Discovering The Tree Canopy

How I Learned To See On The Mass Pike

My first view of the canopy was from the right hand lane of Interstate 90, the longest east-west Interstate connecting Seattle with Boston’s Logan Airport. However, locally the part between Logan and the New York border is known as the Massachusetts Turnpike, or more commonly as the Mass Pike.

What I discovered was that viewing trees from the height of the tree canopy (or above) yet close to the canopy was a revelation, and a rare one at that.

My first encounter was much like that of the first image in this gallery (and in the slide show) and my reaction was literally phyaical, what I describe as butterflys and with that came the feeling that I absolutely had to photograph these trees followed by the realization that this would be from the breakdown lane of a busy, multi-lane highway.

My initial reaction was that his was impossible and I spent time driving around the area to see if there was another way, but there was not. However, I also decided that parking in the breakdown lane was too risky. But I was lucky.

What I now call the Weston Overlook was a few hundred feet from an entrance to the Pike and there was a place to get my car off the road a few hundred feet from the overlook. So, time to get up early and shoot.

The short hike was either in the breakdown lane or at the top of a steep slope with less that a foot to walk on.