The Largest Swamp White Oak in PA

"Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky." - Kahlil Gibran.

It was a beautiful, sunny, blue-sky Sunday, and we took my new car for a drive to Bald Eagle State Park. We parked near the Skyline Drive Trail and hiked all around: down to the frog pond, and then up over the hill and back down to the Swamp Oak Trail, which runs by the amphitheater and over to the camping area.

You're looking at the most exciting discovery of our day. :-) I knew it was there, but I can't remember actually meeting it before, though I must have. Say hello to the largest swamp white oak tree in Pennsylvania, Quercus bicolor. The tree, which is more than 250 years old, may also be the largest and oldest tree in the entire park. It appeared in photos of this area long before the state park was created.

My husband took the opportunity to hug the tree, of course. I snapped many pictures from many angles, for I am a lover of trees. And I thought about all of the things that this tree has seen in its many years; and hoped that it would live long and well to witness many more.

The song: the Rolling Stones, with Time Is On My Side. It is a favorite tune, and it is put to good use in the Denzel Washington thriller, Fallen, which I highly recommend.