|
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment