100 Years Later by Cosine
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Ok, kids, gather round; I have a story, or maybe a thought experiment would be a better term. I've posted at least one photo of a nurse log, with all manner of things growing on it. Most of what grows there is either soft, like ferns and mosses, or short-lived, like huckleberries. But sometimes trees take root; Hemlocks in particular seem to love to grow on Cedar stumps and logs.
Now picture this: a Hemlock is growing on a log that is slowly decomposing and literally disappearing from underneath it, so naturally the Hemlock sends its roots around the log and down into the ground. Our particular Hemlock does this successfully, and survives the loss of its nurse log. Now fast forward 100 years or so; the Cedar is finally completely gone, and our Hemlock is standing there looking silly, like it just stepped over something. That's what we have here. The space under this tree is big enough for me to easily get through it, although I couldn't just walk through.
I took this shot on the coast, but this is a fairly common sight in the rain forest of western Oregon.
Thanks for hanging around for the whole story. :-)

Comments (24)
Beautiful tree. Excellent work.
EXCELLENT CAPTURE , COLORS & BEAUTIFUL !!!!!
Awesome capture and what an interesting tree ... Thanks for sharing the picture with us and explaining how it came to look the way it does ...
A Wonderful story! and I wonder how many elves and fairies trapsed through that arch and hid from the mean guys! It looks like a scene from LOTR S Waiting for that tree to pick up a younger tree and carry it to safety! TERRIFIC photo Cosine....... I rate it 100++++++++
A Giant of a capture. Very nice. Aloha
a great capture, and a great find greetings smillinfaces
LOVE IT!
A wonderful capture and an interesting explanation. Brings back memories from way back when we went through the local forests while in grade school (I lived in the suburbs of West-Berlin) and we learned all about the importance of the forest in the water budget, ferns, mosses, lichens, age of trees. We had some very old Oaks and we circled the trunks, estimated their diameter, were told about their ages-and this all before tree-ringing became an accepted way to determine age. Thanks for sharing this Dennis, Sig...
Excellent capture, my friend! This makes me want to go out to the Hoh (West side of the Olympics), where this sort of thing abounds! Beautiful.
Great capture...
Excellent story and image. And, yeah, definitely a LOTR type of tree. ;o)
A wonderful and interesting duo!!! your story and excellent capture!! Thanks for sharing, Have a very nice evening Henk
I have seen this a few times in my travels in Northern California and it never fails to amaze me with the wonder of it...much like this photo.
interesting story to accompany this wonderful tree shot! survival of the fitest is the moral i think!
Amazing story and amazing capture, thank you - hugs Jane xx
Fantastic work
Great photo and story, thanks for sharing : )
What an interesting tree and your picture of it is great. I love all the ferns and different colors of green. And your history of how it came to be is as interesting as the picture.
Excellent shot of the tree. Great explanation of the evolution of this tree.
What an interesting shot!
Wow! I have seen trees do this over large rocks before, but never over something that would decay beneath it. It's amazing that the tree had the strength to stay healthy while in contact with all that rot. It does look rather Ent-ish :)
Talk about personality? this tree could tell some stories, I'm sure!!!!! A beautiful image Dennis!!!!!!
Wonderful shot of this tree/roots.
What an excellent representation of your story. I've been reading about the forests of Oregon, and how they have been logged. Some of the trees are over a thousand years old. I find that amazing, and I hope they are not all cut down.