Day 7

Cedar Lake Campsite

Campsite Pt. 2

An early sunny morning started off day seven.  We were quick about breaking camp (well quicker at least) and hit the trail right away.  Prof. Billo mentioned that seeing Black Bears was very possible but sadly, we didn’t see any.  The trail hopped from meadow to meadow and it was very beautiful.  These were filled with white flowers called White Fawn Lily that arise only where snow was before.  We noticed clawed up bark and Prof. Billo mentioned that this was from starved black bears removing the bark to eat the sap of these trees.  The do this because when they first awake from hibernation there is usually still snow on the ground preventing any foraging from berry bushes.  Even though we saw no bears it was very neat to see these claw marks sporadically throughout this descent.  The bears are hiding but definitely very present.  

Crossing the meadows 

Can't get much more beautiful

Climbing over felled trees

Hungry bear want sap from tree...want sap now

The going was fairly easy.  Eventually, we retraced our steps back to the same trail we had trekked only a few days earlier.  This time we made sure to enjoy the old growth section of the forest.  We spread out and allowed ourselves solo space to take the forest in.  The trees were indescribably majestic and I found myself tripping constantly looking up at them.  I noticed that Douglas Firs tend to have curves in their growth while Mountain Hemlocks were almost perfectly straight.  Perhaps this is due to the difference in growth rates of these two species.  Douglas Firs grow fast and may bend in search of best sunspots or in response to ground disturbances.  Hemlocks grow much slower and steadily.  Maybe this slower, far steadier growth keeps these trees from developing curves.  I cannot say though.

A Douglas Fir next to Hemlock notice the curve of the Doug vs. the straightness of the Hemlock

The canopy of the old growth section

Retracing our path was pleasant and the hike felt short since we knew where we were going.  In no time we were back at Three Rivers campsite.  We built a fire and Anren lead a brief but very good discussion about wilderness preserves and how cultures view them.  He used a preserve from his home country, Singapore, as an example.  He said that despite being in the center of the city-state this large preserve is generally not used very much.  It does not have many animals.  The preserves used to contain tigers but these were all exterminated.  He mentioned that while Singapore generally likes nature it is not protected the same way it is in the US.  The citizens of Singapore also do not use their preserves for recreation and the main use of these areas is for military exercises.  All of this was very interesting especially since Singapore is basically entirely urbanized.  Finally, Anren described these preserves and even our own parks as basically gigantic zoos without the bars or exotic species.  There is a lot of truth in this statement and I believe that it is unfortunate how isolated these Parks are especially Olympic Park.  A more gradual border would be an improvement to this isolation.  Extended sections to national forests and other parks would greatly improve the situation but I think baby steps are far more reasonable.  The amount of resistance is heavy from neighboring communities to the park so any change would probably have to be small at first.

Around the fire last night in the wilderness

Everyone then reminisced our favorite moments about the trip.  Mary had her birthday today and we celebrated with tiny bottles of honey whisky.  Spirits were high and everyone had lots of positive things to say. 

Anren’s knee was hurting badly again and I promised him that I would carry all of his heavy items tomorrow.  I opted out of reading that night and decided to just go to bed so that I would be ready for the extra weight.