I hiked in this park at lunch. Below is the entrance to the trail.



The trail drops down a little. I had trouble walking down in the snow, so I went into the woods and held saplings as I went down.



Here I am walking along the trail which is more or less level as shown below.



Below is evidence of squirrles.



Basswood clump. I normally find them this way. My thinking is they are sprouts from a stump.





Not far from the basswood is this knarly oak.



Frozen spring.



Next to the spring is a creek flowing downhill.

Log of my hike Sunday 4-Feb-07

Snow makes the ground look matted moulted. The trail is mainly marked by dogs also sign of deer and turkey. Watching the squirrels going from branch to branch leaping to the next branch.

The rustling of the shingle oak leaves in the wind. The crunch in of my boots on the snow the pitter patter of my dog scampering back and forth in the woods.

A wave of wind rustles the shingle oak leaves then it dies down then it rustles the leaves again and then it dies down.

A stand of rough leaf dogwood 1” in dia. With the mixture of E red cedar. White snow covering the ground white and blue sky.

Gray liken growing on the bowl of a 7” E red cedar.

Gnarled black cherry with the bole splits in two about 3' feet off the ground.

To my right the ground falls into a draw to the left continuing rough leaf dogwood and a scattering of E red cedar.

As I walk the sun is breaking through a layer of clouds the opening snow fades away into grass it has melted off.

The trail I was on now connects with the main trail and I am now on that trail heading W.

The main trail again is then covered in snow and I take the side trial off to the right which is on the other side of the draw which I mentioned before where the black cherry was.

I am now coming across some rabbit tracks. To the NW I look to the sky which is blue with a spattering of high clouds.

I cut off the side trail into the woods which rolls north. Ground is mostly covered in snow the snow covers the fallen trees. It is a round ridge as I walk to the draws. I don't see any sigh of human activity there are no human foot prints.

I lean up against a hop hornbeam which is next to a large fallen tree it is a hard to say what kind of tree it was all the bark has fallen off, white oak is to the East and a large bur oak is to the west near the creek.

In this area there is a ½ to 1 inch of soft snow and under it there is 1 to 2 inches of crusted snow.

We now have come up to a place has come where the squirrels have dug into the snow looking for nuts. I have no idea how the squirrels know where to dig but my dog has a lot of fun checking them out.

As I come to the end of the ridge down at the creek there is a root wad stuck into the air, dirt is still stuck in the root wad the tree has been down for a long time. The tree has fallen into the creek and branches are broken off on the other side of the creek. What bark is left is covered by conk type growth. The creek is frozen but I can see water running under the ice.

4:39 PM looking back south the sun is still up in the air a ways so there will be more sunlight for a time now. The sun is shinning through the 1000 s of branches most of the trees are 3” or less. Looking up at the canopy there is room for trees to occupy. Most of the trees are small a few large. The little trees have not taken off to occupy the open canopy.

Instead of going back the way I came I decided to parallel the creek gong along the edge and I will turn up to the top of the ridge when I get to the other side.

My dog runs out on the ice of the creek by a 2 foot waterfall she tries to stop but just slides in the ice. But being on all fours is no problem for her. When she does stop she runs back to me.

Heading back up there are a lot of small gullies criss crossing the ground. The way I negotiate these is by grabbing a sapling or vine hold on as I jump over them. But I check to make sure they aren't dead before I apply weight.

My dog is really getting excited now running up the side of the hill and back to me. She loves to hike in the woods with me.

There is no E red cedars growing on the side of the hill they grow up on top.

I come to the trail where there is a set of foot prints and I stamp my foot next to it and compare footprints the treads match so its mine. And now I am following my trial back.

As I hike along that trail I come to the realization that my foot prints have stopped so I back track to where my foot prints end and I cut into the woods.

Now I come to the root wad where I first wanted to take a photo and I figured I could find my foot prints again and continue following my way out.

I pass a white oak which is leaning about 30 degrees. The whole tree is leaning and the bowl of the tree is not carrying any of the weight of the tree. I will measure the dia with my hand and I come up with 30 to 32 inch dia tree.

I see 2 turkeys fly into some trees it is 5:00 now so it must be time to bed down in the tree.

Flowing the main trial the south facing slope is clear of snow and the north facing slope has a lot of turkey tracks in the snow where the turkey went into the trees.

American Sycamore

I was hiking along a Missouri river bluff and came across this American Sycamore. The white upper branches caught my eye.



When I came closer I took a photo of the heart rot that many trees of this species have.




On the back of the tree there was a knot. This knot may have been formed by the tree to cover a wound. Or more likely it is from a disease. Seeing how the bowl of the tree seems to jog at this point the knot may be caused by a branch breaking off.

Ice on Missouri River

Ice is stacked up against a jetty in the Missouri river.

Geese Flying over a Cold Missouri River

Missouri river is showing the effects of a cold snap. As I walked down to the river to take this photo some geese flew by. I was fortunate to get this shot.


Job 37:10

"From the breath of God ice is made,
And the expanse of the waters is frozen."

White Cliff

The white rock seems to have weathered erosion better than the rest of the cliff.

Cattails

Photos of Cattails in a frozen pond. I found a link about cattails on another blog today from Singapore.

Gray Squirrel

I caught this gray squirrel climbing down amongst the tangle of brush and trees.

Winter Weeping Willow

Pond & Ice

I took a photo of this pond today with the ice. Below is the same pond in the Fall on Thanksgiving.

Cracked Redbud Tree

Here is a Redbud tree that must have been under stress that caused the stem to crack like this. Maybe a branch fell across it.

Cottonwood stand in the Snow

Red Tailed Hawk

Walking along a forest trail road I heard a Red Tailed hawk. I was not looking for birds, I was looking for snow photos. I heard its call first, then I stared searching the sky for it. I saw it flying amongst the trees. I rapidly got my camera out but it was too late. Later I heard it again and tried to get my camera out but to no avail. The third time I got a photo of the hawk flying away.

Sorry but my camera can't do much better than that for wildlife. Click the photo for a larger view.

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done." Psalm 40:5

Tree Silhouette

Tree Silhouette

Snowy Winter Woods

Unusual Tree Sucker

Here is an interesting tree I found that had a sucker growing out of the stump. Further up the tree it becomes incorporated back into the main bowl of the tree.

Sun and Ice

Walking in the woods to find a good photo of glare at first I thought that there wasn't any ice on the trees. I was walking north and the sun was behind me.





When I turned around I saw the glare of the ice from the sun.


It is the same with our relationship with Christ. It is all in the way we look for Him. If we are looking away from His promises we may not see anything. If we are looking in the Bible for His promises we can see the glory of the Lord.

Look to Jesus for help. Those who believe in Him will not be disappointed. Romans 9:33

Snow

If you click to enlarge the photo you can see some ice crystals

Took a break from snow plowing. The whining of the hydraulic motor. The scraping of the blade on asphalt. The squawk of the work radio. Music or chatter from the regular radio.

As I walked in the woods I stopped and listened to the silence. As I listened I could hear the snow hitting the dead winter leaves and tree branches.

Many times the business of life keeps us from listening to God. It is good to get away and be still and hear what God has for us. It will refresh you.

13 Turkey

I drove up on these turkey while plowing freezing rain. They were not bothered by my diesel engine. But flew away when a women came by walking her dog.

Bent Shingle oak

Here is a Shingle oak that is growing unusual. If you look closely there is a stem growing straight up out of where the tree first bends.

I have always wondered how much weight a tree like this could support. All of the weight is off to the side.

KC Willd Lands Christmas Tree Sale

Shawnee Mission Park was where people went to pick out a Eastern red cedar tree. There were many to choose from. The event was held in December of 2006 and was a fund raiser for KC Wildlands.

Some trees were already cut.




Here was the hot cider station.



The hot cider station.


A lot of people wanted to walk back in the woods and cut their own.

Chinquapin Oak

Here is a photo of an intresting Chinquapin oak. I like the branch pattern.
I am shooting north.




This photo shows where a branch fell off and created a large scar. It is now rotton inside and provides wildlife habattat.

Here is a photo of the tree shooting south last month.

Honey locust & Greenbriar Tendril

Here is a photo of a greenbriar tendril grabbing hold of a Honey locust thorn.

The Honey locust seems to try to defend itself with thorns, but its useless against the greenbriar.

Bottom Land Trees

In the top picture I am in the Missouri river bottoms. The tree on the left is a Box elder maple. It is easy to ID by the green twigs. The 2 trees in the middle are Eastern Red Cedars. And the tree on the right is a Silver maple. There is a layer of sand on top of the dirt. I don;'t know when the sand was deposited there but it may have been the flood of 93.




The bottom photo is showing a pure stand of Eastern cottonwood. In the summer you can't see far in these woods.

Hackberry bark

Hackberry bark is interesting because you can see the growth.