Distracted While Skiing

[Don Orr]

My wife and I were XC skiing at a ski center in Vermont in the Green Mountain National Forest on Saturday. I had a real hard time paying attention to the trail. I was seriously distracted by the extensive proliferation of Cherry burls everywhere I looked. I have never seen so many burls in one area before. It was amazing. If I had a bigger backpack, I might have brought some home. I saw a couple of real nice ones on a tree about 2-3" in diameter. The burls were about 10-12" diameter. Normally I would not even consider killing a live tree, but these particular burls were in a dense stand of young Cherry trees in a managed forest. I did manage to bring home a nice piece of Cherry burl from the firewood pile of the ski center (with permission !) There were also lots of moose tracks in the snow but we did not see an actual moose :-(

[Ken Fitzgerald]

You are a man with more self discipline than I! Gorgeous looking burl. You realize you are now a star of "turning porn" don't you Don?

[Brian Effinger]

Its a good thing that was a cross contry trail and not down hill - looking around on one of those could be dangerous :D

[Jim Kountz]

Hmm and where exactly is this place (he asks as hes loading his chainsaw in the truck)....LOL

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very tempting and you know, this is the perfect time of year to be cutting trees! You could talk to the people who manage the forest and offer to remove those diseased trees for them so that the younger trees have a better chance at survival! Well, it's worth a shot!

[Richard Madison]

Other skiers will wonder about the chainsaw bar sticking out of your backpack.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking burls Don as I load my chainsaw, long johns and getting ready to travel.:eek::D

[john l graham]

I found the moose. All three were checking out my wifes car in the driveway, as well as trimming my apple trees.