More on Medallion Trees

 A couple of years ago I wrote about Medallion Trees in the Sandia Mountains. Last week, I went on a hike on which I came across four more medallions. 

Medallion trees have an aluminum or brass or steel washer attached to them. These medallions are about 1½ to 2 inches in diameter and cover a hole where a core sample was taken. The core sample helped determine the germination date, or GD of the tree. Whoever took the sample then found an historic event that corresponded with that date and stamped in on the medallion. Some of the medallions include other information, including the type of tree.  No one knows who created the medallion trees, or if they do, they aren't sharing that information. There are at least 84 medallion trees in the Sandias, although the numbering on some of the medallions suggest that there used to be over 100.

The hike I was on went along a trail that is sometimes called the North Faulty Trail and sometimes called the Mystery Trail. Like the medallions, no one knows who blazed this trail that begins near the Doc Long Picnic area and goes all the way to Sandia Man Cave. The trail is well traveled and well cared for despite the fact that the Forest Service does not recognize it or maintain it. It is one of the more level of the trails in the Sandias, which made it a good one to pick while I trained to walk along Hadrian's Wall, and event I've planned for June 2025. 

The first tree I came across was the Grimms Fairy Tales Tree. Marked as #126, this ponderosa pine had a germination date of 1812. The tree is named for the publication of Grimm's Fairy Tales, a book of German folktales compiled by Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) Grimm, two academic brothers who collected stories from the people. Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White are all part of this collection. 

A little father along the path I came to a tree with a medallion that identified it as the Edward VI King of

England Tree. The medallion on this pinyon pine included no additional information, but a website says that this is tree #43 and the medallion was places in 1999, so I wonder if this is a replacement medallion. The website also had a GD of circa 1556.  Edward VI was the only surviving son of Henry VIII. Born to Henry's third wife, Jane Seymour, Edward became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547, when he was only nine years old. The first English monarch to be raised as a Protestant, he died in 1553. 

The Edward VI tree was a little bit off the trail, down a rather steep slope that was covered with dangerous stones that could roll away underfoot. The difficulty of the short walk is what prevented me from getting a good picture of the medallion that was on the Bloody Mary Tree. This pinyon pine was just a stone throw's away. This tree, marked as #44, also has data that was put on the tree in 1999. Also known as Mary I or Mary Tudor, she was the half sister of Edward VI, so it is fitting that their trees stand close to each other. Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558, she tried to bring Great Britain back into the Catholic fold. 

The final tree I saw on my hike was the Anne Boleyn Beheaded Tree. This tree has a GD or somewhere around ~1536,  and is tree #99. Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII, and the mother of Queen Elizabeth. She was beheaded in 1536, after which Henry married Jane Seymour. 

If you only knew about these trees, you might assume that most are tied in with British history. This isn't really the case.

Who created the medallion trees is a mystery. So is who created the North Faulty Trail. While I may not know who these intrepid and interesting people are, I am grateful for the work they have done in the Sandia Mountains, for they've made the world a more interesting place in which to roam.