The Northern Hardwood Forest

Come walk in the woods with me

Pretty much every day I go for a walk with my dog, usually in the forest because that is his favorite. There are some lovely trails right down the road from my parents’ place.

Cropped section of a map to some of the trails.

I used to live in Vermont so the forest here feels familiar, but it has also been a while and I don’t know it as well as I know the forest in Alaska now. There are hardwood trees here. Birch, the prized wood of our woodpile, is looked down upon (though everyone admits the oily bark makes great kindling). The trees get so big. They seem to live multiple lives in layers. Sometimes they have big scars. Sometimes I can see all the way into the tree or through the trunk. Many are standing and dead and still an important part of the community. Hiding places for squirrels. Homes for birds. Sometimes it is hard to tell in winter if a tree is dead or alive.

I find fresh woodpecker holes. Sometimes I see the woodpeckers themselves and I especially love to see the Pileated’s red cap flash through the branches. Once I put a deer bone that my dog found in a woodpecker notch to hide it from him and it is still there.

Notes on trees in the Northern Hardwood Forest

The forest is open and you can see so far into it. There is less undergrowth here and the only thing obscuring the cathedral spines of the trees are the beech leaves which are orange and beautiful shapes at eye level. The beech trees hold onto them until next growing season.

When I am here in December it always gets warm at some point and all the snow melts and it feels like spring or fall. I’ve come to appreciate this moment of spying on the green ferns, fungi, dead leaves, and other brush that lives under the snow. I’d prefer for winter to stay winter, but I accept this break from whiteness as something for my eyes.

Walks on snowless days in December and January.

Then it snows again and the landscape changes.