The Ghost Trees

This is a shot taken on the Lower (rhymes with "flower") Trail, in central Pennsylvania, not far from the flea market at Water Street. I had wanted to go there for a while - actually, I was hoping to get some foliage shots there in late October or early November, but we just didn't make it down. But better late than never, I guess!

We arrived in early afternoon on a day where sun mixed with clouds. The trail was pretty deserted. We saw just a handful of bike riders and walkers. The trail is flat and wide, and easy walking; in the end, we rung up about four miles. The foliage colors are long gone, and the water is running low; rocks sticking out in the creek look white. My best guess: most likely from limestone.

Right near the flea market, there is a stand of tall white trees that I think of as the ghost trees. They surely look like ghosts, standing there, all bony and pale, seemingly emitting their own light. These ghost trees are actually sycamores, which can live for several hundred years.

This is the place where I was walking in spring of last year, when I took photos of the underwater snapping turtle ballet, but you'll never get to see those shots (and I won't either!) because that memory card bit the dust that same day. I lost several hundred photos of the Lower Trail and the Penn State Arboretum's tulip display at its peak. So every time I walk there, I think of that!

And now I've learned and changed my ways: I no longer delete photos off camera memory cards and reuse the memory card, oh no; I simply KEEP all of the memory cards WITH the photos on them, in case of some huge catastrophic photo library loss (which, yes, I have also experienced). Anyway, moving on. . . .

A thing I like about this spot is that it seems so timeless. As I walk along the trail made from the remnants of railroads and canals, I get a sense of history, stretching out long behind me and long into the future. I may be wrong, but this feels like a place that might look about like it did a few hundred years ago.

I couldn't decide whether I liked the monochrome or color version of this shot better, so I punted: the color version is also included, in the extras. As a tip, the light this time of year can be very different in where it goes, what it lights up, and when it does it. I took the same photos around 1 p.m. and again around 3 p.m., just as we were leaving. The light was much better on the trees around 3.

It's my tradition to include a soundtrack song, and since these are ghost trees, I've decided to use a song from the soundtrack of the film Ghost: Unchained Melody. Here are two versions: the Righteous Brothers, and Elvis Presley (music starts at about a minute and a half in. Enjoy!

P.S. One of the most famous early travelers along this route was Charles Dickens, and you may read his account here.

P.P.S. Here are some links to more info about the Lower Trail.