American Beech Branches, Winter,
Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio

It's late fall in the Old Man's Cave unit of Hocking Hills State Park in southeast Ohio. No snow yet. The blazing glory of the fall colors is gone now, but much beauty remains.

I hike down from the deserted campground to the South Rim trail, following it westward. In places, openings to the rim itself reveal themselves. There, you can peer out into the narrow little canyon of sheer, hard sandstone cliffs.

The stark slender shapes of a network of branches, twigs, and dormant buds of American Beech trees catch my eye. A hardy, cautious, and slow growing tree, beeches always remind me of my youth in northwest Pennsylvania, splitting apart and eating the soft nuts that are prized by wildlife such as bear and wild turkey.

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