Somewhere in WI 2011- Part 3

I woke at 6:30 this morning excited about the hike/exploration that my boyfriend and I had planned for the day.   We packed our gear and drove the hour and a half to our destination while listening to a podcast from blogtalk radio with Thom Powell as the guest....to set the mood.   We had been going to this particular area since 2008 and just recently started cataloging the trails as we explore them.
Unfortunately it had been raining off and on before we arrived but I thought... hmm,  maybe that's in our favor, the ground would be soft enough for impressions.   The forest floor is rather spongy so no prints would ever be found there and the trails gave us nothing. However we were able to soak up enough water that it looked as if we went wading knee deep in the nearby stream and our waterproof hikers felt as though we had.  So much for waterproof. 

As we explored the trail and at times off trail to venture deeper into the woods I began to notice a lot of the typical tree bends, v breaks and interwoven trees.  I also began to notice there just may be a pattern.   It seems to me that when I come across something that looks like a nest or shelter so to speak, there are many of these bends and breaks in the area surrounding the assumed shelter.

I had camera in hand and truth be told I was looking for that "what in the world" find but unfortunately all I found were the bends,breaks, weaves that are already found in mass quantities over the internet and possibly a few old abandoned shelters where the leaves have fallen away leaving only a skeleton of what it once.

Pictures really do not do any of these any justice at all.  These are something that a person has to see with their own eyes in person to really be able to take it all in.  When you come into an area that is filled with these though, there is an eeriness all around which also plays into how these are perceived. At least I believe it does.  Anyways,  I really didn't want to  fill this blog with more of the same old same old as far as tree structures, but I will share the pictures I was able to get today.

This tree bend was just one of many that we had seen during our hike.  One side is braced by a Y branch almost as if to keep it from bending too far down,  the other side is held down by a birch tree that had been broke off. 

Same bend but viewed from opposite side.

There were tons of so called "V" breaks, although this one is probably natural, I thought it was pretty cool just because! :D   What a beautiful area huh?

I thought this was interesting because two smaller trees off the side are pulled in towards each other and another tree placed over the top as if to hold them in place.  You can barely make out the smaller tree to the left of the pic that is pulled in.

Closer view of the above pic where you can see the tree to the left better.

Just another shot of the trees

I do apologize because these pictures really don't do this justice and without being there this looks more like a simple tree fall than anything else.  In the background you can see some smaller trees pulled downward.  I tried to get some of those in these shots.

Portion of the tree pictured just before this one: If this tree still had it's leaves and the branches placed over the top still full of leaves this would have made a wonderful shelter.

Big tree!  Again the same small trees in the background. I just noticed the small white area the the left of the tree.  Possibly a bug from my flash. With all the bugs out, I'm surprised that this is the only time I captured this.

Another tree bend located near the above possible shelter.

Same tree bend, different angle showing the broken branches holding it in place.

This is the pile of broken branches holding the above tree bend in place.  The top of the tree is to the left and tucked under the bigger branches.

I don't know when my boyfriend and I will get the chance to get out there again but I hope we do real soon.  I also hope that my finds will be a little more exciting.