White Pine

Later this afternoon I made the rounds by car around the lake. The sun was fiercely bright and the wind steady and crisp. There is a bit of shore melting going on, but with more seasonable temperatures returning that will all freeze up again.

I'm breaking in a new wide angle lens and will drop in a shot every once in a while with a regular specimen post--just a bit of creative experimentation going on here...










Cute, isn't it? Hard to believe this little one can become a towering White Pine.


















Often times the pines will have many dead branches holding on below the live growth in the tree tops. If you're ever in need of dry firewood to get your fire started, the very best material is these dead branches. They stay quite dry right down to the little twigs and make great kindling.








Notice the deeply furrowed bark that indicates that this is an old timer. The pines seem to group in bunches around the lake. When the weather warms and I can make the longer trek around the lake on foot, I promise to illustrate the grouping nature.






Although not that easy to pick out, needles always form in groups of five. The set at five o'clock is somewhat easy to count. (Click on the photo for a larger image.)















Here is the smooth bark of a young pine. Notice the whorled nature of the branching.