Spruce Burl

What? Yes spruce burls do form like this, the woods were full of such trees and on a dark night with howling wind and a full moon ------! They come from a parasite that causes the cells of a bud to divide more rapidly than normal resulting in these amazing forms.

So my three days worth of photos from out on the beach on the far western coast of Washington's coast are not full of sunsets and waves although those were gorgeous, but of a cedar dancing with its root system up in the air over a ravine, a large rock that somehow got into a narrow slot and stays put even with mighty wave action, a GIANT cedar that dwarfs us humans and is a specimen of what these northwest woods were once full of, and this burl. Enjoy nature's oddities! May 2, 3, 4, and 5 which is today and right here above with not page turning back! But the others are really interesting too!