Where you find gnarled and stunted tamarack and black spruce, you are likely standing on a patch of muskeg. (The Canadian Encyclopedia) As the linked website explains, muskeg is not singularly defined. In the bottom picture we see a thicker, more robust forest growing on muskeg ground. Picture two below shows the spongecake-like quality of a frozen piece broken loose by the tractor's blade.
Muskeg is a boggy wetland in summer months and even on very cold winter days water can seep to the surface when the top layer of snow and frost is removed. This can be seen in picture three below. The temperature was below -30C that day.
