Terri of the Trails: The First Walk: Home Woods

The First Walk: Home Woods

January 2, 2015

Walking in the woods had hardly seemed so special as it did on this day.

Since October 4, 2014, I had not been able to do this. Such things were out of the question after I had broken my ankle and severely twisted it. At best, I had looked down into the home woods from the relatively safe, level outer edge. I had occasionally scanned it from west to east, gradually taking mental photos from one section to the next, trying to stitch them together as one broad, panoramic view. I had peered into it from the edge, watching and listening for animal movement, trying to pick up extra early spots of green or the various colors of fungi, looking for a difference in pattern on a tree limb that might belie the presence of an owl. I could only imagine the very tiny things scurrying under leaf litter, burrowing a rotten log, or squiggling around on the creek mud on a warmer day.

This day was cold, the trees were bare, and the ground covered with old autumn leaves. Still, on this day I could be inside the forest. My first nature walk was here, in my home woods.

My ankle had to be in pretty good shape to go here. Though our woods is small, it consists almost completely of slopes that can sometimes be a challenge even when I am completely strong. My feet are almost always placed in some awkward angle. The only level places are the low, very soggy floodplain and a small space on a ridge top. The latter is the only spot I have ever found that would be suitable for pitching a tent. There is also a small, open meadow area near the front of the woods.

I moved through our slanty woods, a sharp pinch still happening in my ankle now and then, but very able, at last.

Two things I wanted to do were to get a closer look at my favorite haunts and to see the small things that I couldn't see from a distance for three months.

I like to check this big old two-trunk Sycamore tree in one of the low places. It is down hill from the road and across the creek, so it is not very far from a woods entrance. Surely, some wildlife uses this huge maw at the base for protection now and then. I would like to hide nearby and keep watch.

However, instead of finding definite signs of wild animals, I found a couple of beer cans in there – not a sign of the kind of wildlife I want in my woods. We do need to put up a barrier and No Trespassing sign again. Maybe they sensed that no one had been checking the woods for a long time.

This den has intrigued me for some time. It is on a slope below the west edge of the woods, below the barn. I sometimes see vague prints or objects in this little space, but I have yet to see what animal uses it. It seems a cozy spot, and the entrance is well used.

Behind the tree are piles of brush. Within the brush piles are various entrances. I suspect there is a network of tunnels and dens in here, connected with the space in the tree.

Extending along the slope from the den is a well worn trail. Once in awhile I see an animal print in the dirt or snow, but they are usually not very clear. This is another place where I want to hide and watch.

Another unusual tree I like to visit is the four-trunk Red Oak located on the top of another slope in the northwest part of the woods (the fourth trunk is not visible in the photo). There is always a collection in the bowl-like center, which is obviously a choice spot used by wildlife.

A variety of scat is always found here, though I don't know what kinds of animals leave it. How neat they are, to contain it all in this nice little “outhouse”.

Someone has been feasting on Persimmons and left the very tough seeds behind.

Orange seeds were deposited on a log in another part of the woods. If these are from the very invasive Oriental Bittersweet, a real scourge in our woods, then I need to get rid of them or we will have even more of those vines choking the trees.

Oops, here are some more orange seeds, in yet another designated animal “outhouse”.

Other signs of wildlife - where animals had been searching for food in rotted wood.

The creek still had patches of ice on top, but some water was running clear.

Sediment occasionally puffed out of this tiny hole in the creek bottom mud. Was this a sign of some underwater wildlife?

This was one of the tiny things I had not been able to see for three months.

I looked for more very small things, such as emerging plants ...

First leaves of Spring Beauty and Harbinger-of-Spring

Uh, oh - a bit of Garlic Mustard was peeking through. I pulled it up by the roots before it would take over this section of the woods. For a few years, I have been vigilant about pulling up plants from huge areas of Garlic Mustard, but occasionally one shows up that I missed.