The rocks at my feet, blanketed under a dusting of snow, are covered by ferns, moss, sticks, and leaves as well. Next to me stands a tall yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis) with shaggy bark, yet the landscape in front of my eyes is dominated by eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), with its short, flat needles. It is rocky, almost cliff-like ground with little to no soil cover, yet the hemlocks prevail.
Today, many trees are covered in ice – the weight drags branches down, and I see many twigs on the ground around me. I wonder if this is due to the added stress. Many northern conifers are adapted to wintery conditions like these with downward drooping branches, typically to help shed snow. It is likely advantageous for the hemlocks today, as frozen rain adds a substantial toll to every leaf, twig, and branch.
These hemlock are mixed with birch, beech, and maple on flatter grounds as I look around, but in the steep rocky areas so prevalent here, the hemlocks dominate. Their shallow root system reaches out over the rock, spreading wide yet certainly not deep. Earlier today we passed a fallen hemlock with its root system preserved – it looked to be no more than a foot deep. This is another advantageous adaption for the hemlocks here, I realize, as I look ahead at the cliff speckled green with hemlock, ferns, and moss.
But as I turn away from the cliff, I turn back toward trail, and the trees grow far apart, split by paths, humans, signs, a campground in the distance. The forest is full of man made discrepancies.