Mississippi Bar, February 2015

Out of all the types of trees found growing along the shores of Lake Natoma, nothing sticks out from the rest like the California palms. There aren’t really too many palm trees near the lake, but once you start noticing them, they make an impression! I first spotted this one way back in early 2015 as it sprouted from the trunk of an older stump. I was curious about the parent tree, but I imagine that it must have been taken down because it was growing too near the power lines that are strung through the area. As you can see, that tiny little tree has done quite a bit of growing over the past seven years. It offered me an extremely welcome bit of shade on my hike this morning — but it’s getting a bit close to those powerlines!

June 2022