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Hug a tree on New Year’s Day

2007 December 27

Rachel and Alex Beck hugging a big tree near the Adams Tract trailhead kiosk in Carrboro’s Wilson Park. Photo by Ken Moore.
Rachel and Alex Beck hugging a big tree near the Adams Tract trailhead kiosk in Carrboro’s Wilson Park. Photo by Ken Moore.

By Ken Moore
Flora Columnist

Years ago, a tradition was begun by the Eno River Association: Volunteers led New Year’s Day walks along the river that flows through Hillsborough and north through Durham to Falls Lake. Enthusiastic walkers turned out for hikes on some very cold days, and in recent years hundreds of appreciative walkers show up to share the beauty of the river’s winter woods on the year’s first day.

Here in our own community, we are fortunate to have nice trails along low-lying greenway corridors and the Botanical Garden’s nature trails, Mason Farm Reserve and the Battle Park forest between Forest Theater and the Chapel Hill Community Center.

The newest resource for local walkers is Carrboro’s Adams Tract, easily accessed at Wilson Park on Williams Street. The town’s Public Works Landscape Division has installed trail markers and provided laminated maps illustrating locations of labeled specimen trees. The trail and tree ID maps, for use while walking the trails, are available at the Wilson Park Trailhead kiosk.

It is easy to extend the leisurely walk on the Adams Tract to a much longer hike if you wish to explore the adjoining forested Bolin Creek greenway and adjacent hundreds of acres of the university’s Horace Williams property.

This New Year’s Day, take time out for a walk in the woods. Look for a special tree that speaks to you and give it a hug. Take your family and friends. Some trees require more than one person for a hug. Or, each individual can adopt a different special tree. Make a personal resolution to take this walk at least once a week. If not for the tree, do it for yourself.

The winter months are great times for woods walks. Sunlight streams down through the canopy of bare tree limbs to show off, here and there, clumps of evergreen ferns and evergreen wildflowers soaking up the winter sunlight.

My thrill is seeing the lay of the land, the ups and downs of slopes, and all the different kinds of trees. If you pause to observe, you will begin to detect the variety of textures and colors of tree trunks. Most are distinctive enough to allow you to identify them without their leaves. Sometime in January or February, I’m going to lead a tree identification walk on the Adams Tract to prove this to you.

But don’t wait for me. This New Year’s Day, get yourself out there in the woods for a walk in search of your very own huggable tree. And while you’re hugging it, don’t forget to look up to the very top. You will not forget that hug!
And good wishes from me to you and your tree for 2008.

Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com. Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at The Annotated Flora (carrborocitizen.com/flora).

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