Kanaskat, day 4 morning

June, 2018

Shiver me timbers, yet another walk in the woods?!

Well, if you’re bored with the woods, then you’re following the wrong blog.  I love the woods!  I also love the ocean and its beaches, rivers and lakes, and the desert, and birds, and the sky.  But I really do love the woods.

But for those of you who might be a little tired of the woods, my next camping destination is going to be a state park right on the edge of the Pacific Ocean … so stay tuned.  But for now here at Kanaskat, I’m heading back into the deep, rich forest for another meandering morning.

I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for almost all of my life (except for about 1 year when I was a little kid in Fargo, ND, and then for about 6 years as a little bit older kid in the Philippine Islands).  In all the years since then, I have lived exclusively in Washington and Oregon (mostly Washington), and I swear I’ve never really looked at a tree trunk like the one in the photo above.  It looks like the roots start several feet above ground … all of those conduits of energy and food, all bundled together, and yet each one separate and different from the others and yet all of them working together.

Foxglove (above), digitalis purpurea, so common here in the Pacific Northwest, is actually native to western Europe, western and central Asia, and northwestern Africa … and is not native to the PNW.  Various extracts from the plant (digitalis, digitoxin, digitalin, et al.) have been used extensively in modern medicine, although recent tests have proven a link between such use and mortality rates in women.  The plant by itself is toxic to all animals, including humans.  The flowers sure are pretty tho.

I took the photo above because one of the Rangers happened along while I was sitting by the river.  She talked with me about the current and rocks and shoals and various methods of running the river, then she pointed to the middle of the river and said, “do you see that large rock?”  I said, “a rock?  no, I see water.”  She said, “look again, and look for the color change.”  That’s when I saw the rock!

The LARGE rock is just below the surface of the river water, just a tad more yellow than the river water around it, and it would hang up your kayak or drift boat big time if you didn’t read the river correctly to avoid it.  That rock could rip open your boat and sink it in a matter of seconds.

The Ranger told me that it’s not just a matter of the speed of the water, but these hidden rocks and shoals, and the ice cold water, that create such danger for the inexperienced boater on the river.

The Ranger then moved on along the gravel edge of the river and I was left to ponder new thoughts about new things.

What a handsome tree!  And look at those roots!  When the river water level is high earlier in the spring, it washes all around tree roots and washes away the dirt.  I began to imagine this tree might just scuttle away like a crab or a spider.  Who knows?  Maybe when no one is watching, it does!

Ok, let’s get away from the creepy crawly riverside tree and get back into the peaceful and serene woods.  🙂

But … even here, something didn’t feel right.  When a tree falls, does it release some sort of energy?

Oh oh!  Look at the trail ahead and look at the stump of that dead tree in the photo below.  It’s a face.  Is it still alive?  Will it turn and look at me?!  How do I get past it?  I was getting a little spooked.

I dared to get closer.  Even up close, it was still a face … a serious and sad face, and a troubled and angry face.  I thought I’d best be moving on.

I quickened my steps along the trail to put that behind me.  And yet the woods around me still felt ominous.  I sped up a bit more.  What’s lurking around the next bend?  A bear?  A cougar?  (They do live here, no joke.)  Something even more dangerous?

Crashing!  Crashing!!  Crashing through the woods off to my right!  An absolutely monstrous Giant Green Gorglepuss paused only a moment to sniff the air, and then it turned its grossly huge head and looked directly at me with its beady green eyes.  Oh my nerves!

Pointing one ugly finger in my direction, it began careening right towards me!  I ran for my life!

I could hear it crashing right behind me, but I ran as fast as I could.  Eventually I heard nothing except my own gasping breath.  I paused once, glancing hastily behind … to make sure that great green “thing” was no longer behind me and it wasn’t.  But even so, I quickly, very quickly, moved on along the path.

I scuttled on home to my big white truck and my little white trailer.  Yikes, these woods are dangerous!