The Whispering Giants: Stories of Trees and Time

• Posted on 2 January 2025
• By Kendell Zarda
• 0

     The best places are where things seem frozen in time. Not even the wind sways the leaves, nothing to create ripples in the clear glass water. The air feels calm, each breath filling your lungs with oxygen that feels almost untouched by the outside world. No pollutants linger in the air, and no noise cuts through the silence.

     These are the best places because, despite their calmness, they are so deeply alive. You witness before your eyes, though often microscopic, an almost ritualistic flow of life and death. Nutrients are being swapped and broken down, from the smallest molecule suspended in an ancient dance to the old, wise white pine, which, like a puzzle of the earth itself, pieces brought together by a story passed along for ages. Someday, the pine will fall, and the soil below, alive with creatures of reverence, will embrace the soon-to-be rotting wood and learn all the secrets there are within its growth.

     It's easy to feel like I'm interrupting something whenever I linger along the trails. Sometimes places don't necessarily have to have the flare of being in the middle of nowhere to appreciate the flow of nature. Holmboe Conifer Forest State Natural Area, located in Rhinelander, grants you the cover of old-growth pines and hemlocks. If you wanted to pretend trees held onto secrets, these would be the ones to ask. The short trail, only a mile long, is just enough to distract you from the sound of cars nearby, or maybe the chatter of others who walk along the path. I knew I didn't notice, too preoccupied by imagining I was trying to listen in on a private conversation between the sound of wind and leaves.

     Most hemlocks in these areas of uninterrupted growth are 140-170 years old, but some can live to be 400. The same goes for the white pines and maples. It's fun to imagine the historical events when these trees were just mere saplings. 140 years ago was 1884, the year France gave the United States the Statue of Liberty. 170 years ago brings us to 1854. If you're lucky enough to stumble upon one that's 400 years old, that's 1624, and if you ever find yourself at the Niagara Escarpment near Greenleaf Wisconsin and look up at a very unassuming, scraggly red cedar, you'll see a tree who has 1,200 years of untold secrets.

     I always find myself imagining the stillness of a world so long ago, like a small ripple of time. It's a great way to feel small, much like the microscopic tango happening around you when you stare up at the canopy. It's just a shame some secrets will never be uncovered.