Under the Sycamore Trees

After dropping off the kids at a party, I figured I had a good two hours. The map showed a trail nearby that I’d never hiked, so I decided to check it out. At its center was a creek that passed near a grove of trees.

Unfortunately, part of the trail was private, so I had to contend with the locals.

In the end, they let me in for a wooden nickel. Or maybe it was an acorn nut from one of the nearby oaks.

There were some pines in the forest, a few scattered oaks, and lots of sycamore trees. These sycamores seemed the most photogenic, so I concentrated on them.

The trunk of a sycamore is hearty and its bark always has blotches with some interesting variation in color and texture.

The branches are strong, but free-spirited, curving and sometimes twisting as they reach upwards or outwards toward the light.

When a branch breaks off, it leaves the tree with a knot. These knots add more visual appeal to the trunks and branches. Sometimes, the knot turns into a hole. Insects, dry rot, or fire can hollow out a portion of the trunk as well. Some of these holes become caves, big enough for a skunk or raccoon to sleep in.

I saw lots of squirrels. Can you see this one? It’s hiding.

And another. These are ground squirrels that live in burrows. They can climb trees, but they prefer not to get very high off the ground. If I walk through the woods and surprise a tree squirrel, it runs right up the trunk of a nearby tree to escape me. Ground squirrels can gather almost everything they need on the ground, but on the rare occasions I’ve seen one in a tree, the ground squirrel goes down rather than up. They only feel safe on the ground, so they’ll drop out of the trees and run as fast as they can for their holes and the network of burrows beneath.

The acorn woodpeckers were hard at work. I saw at least five of them flying around from tree to tree. The hammering noises from their pecking echoed through the woods. But they were moving too fast for me to take a good picture, so I borrowed this public domain image to share with you.

They were coming and going from this dead tree. Can you guess why?

The acorn woodpeckers have filled it with holes and are making good progress filling each of those holes with nuts. They harvest acorn nuts from the oak trees, stuff them into these holes, and eat them all winter.

I’ve read about that, but rarely seen it. I’ll have to bring the kids back here and show them this tree.

The leaves of a sycamore tree are somewhat similar to maple leaves, but not quite as distinctive. Their fall colors are much less intense than maples also. The leaves fade from green to a dull yellow before turning brown and shriveling up. A few of these leaves are falling already, but most of them still think it is late summer.

Did I mention there is a stream nearby? It could be called Minnow Creek (though I don’t know its real name). I saw some small fish in the shallows, but the picture I took of them did not turn out very well.

These are some miniature whitewater rapids. The water was only about three inches deep, so there were no whales in sight.

All images are property of the author and taken with a Galaxy7, except for acorn woodpecker photo, which is public domain.