JOE TREE DAY

I am so fortunate to live in the middle of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, so named after glacial geology features called moraines and kettles. In this photo I am walking along the ridge top of a moraine...a giant gravel pile pushed up by glaciers in my area some 10-12,000 years ago.
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As the glacier retreated, large chunks of ice broke off and were buried in the gravel (called glacial drift). Imagine a large flat plain of gravel and as the buried ice chunks melted and drained away, the gravel sunk into the hole that was once a giant ice cube. They tend to have the shape of a kettle...thus they were called kettles in the moraine...the Kettle Moraine. 
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Over time, a forest became the dominant biome and it exists to this day. Before man put in roads and highways one could walk the entire length of Wisconsin, several hundred miles, and never leave the forest.
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My dog and I have spent countless hours walking these hills and he has personally peed on every tree out there. This is where my ashes will be scattered...my soul lives here.
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Best seen in Large. And here are many trees to celebrate Joe Tree Day.