To cut or not to cut …

 What's missing from this picture?

The East Pole stands in a boreal forest at its climax stage. That means a mix of deciduous and conifer trees that have reached maturity, some of them measuring their height in triple digits. Their age might also be measured in triple digits. Who are we even to approach such majesty?

Huge birch and spruce trees rise above the cabin in all directions and they add to the beauty of the place tremendously. I have always tried not to take down a growing tree for firewood, waiting for the really old ones to rot from the inside and then fall before a good wind. The blow-downs have served well over the years. But there are a couple of trees that have been a pain for almost 30 years now. Their crime? They partially block the view of Denali. Mostly branches and twigs get in the way and with the advent of autofocus, I get great pictures of sharply focused twigs and the mountain a blur in the backbround. I have plotted against those two trees for years. Those tall spruce in the pictures are ok so far; they provide perspective and framing, but the twigs on these two birches have been an irritant almost since I moved in, early in 1986.

Mature birch

Well, the day before yesterday I took one of them down. Sad to see it go but it does make a pretty picture stacked under the house, too. That's probably the last picture I will ever take of it, but then I have probably a hundred with it in them in one form or another, so I can never forget.

That's what's missing from the most recent picture of Denali; no twigs. Now I wonder if it's going to take another 30 years of plotting to take the other one down.