Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

I have heard stories about this land and river that are supposed to be very old and have been handed down for generations.  Folks back then told each other stories and that’s how things became remembered.  Back then, it also wasn’t unusual to find a young one that knew their family’s history by heart and able to recite the names of all the known ancestors going back as far as people could  remember.  People in the old days must have been very smart and had better senses of memory than we do today.  Before writing and such, I wonder if people back in the old days held jobs as living books and sources of information? But I digress… which brings me to yesterday when I encountered the most unexpected sight at the Falls of the Ohio!  I first learned about this mystery as a little guy while listening to stories over a camp fire with my recent ancestors.  It’s about these special trees that are rumored to live around here that have the ability to uproot themselves and move around.  I didn’t believe it either and chalked it up as being another fun story like the Prince Madoc legend, but then I saw these rare trees with my own eyes!  And, because these days we have cameras…I took a few snapshots of them so that you can see them too.  Check this out.

The old stories mention that the boundary between the earth and the water has always been a difficult place to live.  It’s an extreme back and forth existence living at the margins of too much or too little.  There’s not much nutrition coming out of these fabled rocks, but then again the limestone at least gives you something to hold on to.  Water has a way of insinuating itself around every nook and cranny and is always testing allegiances.  Around here, some of the trees have learned that they can improve their lot in life by pulling up roots and going elsewhere.  You see, some trees have long memories and they know when it’s time for that great once in a thousand years flood or some other cyclical disaster to come back around.  Or epic memories are shocked and encoded into the rock and soil and trees are just better at reading and interpreting what it could mean?I’m guessing that some of the trees around the Falls of the Ohio like to be prepared or are skittish or both and have begun the very gradual process of being somewhere else.

I came across this small mobile grove not far away from the first tree I showed you.  This is an incredible response by these trees to the rise and fall of the river.    The river dissolves  the silt, sand, and mud away from the riverbank and exposes the tree’s rootlet toes which are always growing. Water currents and the rocking back and forth of the wind further helps loosen roots from soil.  These trees are vibrating and creeping along with most of their roots on the surface with just enough tendrils into the earth to hold on to dear life.  Good thing too or else one day you could find yourself swept away.  I have seen it happen before as in this recent example by the creek.  This tree fell into the water and will never right itself or hold the riverbank up as it formerly did and one day it will be swept away by the river to somewhere unintended.

So much water is a mixed blessing.  Just enough and the trees can move a little more than usual.  Too much water and they run the risk of losing control. This mixed lot of trees seems to be moving westward.  Park officials have reported that there seems to be more of a sense of urgency on the trees’ part and they have picked up the pace over the last few years.  I wonder how they know when and where to stop and should I be worried?  Do the walking trees signify a bad omen for the future and is some environmental disaster looming ahead of us?

Of course life travels at its own speed.  Our tree friends here cannot out run this year’s spent leaves gathering around their feet, but they have patience.  They don’t have the same concept of time as we do. An inch or centimeter or two here and there and progress will be made even if it takes many seasons.  Moving in ultra slow motion, they will either get to their intended destinations or not.  Come to think about it…trees don’t have the same concept of speed either!

Trees have their own internal logic and physics that they respond to.  My tall friend here is a case in point.  He’s an old cottonwood tree and long a go he too was a walking tree.  You can tell from looking at these fantastic roots that buttress the tree from the river and elements.  For some reason known only to the tree…he decided to stay here and put down his roots.

Over time the cottonwood thrived.  Its roots held the riverbank in place and kept it from sliding into the river.  With this particular tree, a small, sheltering space grew directly under the tree’s tall trunk.  Visitors would bring discarded boards and other river finds ( like this large sheet of corrugated and molded plastic) to make forts and tree houses.  This one site has seen plenty of play and fantasy over the many years and has always been recognized as a special tree.

This just occurred to me.  What if the moving trees are just a matter of perception and they really are trying to stay in one place?  What if it’s the rest of the world that is moving so quickly and constantly like one big blur and the trees are holding life in place?  The walking trees have remained where they have germinated and everything else around them has quickly shifted. Because we are so near to it we don’t recognize the movement.  Could time also be as fluid as water seeking out the nooks and crannies and testing allegiances too?  All this head-scratching stuff is making me dizzy on such a fine day by the river.

Unbeknownst to the brown-headed philosopher under the cottonwood, but changes to our area are forthcoming.  This year was the warmest year ever recorded.  The environmental chess board has been set and the game is on.  Pieces are moving and strategies are evolving and somewhere on the Ohio River another pawn is moving into place a little nearer to the cottonwood tree.