Hiking in some woods I was checking on a sapling Bitternut hickory. Yes it is still there. :) Of course it is there. I was just making sure that I could find it from my descriptions. I have, at times, hurried through my description of where a tree was and have never found it again.
One of the things that throws me off, is the difference of the way the forest looks in the winter compared to the summer.
My descriptions in the winter have been completely useless in the summer. What I was looking at to find later that summer, would completely be too far away to see through the tangle of vibrant life. So I had to give up the search.
Yet I never regretted the visit I make in the past. For it is not only looking for nature lessons, I was also looking for solace and rest by experiencing nature as it is. This in itself is enough for me at times.
Going further away from my sapling Bitternut hickory I come to a N Red oak. I ID the tree by the flat ridges of bark further up the tree that are characteristic of these. On the west side I notice this vertical scar in the bark. When I get back home a Google of tree scars and bark injury doesn't give me an answer. But this tree has been cataloged and I will return to watch. Perhaps I will find the answer, or maybe not. Yet there is much to learn and observe even if I don't get a scientific answer to the question.
