Photographs and Almost Forgotten Memories

[hsguy]

On a recent trip I felt compelled to take a photo of the "eyes" on a tree. My late wife and I enjoyed skiing in Aspen and there was a local saying, "The Aspen trees have eyes and they look after you.". We both liked that and always enjoyed the trees watching us on the lift to the top or skiing down the slope. Seeing the eyes certainly jogged my memory and brought back some very joyful and fond memories. I wonder if others here have experienced the same in seeing a sight, sound or smell. I found it very comforting.

Now to mollify the arborists here, I actually think the tree was a Birch and not an Aspen but I exercised artistic license in making this post.

 

[Puller]

We don't typically have birch or aspen in the deep south so I had to google both to see if I could tell the difference. We have river birch trees, but that's something completely different.

Even after a closer look I'm afraid I'll have to defer to someone else on an opinion of which one it is you pictured.

 

[Alk8944]

Assuming you do your skiing in the western US this should be, and looks like, a "Quaking Aspen". Do you have any idea where you took the photo?

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Aspens are so Beautiful when they Turn and Shimmer in the sunlight.
A grove of Aspen are all kinfolks.
Aspen emerge from a common root system.
This is up North of Chama, NM near the State line.
You can see some different leaf colors.

 

[30-30remchester]

As kids we would often find a remote aspen grove and carve historic names on them. Things like" Danial Boone was here" or "Jim Bridger peed on this tree 1857". Our only defense for such deception is the fact we didn't have a TV and had to make our own entertainment. I now live in a forest, and we HAD a beautiful stand of full-grown aspens outside to living room window. Then those ##***##** woodpeckers moved in and killed every one of them. Now we are nurturing several young saplings trying to return but even though just several yards away there are groves of aspens in the forest, every deer, elk and moose seems to prefer the tender young saplings in the yard. If I could post pictures, which I don't know how, I have a photo of 2 moose eating our last aspen just a week ago. The wife and I do realize that an aspen tree is nothing but a big weed with bark.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Have seen lots of carvings on Aspen. Especially at places like near springs which were most likely camping locations.
Some appeared to be Spanish, most had grown over to the point they were Illegible.

 

[Nevada Ed]

We have them at our place at South Lake Tahoe, but those leaves in the picture
do not look round enough to match the Aspen trees that we have, in our area...
and the marks on the bark seem a lot different but it could just be a reginal thing ?

Way back when, I posted a picture of some "fall color" from the leaves from our area, in yellow, orange and red........
of a Apen tree.

 

[BigBelle]

That would be a scary looking tree at night.

 

[Alk8944]

Copied from 30-30 Remchesters post above "The wife and I do realize that an aspen tree is nothing but a big weed with bark." Couldn't agree more.


The largest single living organism in the World is know as "Pando". This is a single Aspen tree that has sent out a huge number of "clones", which is how Aspens spread. Pando reportedly has created a total of some 47,000 individual trunks and covering an area of approximately 106 acres**. This is located in the Fishlake National Forest, UT. near the West end of Fishlake. If you have "Google Earth" just search Pando to find the location.


** Different articles give varying values for these stats.

 

[jeffrefrig]

We had a bunch of Quaking Aspens in the woods near our camp (Crawford County, PA). It was cool because it seemed every time before rain, the wind seemed to blow the leaves upside down. That pic in the OP wood creep me out a little! Cool, none the less.

 

[hsguy]

Assuming you do your skiing in the western US this should be, and looks like, a "Quaking Aspen". Do you have any idea where you took the photo?

The picture was taken in Mitchell, South Dakota. I was sure it was not a Quaking Aspen but the "eyes" reminded me of them hence it jogged my memory.

 

[jeff85]

I have a small grove of Aspen that was started by a single tree transplanted from a relatives place in Deckers Co. 25 years ago. They're 50 foot tall now. I'll often find them popping up across the street in one of my neighbors yards.