Sometime, life takes you places you weren’t planning to go, and it turns out really great, like the hiking adventure I had a few weekends ago. I had planned to go on a hike in Livermore to the largest falls around with a group. The leader of the group was forced to cancel due to injury, and I decided taking a 12 mile hike by myself in an unfamiliar area, and most likely without any cell phone reception, wasn’t a great idea. So it was with excitement that I found a different hike to join the next day, to Sam McDonald Park in Pescadero.
Our guide was Steve, in yellow, a gregarious and knowledgeable guide. Not only did I learn a lot, I retained a lot also, so I remember a lot of the reasons why I took some of these photos, not just to show how beautiful nature is, but also as kind of a series of lecture notes to share. Marc, shown with Steve, also brought a camera, yet when Steve saw us both he focussed on my Leica and said “You’re a photographer, you’re going to take lots of pictures.” I’m not sure if he read my Meetup profile, or just guessed based on the equipment I brought, yet he was right I took a lot.
One thing we learned was that a tree like this below, with it branches pointing up is nicknamed a wolf tree. It is almost never harvested for lumber because branches like this make it much less usable and valuable.
Later in the hike we saw other wolf trees. This one really stood out.
The park is named for the man who helped save it. Sam McDonald loved trees and helped by part of the forest, and helped raise awareness among residents so this amazing resource was not cut down. When a tree is to be cut down, a blue X is put at its base (so it can later be verified that the right trees were chopped). You can still see pieces of blue Xs here and there of trees that owe their lives to Sam.
Since I knew I would be in a no cell phone area (so my iPhone GPS would be useless) I budgeted a lot of getting lost time, ended up taking one huge wrong turn, yet still got to the park very early. I decided to eat my food as a pre-hike snack instead of a lunch (less grease on my camera, and I was very hungry), when I spotted a large grey creature run by. So, later I told this to Steve and called it a wolf. He told me wolves were extinct in the area, and that I probably saw a silver fox. Still, he made wolf jokes a lot of the way.
Based on that, when I told Marc that I saw a face like shape in the moss of a tree, I shouldn’t have been surprised when Steve overhead and said, “Oh, really Danielle, a face?” Still, I held my ground, and even Steve had to admit this looked quite facelike.
We also learned about mushrooms, quite a lot, as Steve studies them. We learned about ones that would be used as a tea, as gum, as food, etc. This one here, which sort of resembles a gummy bear consistency is edible, though of course all plant life in this park is protected and just for viewing.
As it turns out, it was a whole day of getting lost. Somehow, we lost our way and had to choose between a different trail back, and the highway. We chose the highway. Near the end of our journey I was struck by the textures and colors and just had to take this shot.
Steve waited for me to do so, then showed me a special tree with a great message. This tree is growing up from the roots and nutrients of the dead tree who came before it. Steve was just amazed by how this tree set up space where one tree could not or did not survive and thrived. I thought it was a beautiful message, also.
This last shot is another special one for Steve. A particular mushroom species nicknamed artist table, is dried and carved on by artists. The mushrooms are very sturdy and hold the patterns well. Steve said this was the youngest whitest one he’d ever seen and would also make a great photo. I had a wonderful time on my hike, got some good exercise and some unique photos. IN hindsight this was the best hike I could take that day.
by Danielle Stolman
no comments