While the ground is covered in snow, some unknown critter has been dining on its cache of acorns stored for the winter. Generations have evidently lived in this little cave, as there are many layers of acorns ranging from freshly chewed down to old decayed shells that are turning into rich soil. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
Who would have thought twenty years ago that a photo this simple would mean so much? This is one of the few hemlocks in the gorge still large and healthy enough to produce a nice crop of cones. It survives now only because it’s been treated to stave off the wooly adelgids that have killed countless giant hemlocks in this wilderness area. (Photo: Nicholas Massey)
