Ancient Trees...and Ultrarunning

Please go view the images of ancient trees on this site, then hop back.  The photographer is Beth Moon:

Standing as the earth’s largest and oldest living monuments, I believe these symbolic trees will take on a greater significance, especially at a time when our focus is directed at finding better ways to live with the environment.

Here's one example:

Did you catch your breath yet?  The words stunning, breathtaking, gorgeous, humbling, don't begin to cut it.

The link to Ultrarunning, of course, is that my backcountry runs here in PA are always in the forest.  Trees as far as the eye can see.  And because I am by nature anal about labeling and classification, I am good at tree identification.  Really good.

So as I trot around the woods I'm always looking for the unusual tree, meaning large, or unexpected in that location.  Like native American Chestnuts that are old enough to produce nuts before succumbing to blight.  Or a huge Eastern Hemlock tucked away in a precipitous, shady ravine.  Perhaps a southern tree too far north, or a northern tree too far south.