Day 53: If you park at the Nisqually State Park trailhead and start to walk toward the river, you'll see another path shearing off to the right in about a hundred feet. If you follow it, you will come to property owned by the Nisqually Land Trust in about a mile. I participated in a frosty-cold winter planting there three or four years ago, and had not been back until today. I was dismayed to find that not a single one of our saplings had survived. I hadn't expected a high survival rate, not in the rocky, thin soil clinging to a previously clearcut hillside, but neither had I thought to find 100 % failure. It was a sorry testament to the long-lasting havoc logging operations can inflict. Having shed a few tears for the mother of us all, I returned to the main trail and explored it somewhat further before returning home, stepping over blackberry vines and brushing aside Scotch broom in what may develop into a jungle of invasives if not checked.
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