Margranen - spruce or pine?

The last day on Kökar. When we woke up there was a thick fog hanging over the island. The air temperature was +1°C, so it has got a lot warmer just in a couple of days.

After breakfast I suggested to Timo that we'd go to the Sundberg's field were a strange tree, Margranen, grows. When you look at the tree from distance it looks like a pine tree, but when you get closer you can see that it is a spruce.

Most spruces are planted on Kökar, and there are not many of them, but not this one. There has been a lot of studies of this tree and it said to be over two hundred years old.

I have had a couple of adventures going to Margranen, of which the most thrilling was in April 2009. I travelled alone at that time to Kökar and as I had been introduced to the tree once before I wanted to go there again.

It is about an hours walk there, because it is not possible to drive a car on that road. It was a sunny, but chilly spring day and the birds were singing wonderfully. I felt no worries, even if I was aware of that I was not alone.

There are a lot of elks, deers, foxes and a large variety of birdlife on Kökar. So when walking around on this island with very little population (under 300 people), you have to be very careful not to do anything stupid because there might not be anyone around to help you.

So walking to Margranen with my camera I suddenly spotted a big animal in the middle of the road right in front of me. We both stopped abruptly and stared at each other. I was absolutely sure that it was a wolf.

My heart started racing and I called Johnny, to ask what I should do. He said to me that I should start walking very slowly towards it. I was talking all the time to Johnny. My mind said that this is absolutely crazy but I did as Johnny had said to me.

So walking slowly towards the "wolf" I started to photograph it. As I was about 20 meters from the "wolf" it lay down on the road. That was it for me, I said to Johnny that now I think I will faint or die. Johnny asked me to turn around slowly and start walking away.

As I had been walking for about 300 meters I turned around, and when I realized that the "wolf" had been following me all the way I thought I should start praying. I was only a meter from my legs. I stood there on the spot waiting for Johnny. I don't know how long I stood there but when Johnny arrived he only could point out that it was a very big wolf dog.

I had got such a huge adrenalin rush of this incident that I had a lot of energy the rest of the day. It was not a nice experience, but afterwards I can look at it in an other perspective.

Always when I walk on the road to Margranen I remember the meeting with the "wolf".

Here is a video of me wading to Margranen and photographing the tree.