This weekend I was looking for something new to do. I’d been working on the yard, and was about to start another home project, when I realized I needed to pause and prioritize my health. I’m getting better about that. So I did a quick search on the internet to find something nearby, or near enough, and I found a trail system I had only briefly heard of before—a relatively new one—that had a curious claim. Apparently, if you were willing to walk to the end of it, you would find a wolf tree. Or perhaps multiple wolf trees.
What’s a wolf tree, I wondered. I no doubt heard of them before, but at the moment, I couldn’t recall. I didn’t even bother to look up what a wolf tree was before I got my son and my dog, and got in the truck. It was time to see one for myself.
Caesar’s Brook
Caesar’s Brook Reservation
The Caesar’s Brook Reservation is a newly developed area by the Amherst Conservation Commission, and looping the whole system takes about a mile. You start off by walking down the Caesar’s Brook Trail, which runs along the brook for a bit before connecting to “The Wolf Trail,” located at the deep end of the reservation. Rather than arming ourselves with pictures from the internet to tell us what we were looking for, we went blind, figuring that the trail would reveal its secret in due time. We didn’t have to wait long.
With enough arms to make a consortium of octopi jealous, looming large at the main crook in the trail stood a beautiful white pine with a heft and majesty beyond any of its cousins in the forest. It looked like it could be confused for the Weirwood from Game of Thrones, or Yggdrasil, connecting the nine worlds of Norse mythology. Pick a tree, whatever you wish to see, and this wolf tree was pretty good representation of it.
I’m not sure if there were other wolf trees along the trail, distracted as we were by this particular one, but one was enough. Of course, after seeing it, we did some research and discovered that wolf trees are usually remnants from when farmers, between 100 and 200 years ago, cleared their fields but then left one big healthy tree to serve as shade for their livestock—typically sheep. And sheep is usually why you see stone walls throughout New England, which explains why there is a Stone Wall Trail at this reservation as well.
The wolf tree on Wolf Tree Trail
A Perfect Symbol
But more than just being a cool tree, the wolf tree felt symbolic of what we’re all on a quest for when we take to the trails and head outdoors. Because when we head outdoors, we’re often trying to connect with our natural selves—the who that we were before technology—before the Industrial Revolution. A time where we were more connected to the earth. And wolf trees are a literal connection to that time, and to who we used to be, as many of them are between 100 and 200 years old. Left unencumbered by their wooded brethren, they grew lateral arms in every direction, taking in an abundance of nutrients. Thus strengthened, they look energized and full of spirit, as they reach up and out towards every manner of being.
And that’s what we want for ourselves, isn’t it? Us hikers of the natural world. To be like wolf trees, connected and far-reaching, sturdy and balanced. The wolf tree looks like a hiker who is feeling the spirit of the mountain well up inside to the point where exaltation is inevitable, and hands must get lifted into the air. I know that whenever I go on a hike, that’s the kind of experience I’m hoping for. After seeing the wolf tree, now I know of an earthly symbol that reflects that wish.
A pretty good Hobbit Hole in Caesar’s Brook Reservation