Surfaced Tree Roots Worn By Passing Feet

Woodland path laced with tree roots

My first picture provides some context for those that follow. A narrow walker’s path tracks a drainage ditch along the edge of a wood. Often muddy, part of its fascination comes from the patches of tree roots that weave through each other just above ground level.

These roots are familiar, yet I marvel at them each time I pass. Have they been left behind as soil eroded or did they surface to find air in a boggy place? Are their buttressed forms better able to anchor trees that lean out into the neighbouring meadow for sunlight, or are they seeking out better soil?

Some look more like hands or arms than roots, others remind me of alligators; many bear marks left by decades of passing feet. Continue reading “Surfaced Tree Roots Worn By Passing Feet”