Tree Haturday and a Wee Bit of Trespassing

I went for a solo hike the other day, a rare treat for this mama.

Such a change, to go from hours of hiking every day with my dog, to spending most days inside with my kids. To give them credit, I took them on an epic hike yesterday in the snow. They were tired, but they were troopers and made it back to the truck. There may have been bribes involved.

But the story I’m going to tell you happened days ago, when I took myself down a path I’ve been many times before, but not so much recently.

This hike is close to my house, and there are a few different ways to go. There were more trail options until the fires last summer made a lot of people close off land that was open to the public before.

I believe this is land is owned by First Nations and leased by someone for cattle? I don’t know where the line is drawn between Crown land and reserve land, but there is this massive Douglas Fir tree on the other side of this fence.

Now, I have no problem keeping people off land when there is fire danger, ‘cause one stupid move by dude drinking Budweiser out for a cruise on his ATV, or a bunch of homies up in the woods to do target practice... The way the wildfires were last summer, our whole community could be up in flames.

So yes, keep the land closed when there’s danger, but obviously there’s no fire danger now.

Still, I didn’t go past this fence (mostly ‘cause there was no trail packed, and I didn’t feel like post holing in deep snow). Instead, I headed uphill.

And then I went down again. And around.

I headed towards the other approach to the big Doug Fir, and found a gate that was open, with snowmobile tracks giving me a nice packed trail.

Sure, there was a No Trespassing sign on the second fence, and normally I would totally respect that, but this tree and me have a history.

So yeah, I trespassed to go hug a tree. It’s an old friend. It calls me “kaTREEna.”

I did not take a picture of the tree.

It was a quick mission, ‘cause I don’t know how serious the person was who posted the signs and if they would take offense to me on their land. I was wearing a bright red jacket—better to not be shot at. Yes, this is a good thing to think about when hiking in redneck country. But I was reasonably certain if I did see someone I’d be able to smile my way out of it, so I took the chance.

On the way back up, I found this group of birch trees.

(All photos mine.)

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This has been a #treetuesday post, started by @old-guy-photos. Always a fun topic when I manage to participate. :)

Also, I'm wearing a hat, so shout out to @saffisara, who started the #haturday thing. 💖

Thanks for reading!

Peace. @katrina-ariel

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Author bio: Katrina Ariel is an old-soul rebel, musician, tree-hugging yogini, and mama bear to twins. Author of Yoga for Dragon Riders (non-fiction) and Wild Horse Heart (romance), she's another free-spirit swimming in the ocean of Steemit.

dragon art: Liiga Smilshkalne

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