from Web Ecoist
By Steve in Geography & Travel, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems
Trail Marker Trees are ancient signposts from a time before GPS, compasses or maps. Shaped and molded by Native Americans while young saplings with the expectation they’d last for centuries, these living cultural navigational aids still point the way long after their makers have moved on.
Trail Marker Trees generally display several uncommon characteristics which, combined with an unusual number of such similarly “modified” trees and their appearance on known ancient trails and portages, identifies them as original Trail Marker Trees. Most commonly, it appears a young, flexible sapling (usually Oak) was tied down and a branch was allowed to grow upward from the place the tree was bent, thus becoming the main trunk. The original and now horizontal trunk was then cut off, leaving a rounded knob. . . . Read Complete report/w photos
Learn More of this amazing story with lots of photos @: Trail Tree Project
