Last Saturday was cloudy but warm with temperatures in the 40s. Rain was supposed come in the late afternoon so I headed out to one of my favorite places in Keene early in the day. It’s a trail through a small park at the base of Beech Hill and there is just about anything a nature lover could want there, including a mixed hard and softwood forest, streams, seeps, a pond, and a huge assortment of wildflowers, fungi, and slime molds in spring, summer and fall.
About 6-7 inches of nuisance snow had fallen a few days before but this is a popular spot and many other feet had packed it down before I got there. I find that my trail breaking days through knee deep snow have ended, so my strategy is to let others go first and then follow their trail. There’s plenty to see out there for everybody and it doesn’t matter who sees it first.
Two or three seeps cross the trail, which is actually an old road. As I said in a post last month, a seep happens essentially when ground water reaches the surface. They are like puddles that never dry up and they don’t flow like a stream or brook. In my experience they don’t freeze either, even in the coldest weather. They are always good to look at closely, because many unusual aquatic fungi like eyelash fungi and swamp candles call them home.
The small pond here has been a favorite skating and fishing spot for children for all of my life, and I used to come here to do both when I was a boy. I was never a very good skater though, so I spent more time fishing than skating.
Despite the thin ice sign in the previous photo there were people skating and playing hockey. The pond is plowed each time it snows and it isn’t uncommon for the plow truck to go through the ice, where it sits up to its windows in water until it is towed out. There is a dam holding back the pond and a few years ago it had to be drained so the dam could be worked on, and I was shocked to see how shallow the water was. I think I could walk across it anywhere along its length without getting my hair wet, and I’m not very tall. That gray ice in this photo looks very soft and rotten and with temperatures predicted to be above freezing all week there might be no skating ice left at all by next weekend.
I wanted to show how very clean the water in our streams are by showing you the gravel at the bottom of one through the crystal clear water, but just as I started to click the shutter some snow fell from a tree branch and ruined the shot. Or so I thought; I think this is the only shot of ripples I’ve ever gotten. There is a certain amount of luck in nature photography, I’ve found.
Snow builds up on the branches of evergreens like Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and when the weather warms it melts, and in a forest like this on a warm day all that melting snow could make you think it was raining. That’s how it was on this day so I had to keep a plastic bag over the camera.
Fresh snow once again covered everything. I’ve lost count of how many times it has snowed this winter but luckily it has warmed enough between storms to melt much of what has fallen before. Otherwise we’d be in snow up to our eyeballs. It was just a few years ago that I had to shovel snow up over my head because it stayed so cold between storms that none of it melted. I had pathways around the yard that looked like canyons, and I couldn’t see out over the tops of them.
Even in silhouette the thorns of hawthorn (Crataegus) look formidable. And they are; you don’t want to run headlong into one. Another name for the shrub is thorn apple because the small red fruits bear a slight resemblance to apples. These fruits have been used to treat heart disease for centuries and parts of the plant are still used medicinally today.
Something had eaten part of a leaf and turned it into something resembling stained glass.
A young dead hemlock tree’s bark was flaking off in what I thought was an unusual way. Sometimes the platy bark of black cherry trees is described as having a “burnt potato chip” look, but that’s just what the bark of this hemlock reminded me of.
For many years, long before I heard of “forest bathing” or anything of that sort, I’ve believed that nature could heal. In fact in my own life it has indeed healed and has gotten me through some very rough patches, so I really don’t know what I’d do if I could no longer get into the woods. But I recently read of a program where you go into a forest to “heal” by pasting leaves and pinecones to yourself and weaving twigs in your hair and I have to say that it is silliness like this that is driving people away from forests, not toward them. I hope you’ll take the word of someone who has spent his whole life in the woods: you don’t need to do anything, say anything, sing, dance, or anything else to benefit from the healing power of the forest. All you need to do is simply be there. If you want to sing and dance and weave twigs in your hair and paste leaves on your arms by all means do so, but it’s important to me that you know that you don’t have to do any of those things to benefit from nature. And please remember, if something sounds absurd it probably is.
What I think was powdery sunburst lichen (Xanthoria ulophyllodes) grew on a black locust tree. It was very small but thanks to my camera I could see that it was also very beautiful. It can be a real pleasure to find such colorful things when the whole world seems white.
I’ve seen this enough times to know I should look up to see what’s been going on.
Woodpeckers, that’s what’s been going on. In this case a pileated woodpecker, judging by the large rectangular holes.
The snow inside this tree shows how deeply they can drill into the wood, though sometimes they find that the tree is hollow. I’ve seen huge, living trees fall that were completely hollow; it was only their bark and the cambium layer under it that kept them standing.
This tree has had it, I’m afraid. It’s never a good thing to see fungi growing on a living, standing tree and in fact most of them won’t. Many fungi will attack and fruit on only dead and fallen trees because their mission is not to kill, only to decompose. It’s hard to imagine a forest without the decomposers. You wouldn’t be able to walk through it for all the fallen limbs and other litter.
Some bracket fungi are annuals that live for just one year and they turn white when they die, and I thought that was what I was seeing until I ran my hand over these. They were perfectly pliable and very much alive, even after the extreme below zero cold we’ve had. They were also very small; no bigger than my thumbnail.
The small white bracket fungi were very young, I think, and I haven’t been able to identify them. The fragrant bracket (Trametes suaveolens) might be a possibility. This is a photo of the spore bearing surface on their undersides.
There are things that are as beautiful in death as they were in life, and I offer up this empty aster (I think) seed head as proof. Though it is dry and fairly monotone it looks every bit as beautiful as the flower it came from to me.
I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything. ~Alan watts
Thanks for coming by.
If the rock structures that people feel the need to build in the woods weren’t enough, this forest bathing trend is something that I’m not looking forward to seeing while I’m out in the woods. I don’t know why people feel the need to sing and dance in the woods and disturb every one and everything else in the woods. I have to admit that I’ve come out of the woods with twigs woven into my hair and/or beard, but it was from busting through brush, not something that I did on purpose. The key to merging with nature is being quiet, not making the noise that goes with singing and dancing.
I really enjoyed the sights that you saw while on your walk, especially the ripples in the very clear water. Luck does play a huge part in getting the great photo sometimes.
Thanks Jerry! I suppose it gives them something to do and to feel good about but as you and I know, it isn’t necessary. And yes, it can even be bothersome! When I see a group of people in the woods I go and find some other woods.
Great pick of the rings in the water. You got to hand it to the woodpeckers – they are very industrious.
Yes, it’s amazing what a woodpecker can do!
That’s a really interesting image of the tree trunk covered with fungi. Never seen that before. Our “nuisance snow” is very slowly melting, what with milder temperatures, but there’s still a lot of it.
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Thank you Cynthia. Our snow is melting fast and we gave bare ground in places, but there is still plenty left to melt.
I love the ripple “action” shot. Amelia
Thanks!
A wonderful ripple shot and some very impressive fungus in today’s post.
Thank you. I wish I knew the name of the fungi.
Wonderful photos and patterns within them. I’m amazed at the effect a woodpecker can have on the trees. I completely agree that just being in a forest, or bushland in my case, has a calming healing effect, no need to go to extremes!
Thank you. Yes, I’ve seen standing dead trees cut right in half be pileated woodpeckers, which are our biggest. I’ve read that woodpeckers can get concussions, and I wouldn’t doubt it!
I agree. Too many people fall prey to charlatans who claim to have unlocked the secret to the power of the forest when there really is no secret.
Birds never fail to amaze me.. But the thought of a concussed woodpecker … That made me smile!
I don’t know whether to believe that or not!
Your post today is certainly a Valentine’s treat for the eyes. I had to chuckle about folks who stick pinecones and twigs on their bodies. The older I get, the more amazed I am at how gullible and easily led some can be. The woodpecker tree reminded me of a few years back when a woodpecker fell in love with my newly installed stovepipe which was hilarious for the first hour but less so the second and third day. The ripples shot is beautiful. I am part hermit and so enjoyed your quote very much.
Thank you Penny. Darn, you reminded me that I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day at the end of the post and I completely forgot about it.
I’m also amazed at how gullible we can be. It’s unfortunate that it costs some people a lot of money. I can’t imagine what a “retreat” like the one I read about must cost. And you come away with pine pitch and leaves all over you!
I know what you mean about the woodpecker. My daughter had one rapping on a metal roof in her neighborhood and it just about drove everyone crazy.
I think I’m almost full blown hermit, or at least I would be if I had the choice.
I really enjoy reading your posts because I always learn something new about nature and typically also have something reinforced that I’ve heard before but haven’t quite internalized yet. That education, coupled with the lovely images you regularly share, makes reading your blog a pleasure that I look forward to! Moreover, you have a way with words that makes reading enjoyable, and today I learned another reason I follow your blog…I appreciate a healthy dose of good sense! “If something sounds absurd it probably is”. 🙂
Thanks very much Cheri. I think sometimes we get so lost in the silliness that we can’t see that it is silly anymore, and I don’t think that it ever hurts to have someone kindly point it out to us. If I was weaving twigs in my hair I’d want someone to pull me aside!
Your shot of the clear stream and the ripples is very special!
Thanks Montucky! Though we have pollution here too we are lucky to have clean mountain streams where the brook trout still thrive.
Ripples. Clear water. We are so fortunate to have such beauty around us!
Thank you Cathy, I agree!
No wonder it’s a favorite place to walk. So much to look at and admire.
Thank you Laurie. It’s a great place and I’ve gone there for about as long as I can remember.
Hi Alan! Your blog is still my favorite. I learn so much. Thank you! Is your last name Watts by any chance? 🙂
Loved this saying! I’m going to use it for friends who can’t understand why I like being in the woods by myself so much. That rather than being isolating, it actually feels expansive.
Thank you Cindy. No, I’m no Alan Watts I’m afraid. Just a nature lover.
I feel the same way about being in the woods. I’ve never felt alone or isolated. Sometimes you just know that a place is where you belong and that’s where I happen to belong.
Many more great shots here. And the ripple was indeed a fortunate one.
Thank you Ben. We all get lucky at one time or another!
Yes. Let us not forget it. 🙂
You have made me very happy today with lots of lovely patterns. I particularly enjoyed the ripples where the snow fell on your picture.
Thank you Susan. That was a happy accident!
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Thanks John.