Roots

3 photos · 2021

3 photographs tagged Roots, 2021.

Related: Ely Forest Minnesota Hiking Tree Autumn
Moss-covered tree roots and rocks amid autumn leaves on a forest floor near Ely, Minnesota.
Ely sits at the edge of the Superior National Forest, a landscape shaped by thin glacial soils and granite bedrock close to the surface. Trees here often grow shallow, wide-spreading root systems rather than deep taproots, since roots can't penetrate far into the rocky ground. That shallow growth leaves roots exposed along many forest trails, especially where erosion or foot traffic has worn away the topsoil. The region's mixed hardwood and conifer forest sheds heavily each October, blanketing the ground in fallen leaves and needles.

Exposed Tree Roots and Autumn Leaves near Ely, Minnesota

Tree with exposed root system spreads across forest floor in woods near Ely, Minnesota.
Ely sits at the edge of the Superior National Forest and serves as a gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, more than a million acres of lakes, rivers, and forest along the Minnesota-Ontario border. The thin, rocky soil common to this part of the state often forces paper birch trees to send roots wide across the surface rather than deep underground, leaving root systems like this one exposed as surrounding earth erodes away over time.

Exposed Birch Roots in the Superior National Forest, Ely, Minnesota

Leaves in the Superior National Forest, Northern Minnesota
A rock with roots around it with fallen leaves near Ely, Minnesota.

Leaves in the Superior National Forest, Northern Minnesota

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