The Wonderland Trail

I've been pretty lazy all summer, and now that I have one week left before school, I am bound for an adventure that has been on my mind for a few years now. The Wonderland Trail. It circumnavigates the 14, 410 foot icon of Washington State, Mt. Rainier. With a total of 93 miles, this trail weaves up and down through rugged glacial deposit terrain, ancient fog soaked forests, and the key to every outdoor enthusiasts heart. I've worked two summers on the mountain, first at Sunrise and secondly at Paradise. I have explored several portions of the trail and even summited the mountain four times. I've never had enough time to backpack this trail until now. Whereas the majority of people backpack it in ten to twelve days, I will be backpacking it in six. That means, on average, I will be hiking fifteen miles a day. Also, since I've hiked a lot of this trail, I don't want to take it leisurely. My grandma Jean will be meeting me at the Longmire Lodge half way through. She will be bringing me my food supplies for the rest of the trip.

Johnson's Hairstreak

Consider yourself lucky if you see this butterfly. Endemic to the Pacific Northwest, Johnson's Hairstreak spends most of its life in the canopy of old-growth forests, specifically in pines where the mistletoe parasite also makes its home. Johnson's Hairstreak lays its eggs in the mistletoe where the the larvae then eat the new shoots. Once they are strong enough to venture off, they look for mates and collect their nectar from a variety of plants. Unfortunately their numbers are thought to be declining due to the logging of old-growth forests, development, and other factors.

As I bask in the new rays of the June sunshine I know that these butterflies are also taking in the sun, fluttering their way through the tree tops of whats left of our old-growth forests. And wherever you find your "wings" taking you, I know it is someplace magnificent. May I suggest stopping awhile and watching the life going on around you. Each with their purpose in life, living and dying, unselfishly making room for another life to begin.

And just as the sun begins and ends, on this day my independent contract ends and my summer begins. With my newly gained tree climbing skills I plan to venture into many tree tops. I plan to also partake in some smaller tasks in life I've been meaning to incorporate. Tasks such as knitting, or charcoal drawing, reading a good book, jump roping, backpacking, and making jewelry. Will keep ya posted!

Little Water Bear vs. Dancing Gummy Bear

Close up of a Water Bear

"Strange is this little animal, because of its exceptional and strange morphology and because it closely resembles a bear en miniature. That is the reason why I decided to call it little water bear."

J.A.E. Goeze (Pastor at St. Blasii, Quedlinburg, Germany), 1773

Photo by Eny Yusnizar

"The original dancing bear was taller and thinner than the chubby little bear of today, but became immediately popular among the children of Bonn."

Paul a. Schons, The Millionaire and His Candy 2003

Tree Spirits

As he dangled in the air, a small breeze gently rocked his tree boat against the oak limb beneath him. It too dangled from his saddle as he stared at the rope system in front of him and the webbing used to attach one end of the tree boat to the sturdy oak trunk. I rested and watched as fellow student Hallow put the knowledge we learned into use. Here we were in Oregon City, Oregon to learn advance tree climbing skills with Tim Kovar, New Tribe.

The tree climbing was done on a beautiful farm with green grassy hills and groves of Oak, Cedar, and Douglas-fir trees. Hallow drove down from Canada and I from the Seattle area. The first day I arrived we set up our tree boats and hung out in them. Later on that night we climbed up into our tree boats again and looked up at the bright stars as the frogs below talked amongst themselves. The tree climbs spread out in front of me like thick veins. They pulsed with energy and life all awhile being still and content with the passing moons.

Hanging out with the Licorice Ferns

This weekend a few friends and I went to a trail called Mt. Si in the Cascade mountains. We went about one mile up the trail then went off trail to find a tree to climb. The main canopy is made up of tall Douglas-fir trees with branches that start at least 90 feet in the sky. A more appropriate tree for climbing was a Big Leaf Maple. Once I found a good tree I set the rope up and the required knots for DRT. After giving a demonstration and setting each person up, they got to wiggle their way up to where the Licorice Ferns were dangling off the branches. I'm going to "go out on a limb here" and assume they had a pretty good time.


Tomorrow I will be driving down to Portland to learn more about tree climbing with Tim Kovar through Tree Climbing Northwest. http://www.newtribe.com/tcnt.htm
I will be there for four days and look forward to spending more time in the trees!

  

Marbled Murrelet

       Picture this, a monogamous pair of Marbled Murrelet’s just spent several years out at sea and on this special day they traveled over 70 kilometers of ocean and land to the temperate forests of Washington State. Flying into an old-growth forest that has been there for centuries, is now completely gone. They glance over at the secondary forest nearby but this habitat doesn’t work. The young branches of the Douglas fir tree are not broad or tall enough to hold a variety of epiphytes that could protect their single egg from predators. The couple flies onward, in search of a suitable home to raise their chick. This scenario has potentially happened to several Marbled Murrelet’s. Logging and development are the major causes of this unique species numbers to drop, placing it in the endangered category.

Marbled Murrelet's, Brachyramphus marmoratus, spend most of their lives out at sea but when it's time to nest, the pair heads into the woods in search of that perfect place to lay a single egg.They are small birds, roughly the size of a robin and a challenge to research in the large trees of old-growth forests therefore most research takes place at the ocean. For a sound recording and/or video of this bird visit Cornell's wonderful Lab of Ornithology website at http://macaulaylibrary.org/index.do.


Photo courtesy of: San Fransisco State University



Lettuce Lichen



Photo by Daniel Mathews


If you live in the Pacific Northwest you've probably seen me before. I kind of look like a piece of lettuce or maybe a lung so people call me Lettuce Lichen or Lung Lichen. My scientific name is Lobaria oregana and I am the largest in my family. I like to be in areas where there is a lot of water and I can hang out on the branches of trees. When the wind gets really gusty you can find me on the ground waiting to decompose and provide nitrogen to the soil. I pride myself in playing a key role in this ecosystem because I am a nitrogen fixer. I take nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into ammonia which then other plants can use to grow and thrive. Pretty cool huh!?

Las Mariposas

There were several of them chasing each other, fluttering around as if playing tag. One or two would disappear then all of them would gather, twirling with the light breeze, dancing up the current towards the pale blue sky. I watched them dance as I safely sat in my saddle, sixty feet in the sky. I was grounded to a huge Red Oaks armpit. Just half an hour ago those same butterflies were dancing in my stomach as I perched up on one of the largest arms of "Rosie." I took a deep breath and logically thought about my situation. I was safe, the knots were good and I wasn't going anywhere.

After watching those butterflies I got to do a bit of my own dancing in the sky. With one big push off the main trunk my body was propelled backwards, I spun slightly to do a 360 turn to land back at the trunk with my feet.

I adore this painting above by Jaime Jose, it is called El vuelo de las mariposas, The flight of the butterflies. In a way we are all made up of a bunch of small butterflies. Maybe their trying to go up towards the sky, and into our minds they go. Sometimes they get a little anxious and flurry around, running into each other causing chaos. And like this woman in this painting shows, she breaths, calming the flurry, and in turn helping those butterflies to perch and rest.  

Hmmmm

"Are you ADHD?" Peter Treeman Jenkin's asks me. He asks because he thought most tree climber's were. My reply was, no, I really don't think so. But how would I know? What is ADHD? I picture kids with tons of energy running around crazily, unable to focus on one task. So I took a test and would you believe it, I scored a moderate level of adhd. Granted some of the questions were vague but they were questions based on behavioural characteristics and a few of them hit home. A few observations such as, "Concentrates better when moving or fidgeting, has increased anxiety or nervousness, is restless or in constant motion, is always on the "go." On the go.......HMMMM that sounds familiar!

I'm on the go, go, go, all the time, time, time! I just got back from Argentina, now I'm in Atlanta, Georgia and people ask me, what's next? I usually think I'm going to do some sort of silly non-realistic "relaxing" but the last time I said that, look where it brought me.

Tree Man

Either way, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here in Georgia dangling from a, I believe Peter said, a Southern Sugar Maple Tree. In the first part of the morning we practiced the Double Rope Technique (DRT) which is a series of several knots. Then I practiced some line throwing and in the afternoon I was shimmying my way up into the tree. The tree is on their property in front of the house where guests can stay for the low  price of $45 a night.

I'm pretty tired now and need to get to bed. I can only imagine tomorrow my muscles will be sore and my head already hurts a little from all the information I'm soaking in. When I got into the tree I set up two more pitches, a way to progress further up into the tree. I then set up a downward pitch to get out of the tree. Peter had me learn these methods because I will be climbing taller trees than the maple and have to learn how to work with the different pitches. Peter designs his program based around an individuals needs. Very patient, helpful, and funny, Peter is a better instructor (and person at that) than I ever imagined. His wife Patty does a lot of the behind the scenes work and is also a genuinely good person with a passion for the outdoors.

I have another full day tomorrow and will be joining Peter afterwards to a residential home to inspect hazardous trees. This will be after climbing all day for eight hours. Lovin' it! Stay posted mis amigos!