The east side of our property is a slope down to a valley, mostly covered in trees, about an acre in size. Earlier this week, as the snow was melting, I hiked down the hill, and took a bunch of pictures of the trees. I typically only go down there around this time of year, as it gets a bit overgrown in the summer, plus there are a lot of blackberry brambles, which aren’t much fun when wearing shorts in the warm weather.

But first, I surveyed the fir tree seedlings that have self-seeded on the grassy slope:

Including a random lone pine tree:

I will soon transplant some of those to more useful locations, e.g. next to the pond. Over time, the ones I leave will grow too big to transplant, like the smaller trees in the middle of this picture (may be a little hard to make out against the taller ones behind them):

Looking up at the tallest tree on our property:

Heading down the hill, there are nice groves of ferns:

And lots of impressive trees:

A mossy clearing:

More big trees:

Fallen branches crushing the fence at the bottom of the property:

More trees:

There are a fair amount of blackberry brambles, too:

More ferns:

Looking up the hill towards the tallest tree again, with a couple of shorter ones in front of it:

Those tall trees keep the underbrush fairly clear; could be a nice spot for a picnic, perhaps, if we were into that sort of thing:

The forked base of the tallest tree:

A vertical panorama of looking up at that tree:

But wait, there’s more:

Emerging from the trees behind the future bee shed:

Speaking of, I will be starting that project soon. Stay tuned for that!