Freak trees of the State of New York

by Gurth Adelbert Whipple

FREAK TREES ATTRACTIVE

Tree shapes are generally beautiful even in distortion. Freak trees attract the attention of all travellers. Probably they cause more comment and speculation than almost any other phase of the forest. They excite wonder; they challenge our power of scrutiny and observation; they cause the beholder to stop, to examine and to ponder. They are sometimes inexplicable. They defy natural laws, as we know them, that govern tree life, in a way that baffles our understanding.

Freak trees often save the camper, the hunter and the explorer from disaster. Trees that do not look like the vast majority of their fellows compel attention and impress the memory, identifying locations, streams and trails, and thus often lead the lost like a guiding hand safely from the wilderness. The true woodsman consciously and unconsciously is ever looking for freak trees when he is traveling in a new country. Freak trees are landmarks, good guides, good friends.