Location:
Why this place is special: Ever since I moved to this house I’ve been visiting it with friends, family or by myself as a refreshing pause on life. There are no trails which lead into this area which makes it feel like we’re in our own world. My friends and I have built a fort here just to relax, talk, and listen to the world around us. It’s always a place I can go to appreciate nature in a very developed environment.
Comparing both sites: At my Thanksgiving phenology site, the woods are predominantly made up of Red Oak trees and North White Pines. The Red Oak leaves cover the ground completely and the pines are reluctant to let go of their own leaves. There isn’t much understory trees nor any shrubbery which crowds the floors unlike Salmon Hole. At Salmon Hole, of course there are trails and walking areas where there are no plants or leaves in the way, but in the thick of the woods it’s nearly impossible to walk around from the amount of shrubbery and understory there is. The vegetation also differs quite a lot. At my Salmon Hole site, there isn’t necessarily a dominant tree. The species are very diverse and consist of cotton woods, white oaks, birches, basswoods, and more.
A gift: As a gift to my new place I decided to spend a little time picking up trash around the area. Some of the things I picked up were pretty ordinary like wrappers that had an expiration date of two years ago and some were a little more interesting. The most intriguing piece of litter I had picked up were antique glass beer bottles. The paper around it had withered away and the shape of them makes you wonder how long these bottles have been here for.
