Behold this mighty tree! It’s in an unassuming bit of woods near my parents’ house in Silver Spring, Md. So unassuming, in fact, that this December 2021 visit was the first time I had set foot in that particular bit of woods, and my family moved to the neighborhood in 1985. The local parks folks have gotten ambitious in recent years and put in trails in places that used to be junky bits of woods. Now those woods turn out to be places worth walking in. This one is host to a lovely stream that flows over impressive chunks of bedrock and also this very, very large tree. I think it’s a tuliptree, and I look forward to going back in a time of year when it has leaves to confirm.
Photo: Helen Fields