The Boundary

Olympic National Park Boundary (Clearwater Headwaters), a photo by wild trees on Flickr.

It's been along time since I posted anything. I'm working on a project to map and photograph all of the remnant stands of old-growth on WA DNR lands on the Olympic Peninsula. It's been a busy summer of driving the gravel roads of the OESF and photographing some beautiful trees. The project is just getting started, but here's a photo that shows a little bit of the wilderness that is still out there, some of it relatively intact.

North Fork of the Skokomish

Beaver Burn, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.

Skokomish.  The North Fork.  It's not really a river name that rolls off the tongue.  "The North Fork of the Skokomish" doesn't quite have the same ring as the Elwha or Solduc.  And you can't really say Skokomish without specifying, because the other Skokomish, the South Fork, just isn't quite the same.  Something about Simpson Timber, the Forest Service and logging.  Or some such.  I guess they cut down a bunch of trees over that-away.  But the North Fork?  Above the lake it's ridge to ridge old-growth.  Amazing trees, big trees, old trees.  Wild trees.  In this photo you can see clearly see the impact of man on this landscape:  the dammed river in the center, the clear-cut beyond, the big light green spot from the burn started by some moron and their campfire.  And yet, this place is still wild.  A huge expanse of wilderness, the domain of bears, elk and cougar, where a few humans have the privilege to walk next to a river that still jumps its' banks and below trees that pre-date Columbus.

At Treeline

Mt. Anderson in the distance, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.
What?  No trees?  This photo of the upper part of Cameron Creek, looking across Cameron Basin to Mt. Anderson in the distance shows how trees respond when the snow gets deep.  They grow wide -- and short.  There a couple mountain hemlocks in this photo, but each has about ten different tops, as the tree gets broken down and then grows a new leader in that particular space.  This photo, looking inward to snowy peaks -- in August -- seems fitting as we end February on a cold note.

Tsuga Mertensiana

Tsuga Mertensiana, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.
There is something very special about Tsuga mertensiana (mountain hemlock).  Of course, it's probably fare to say that I would say there is something special about nearly every tree, but as a species, Tsuga m. is especially striking.  They grow in some of most weather exposed places, and yet attain relatively large sizes given how slowly they grow.  Standing as they often do on cliffs and deep ravines, they are ravaged by wind, buried in snow and brushed by avalanche.  To me, this gives them each a different personality, there's something different about each one you meet.  This particular fellow is just protected from the windward side of this ridge, but the broken top is evidence of the power of the winter wind.  I look forward to visiting here again soon, in late summer when the berries are ripe and evidence of the many feet of snow that surely cover this slope has melted.

Wild Black Bear

Black Bear, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.
I've met a lot of bears.  My first bear I met on the North Fork of the Skokomish, a scared kid of nineteen on his first backpack -- and first solo backpack at that.  Over the years I've met bears young and old; scared, curious and indifferent; on trails, up trees, on snow and in rivers.  I treasure every experience, every encounter.  I've followed bear tracks through snow-covered cirque after cirque, finding the trail by trusting Ursus americanus to lead the way.

This bear I met in the South Fork drainage of Kimta Creek.  An amazing place, wild with elk, with berries, steep and open in places, covered in ancient Tsuga mertensiana in others.  Walking along, thinking, feeling, smelling the wild Olympic air, and suddenly this guy, appearing out of the bushes.  I had time for a quick photo, no adjustments, and I think of all my bear photographs this one captures the essence of a wild bear the best.  I'm grateful to have experienced that moment, to have met this fellow and to have stood in his presence. 

Where Sky and Trees Meet

Mist on the Old-Growth, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.
Alta Creek.  You've probably never heard of it.  A wild stream that flows through deep, dark forest from tree covered peaks to the flat bottoms of the Queets.  There's something very special about this place:  it's in the fog capital of the Olympics.  Does that mean it's in the fog capital of the West?  Surely the Olympic Peninsula is a place where fog finds its' ultimate expression, where the mists of summer reach a profound beauty and the mists of winter blot out the sun.

 This photo was taken from near the top of Kimta peak.  The fog streaming in from the coast, the sun setting over the rising bank.  I sat and watched this happen with awe, with wonder in my soul.  I still feel the emotion of that day, being moved by the beauty of the light, the droplets of water vapor streaming through the air and refracting the light.  It was a privilege to see, to be in that place at that moment... this photograph brings me back, reminds me of the rough bark of Tsuga mertensiana, the sparkling green of newly damped needles waving goodbye to the long summer day.

Chiricahua Juniper

Chiricahua Muse, a photo by wild trees on Flickr.
Juniper.  One of my favorite types of trees, and this particular tree, one of my favorite individuals.  Juniper, wonder tree of the west, 'useless' for timber, these beauties cut for fence posts and rails and little else.  This particular tree grows within Chiricahua National Monument, on a trail called the Inspiration Point trail (how many trails are there with that name in National Parks?).  Looking out from the rhyolite flow that terminates in balanced rocks and cliffs, you see a biological wonderland, full of geological oddities, endemic species and, stopping to listen, one of the most biologically rich bird populations in the United States.  Thankfully this place is not a National Park, or it would be better known...