Photos of the Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park by Kozmic Dreams

My Photography of

the Largest Maple in Hines Park

(and other scenic views of Hines Park)

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Below are photos of one of my favorite trees, the huge maple along Hines Drive. I have been photographing it at least once per fall since 2009. Photos appear in reverse chronological order.

September 30, 2020

I had wondered why this tree has been in decline since I first started photographing it. I thought it was just old and near its end, but I now believe that herbicides are causing its demise.

This spring, Lyle was vomiting from just laying on the lawn; Don the Spadefoot nearly died from exercising in the moss garden and was covered in skin lesions; every single tree, shrub, plant, flower, moss variety, groundcover, etc. in my yard was either damaged or killed; and even my houseplants suffered damage and death, some which I've had for 10-20 years! Some of the damage could be timed with neighboring properties' application of commercial turf spray which caused many plants to die within days, but some plants seemed to continually decline all summer long without an obvious spraying event.

I began noticing this kind of damage to plants and trees and even certain grasses throughout all of southeastern Michigan and I started researching the situation. I was shocked to learn that the common weed-killers (herbicides) we've been told "stick" to the grass and are safe when dry actually continue to volatize (evaporate into the air as gases) for many days and are carried in the wind for miles, landing on non-target vegetation. Toxic, cancer-causing herbicides such as glyphosate, dicamba and 2,4-D are commonly used in turf sprays and airplane-sprayed GMO crop fields (particularly corn and soy which have been genetically modified to be resistant to specific herbicides). I found multiple articles describing damage from herbicide drift in other states, even right in the middle of cities!

Even a small amount of volatized herbicide can kill a tree because after landing on the leaves, these herbicides are absorbed into the vascular system of the tree and circulate within the whole tree, weakening it and making it more susceptible to disease. This poor maple is not only suffering from the drift of turf spray used all along the sides of Hines Drive, but is likely having spray applied right onto the grass covering its roots. No wonder it's dying! This time, on my walk to the tree, almost all the vegetation exhibited signs of herbicide damage, some of which I documented in photos.

Here are photos of the tree. It lost another large branch which can be seen to the right of the tree.

There was an animal hole near the base of the tree, likely a groundhog.

The first photo below shows a close-up of the lost branch.

Even the tiny tree growing on/in the maple has leaves exhibiting herbicide damage.

Some of the leaves in these photos show herbicide damage. The curling of leaves is a common indicator. While leaves may curl after falling if they are very dry, they should never be curled up while still attached to the tree, as can be seen in the third and fourth rows below.

I was glad to see a few ant lion funnels by the base of the tree.

This set of photos was taken on the way to the tree from the Nankin Lake lot. It was hard to show the damage to the trees in the first row, but they did not look like healthy oaks and willows.

This set of photos was taken on the way back and shows herbicide damage to multiple trees, shrubs and plants.

I don't think I've ever seen a fungus quite like this. It was growing right in the grass near the riverbank.

My favorite graffiti guy was still under the bridge, but someone had added a halo and a tag.

More herbicide damage along the riverbank.

This poor buttonbush was a mess.

Damage to unknown plant and trees across the road. The pine has lost many of the needles on its lower branches, likely from the volatizing herbicide being sprayed along the road edges and onto its roots.

The oak trees were in very bad shape.

This is the other maple I've been photographing over the years which is usually brilliantly colored at the same time as the big maple.

October 18, 2019

Just like last year, I had hoped to photograph the tree several days earlier, but it was rainy and windy, so I ended up here on the same date as last year, October 18th. When I drove past the tree, I saw that a large branch had broken in the recent wind. It would have looked terrible for the photo shoot because it was still attached to the tree. The little driveway was closed again this year, so I had to park a mile away at the Nankin Lake lot and walk there. By the time I arrived at the tree, there was a man sawing the fallen branch. His name was Tobin. It turned out he made walking sticks and had also been admiring this tree for many years. He was seizing the opportunity to get a piece of the freshly fallen branch from this magical tree to make his next walking stick. I was grateful Tobin was there because he was able to get the broken branch to come down all the way so we could move it off to the side. These photos would not have looked as nice without his help.

Here are the photos I took on the way to the Tree fro the Nankin Lake lot. The other smaller maple tree had beautiful coloration today. There was a very large dragonfly in the grass on the other side of the road just before I crossed over to the Tree.

These were taken on the way back to the lot.

October 18, 2018

I had hoped to photograph the tree several days earlier, but it was windy and cloudy for the previous three days. The top branches were a bit sparse, but the tree did have some nice color this year, and some parts were still green.

The close parking spot along the little back road was closed, so I parked at the Nankin Lake lot and walked to the tree. Here is a colorful maple near that lot on the way to the tree.

This graffiti art under the overpass at Wayne Road that I last photographed in 2014, and first photographed in 2012, is still there! The other photo is Nankin Lake past the lot to the east.

September 23, 2017

It has been a very hot week, in the 90's! Many trees suddenly started changing color. The big maple has lost many of its leaves already, but unfortunately is not very brightly colored this year. I was excited to see several ant lion tunnels at the base of the tree.

October 14, 2016

October 7, 2015

October 8, 2014

October 5, 2014

September 28, 2014

October 14, 2013

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 4, 2012

Well, unfortunately, I missed the tree in it's peak of glory. I checked on it 9 days ago, and it was still totally green, so I thought I had some time. Apparently, it must have changed rapidly and lost its leaves quickly. A lot of the trees seem to be changing color early this year. In 2009, the color was peaking around October 9th---this year, the tree has almost lost all its leaves by October 4th. This time, I also took photos with my pocket camera, which provides a wider angle view. I first arrived at about 3:30 p.m. and realized that I'd forgotten to put the battery back in my good camera, so I could only take photos with the pocket camera.

I returned about an hour later with the good camera (and working battery). The lighting had changed quite drastically in that hour, and I prefer my photos from earlier. The ones below were with the pocket camera.

Here are my photos with the good camera.

I drove to the Nankin Lake parking lot and walked west for a bit. I found a trail that went by the water for a short distance. Then I walked along the hike/bike trail.

Now I am on the way back. The lighting had changed (it was less sunny).

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 1, 2011

Sadly, this year, it appears that the tree is diseased. Some branches had no leaves at all, and large chunks of the tree had fallen to the ground (I was a little afraid standing under it on such a windy day). The soil was not very sandy this time, and I did not see any ant lions, as I found last year. I did, however see some mushrooms growing way up high on one of the branches.

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 9, 2010

Of course I had to photograph my favorite local tree again this year. The tree has fully changed color in these photos and about half have already fallen. Last year at this time, it still had green leaves. These photos were taken around noon. While I was walking around under the tree, I discovered that there were some ant lions living there! I haven't seen those in 20 years!

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 25, 2009

This is now my third photography shoot of this special tree (others are directly below). It has lost nearly all of its leaves by this point. This time, I brought a measuring tape. Brian and I determined it to be about 165" in circumference as measured about one yard up from the ground. That is nearly 14 feet around!!!

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 18, 2009

I couldn't resist going back to take more photos of this tree (the others are below this entry). On this day, the tree is photographed with the sun higher in the sky, as it was only about 2:30 p.m. Brian came with me and took the photo of me standing by the tree. I really wanted the viewer to be able to see how large this tree truly is. I honestly did not know a maple tree could grow this big until I found this one. It was funny because when we arrived, we had to wait for some people on a motorcycle that had stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of this same tree.

In the photo of me and the tree, I am holding a maple leaf in my left hand and it seems to glow in that small spot of sunlight. The leaf is not from this tree, but was found along the road on the walk to the tree. One might think that a large tree would have large leaves, but actually, this tree had smaller leaves than many maple trees I've seen.

The Largest Maple Tree in Hines Park, October 13, 2009

This gorgeous maple tree is located on the north side of Hines Drive, just east of the Levan Knoll pull-off. I have driven past it so many times and always thought it was an oak tree because it was so large. I don't know of any maple trees in this area that have gotten this big. This year, I decided I would try to photograph it when its leaves changed color. It was one of the first trees in the area to transform into a brilliant display of color. There has been some pretty lousy weather lately, and more of it was in the forecast. On this particular Tuesday, it was supposed to be partly cloudy and about 55 degrees, so I brought my camera to work so that I could get a few pictures of it on my way home. These were taken at around 4:30 p.m. I never really pictured my first visit to this tree like this---I thought that I would surely have someone to accompany me. This is now the second time I have taken photos in Hines Park by myself. Both times, it was actually very enjoyable. The walk to this tree is a bit dangerous though. There are several curves and cars tend to go over onto the shoulder a bit. This tree is so large that I had to take the full view photos from across the road. When I arrived at the tree, it was more special than I realized. For one, it was a maple tree. It also had a nice tufty sort of grass growing around by its roots (and even within its roots). There was a wild rose growing to the left of the tree. The ground was nice and dry since the tree was on a hill. There were small pieces of bark and twigs covering the entire area under the tree. Even though it rained yesterday, I was able to lie on the ground without getting wet in order to get some of these photos. The last four photos are of an area with smaller maple trees that I passed on the walk back to the truck. When I arrived home that night, I also photographed a nice sunset in the backyard.

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