Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Bug On A 'Shroom


Day 6: Well, the bad weather is supposed to come in tonight, so I took advantage of the last few moments of sunlight to walk up the Kautz Creek trail on a specific photographic mission. I really had no end point in mind, but by the time I'd gone a mile on the flat to the river crossing, the skies had turned decidedly grey and the temperature had dropped ten degrees. I completed my project and not particularly wanting to hike in rain, took a leisurely stroll back, photographing a merry collection of fungi en route.

The first mile of the Kautz Creek trail passes through young alders, the dominant species since the historic mudflow of 1947. Remnants of old cedars and Douglas fir stick ghostly, pale spires above the canopy, the trees suffocated by the silt brought down in the lahar. The understory is minimal, but rife with lichens, mosses and fungi, a photographer's paradise on a miniature scale.

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