This part of the woods looks like a graveyard. Skinny dead trees covered in char litter the ground making walking off the beaten path a challenge. The Surviving trees are only thick oaks with shadowy scars at their feet explaining why they might be the only ones left. A green wall of short pines on the horizon surrounds the graveyard offering the only source of color other than grey. Shrubby beech trees are the only low level trees and stand no taller than myself. The openness of the leafless forest invites the wind to cut right through making it feel like you’re in an open field. There is complete silence save the occasional push of wind suggesting that the local wildlife likely took the day off due to the cold. An enormous log a few feet in diameter lays across the trail. This log is significantly larger than any of the other dead trees that lay on the ground and if it were still standing it would be among the tallest and thickest in the forest. Its bottom is completely burnt and removed from the ground. This inconsistency in the pattern could explain the what happened in the forest. However many years ago during a lightning storm, this tree was likely struck by lightning and knocked over. This caused the fire that killed any tree smaller than the 8 inch diameter oak trees that are hearty enough to withstand a fire. They only suffered scarring at their bases where the flame was exposed to them.