You bend down to examine the ground around the tree more closely.

How odd. It's not that the dirt footpath dips down at all; the tree is simply growing over it (and into it, roots and all). But this is a big tree, clearly decades old. So why is there no sign of trampling down of the grass and foliage on either side of the tree? For there is none, none at all. The footpath does, however, continue away from the tree on the other side. It's just that there is no piece of the footpath to the side of the tree.

Do people take such care with this part of the path that nothing is trampled? Or does everyone simply go over the tree instead of around it? What a humorous thought.

You see no sign that anything around the tree has recently been replanted, in a fashion that could cover up an existing section of the footpath. Nor does the bark of the tree show any scuffing or damage from climbers that you can detect. Although, come to think of it, you are not really sure what kind of tree this is. It isn't flowering, that's for sure.

Ah well, this must just be one of life's mysteries. You stand back up and commence trying to push through the brush around the large tree, without stepping on the pretty purple flowers that grow here and there.