As an outdoorsman, one of the things I enjoy most doing is taking a walk through the woods. I have found it to be the perfect way to relax and unwind. For me, it’s a moment to sit down and reflect. It is a time when I don’t have to do anything but be alone with my thoughts.
Getting in touch with nature has always been very rewarding. You get to breathe the crisp, clean air and take in all the beautiful surroundings. You can go to the same spot many times and you will continue to see diverse types of plants, trees, and flowers.
If you’re like me, you like to watch the changes your favorite spot has gone through along those years. It is a friendly reminder that father time never stops and makes his impression on all of us. While hiking, you tend to come across many plants and trees. Trees serve people many purposes. For many of us, they served as a playground when growing up. On these hiking trips, you may have noticed a tree that appears as if it’s been bent. I always thought it was something that occurred naturally. Boy, was I wrong!
The American Forests organization has as one of its many goals, the protection, and preservation of our nation’s gorgeous forests. According to their website, there’s a real story behind these bent trees. They are scattered across the country and they are shaped in an odd way. Their trunks have weird corners and bent spaces in them. I’m sure some of them took that shape for natural reasons. Most of them served as landmarks to help guide indigenous people across the land.
The reason for that is that some of these trees were bent and tied down to a point. The direction would be where the trails for Native Americans were located. Once tied, the tree would continue to grow around the ties. As I said before, not all bent trees get this way from serving as traffic signs for Native Americans. There are ways you can tell whether a tree has been bent naturally or was made this way to serve a “traffic purpose.”
When tying a tree down to force it to grow in a certain direction, it usually leaves a very peculiar marking on it that it’s impossible to replicate by nature. Nature has a way of changing the anatomy of trees, but it is often done in a way that is subtler. Do you want to know what it is? Just check out the video!
