, dripping like icicles.

He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. Psalm 147:16

Themed Hike

The Oberg Mountain trail is one of our favorite hikes on the north shore. It’s a fairly easy 2.2 mile hike…climbing up and circling around the summit. There are eight fantastic overlooks along the loop trail. Some places look out over Lake Superior….

…other areas view the inland forest and Oberg Lake. It’s a hike that never disappoints and is always enjoyable.

Looking inland towards Oberg Lake with the colorful maples past peak.

This year as we approached the top I saw a sign posted that looked like it could be another Story Walk – like the one we discovered at Forestville State Park a few weeks ago.

However, the sign project on top of Oberg was not a storybook walk. It was referred to as a themed hike.

Along the trail several signs were posted near trees to identify them and talk about their characteristics, or tell stories about their species. The United States Department of Agriculture logo was listed on each sign so I assume it was their project, in collaboration with the Forest Service.

I’ve often thought, while hiking through the forest, that it would be helpful if all the trees and flowers and bushes and plants in the forest could all have little signs identifying themselves – so I liked the concept of this themed hike.

Although I can identify a lot of the common trees there are many more trees I do not know.

I’ve noticed these sweet, little seedlings growing next to the trail. They are soft and elegant.

I was happy to learn about these precious, little pine trees I have seen lining the hiking trails. Sign number 10 identified them as Princess Pine…a fitting title I think.

Over all there were eleven trees highlighted on this trail: White Cedar, Mountain Maple, Quaking Aspen, Beaked Hazelnut, Sugar Maple, Red Pine, Black Ash, Balsam Fir, White Spruce, Princess Pine and Paper Birch.

According to the last sign they plan to create another themed hike about a different topic…hopefully next year.

I’m thankful for these intentional ways different organizations are helping the public learn about nature, out in nature.

Spring Wildflowers

We took a day trip to Beaver Creek Valley State Park to go for a hike. It is a ways away but it felt good to head out of town. The day was sunny, but cool. There were a few folks out and about but not many.

An abundance of watercress in the creek.

There were a lot of wildflowers in bloom in the park. I had my wildflower book handy but it is always difficult to identify flowers because it takes awhile to look them up and figure them out, plus it’s hard to keep stopping every few feet! I usually end up just enjoying viewing them.

This white flower, which I believe is an anemone, carpeted the forest floors. It was in many areas of the park.

At one time, several years ago, my friend and I took a lot of wildflower hikes, with and without naturalists, and could identify more flowers than I remember now.

Spring wildflowers are a wonderful sight!

Plus so many other natural wonders…

Interesting lichen and moss on this dead tree limb.

On a side note, we took many family-driving vacations when the kids were younger, and we camped and hiked in many national parks. Upon arrival at the visitor’s center in a park, I always bought a book of wildflowers found in that particular park, then I tried to identify some flowers on our hikes. It was fun and a nice souvenir of our trips.

Tree Art

On our first hike in Rocky Mountain National Park two weeks ago we noticed a fallen tree with very beautiful and artistic designs in it’s exposed roots. I took a couple of photos and from then on I began noticing what I have come to call “tree art.”

Below are a few photos of tree art that I took in the park: different trees, tree stumps, and tree roots.

I was captured by the beauty of the exposed roots of a fallen tree, a piece of art.

A slice of fallen tree with beautiful lines.

I would like to see these roots without snow.

A frosting of snow added beauty to these tree branches.

Black and white, half and half…I don’t understand why.

Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver, an American poet, died yesterday at age 83. I have not read a lot of poetry. Some works I find difficult to understand, but there are many poems by Mary Oliver that I do like. I plan to reread her works. In fact, when I was looking online for information about her, I noticed one site suggested reading a poem a day by Mary Oliver. I may try that.

In the last few years I have been engaged in more poetry, especially through writings of two different friends. Just last week I went to my first poetry reading, where one of the above mentioned friends read her work, along with other poets. It was an enjoyable and enriching experience. And at times, I have dabbled in writing my own poetry.

In honor of Mary Oliver here is one poem always makes me smile (link here). It is from her book A Thousand Mornings.

“Foolishness? No, It’s Not.

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count the leaves on a single tree. To do this I have to climb branch by branch and write down the numbers in a little book. So I suppose, from their point of view, it’s reasonable that my friends say: what foolishness! She’s got her head in the clouds again.

But it’s not. Of course I have to give up, but by then I’m half crazy with the wonder of it — the abundance of the leaves, the quietness of the branches, the hopelessness of my effort. And I am in that delicious and important place, roaring with laughter, full of earth-praise.”
― Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings

A Week in Winter Wonderland

Last week it snowed one day, and then another, and then another and for some reason the snow mostly stayed on the tree branches making the world around us a winter wonderland. For me it was breath-taking. Everywhere you looked the trees were frosted. I tried to capture a few photos.

The first snow – ice crystals clinging to tree branches and glistening in the sun.

The second snow – Evergreens along County Road 9.

Second snowfall – we went snow-shoeing on French Lake.

Overlooking fresh fallen snow on an open field.

The third snow – walking in vehicle tracks on Crystal Lake.

Chunks of ice carved out of Crystal Lake, preparing a hole for a polar plunge (which we did not stay to watch.)

Continuing to walk all the way across Crystal Lake.

Into the woods on the other side of Crystal Lake.

A lone pine cone hanging on to a snowy branch.

Stunning beauty all along the Highway 3. I can only imagine what it would look like with blue skies.

Every branch (and every tree) is covered with snow.

Color

At the Santa Fe Ski Basin: 11,000 ‘ above sea level.

We just returned form a six-day vacation in New Mexico. The landscape is so different from Minnesota, as it should be, and that is why it is fun to venture out and see an area of the country so different from where we live. We had a great time.

In New Mexico the quaking aspens turn bright yellow in the fall, but by this time in October many have lost their leaves. There were still several bright ones popping out among the Ponderosa Pine and Pinon trees on the mountains. We visited two cities: Albuquerque, 5,312 feet above sea level and Santa Fe, 7,199 feet above sea level. The landscape is filled with small scrubs dotting the rocky and sandy soil with Sangre de Cristo mountains as the backdrop. The sky was such a crisp, deep blue. It was beautiful to see and fun to be in the Southwest.

All the while I was wondering if I was missing the mixture of reds and burgundy, yellows and golds, lime-greens and oranges; the colors of the trees in Minnesota during autumn. I was happy to wake up at home in Minnesota to lots of sunshine with many trees still in their autumn glory and fall color all around.

Tree Trimming

After dinner and a daily walk, we had a tree-trimmer stop by to look at the trees in our yard. We planted all twenty of them when we moved into our house 20+ years ago. We had a corner lot in a small town that did not have one tree on the property. The trees have grown so tall and so full and I love the privacy they provide, the protection for the birds I feed, shade for our back deck and not to mention the beauty they add to our neighborhood. But now, some of them need trimming,

While walking around the yard tonight and pointing out the trees to the contractor giving us an estimate I was taken back to a time when my sons were little and we lived in a different neighborhood on property that had mature trees. There were two very tall Evergreens in the back yard. The boys would climb the trees from the inside, near the trunk, to avoid the needles and fragile branches of pine trees. They had a lot of fun in those trees.

However one day in particular stands out when they decided to trim the dead branches to make their “steps” easier to climb. They did a fine job however the unexpected result was the tree sap started running and by the time they came in that night they had sap all over themselves and their clothes. They smelled good, but sure were sticky!

I miss those days and I treasure the memories of when my guys were growing up.