Kautz Creek Keyhole Tree

Day 336: From USGS's website: "The October 2-3, 1947 Kautz Creek was the site of the most voluminous debris-flow event of historical time; it covered the road with 28 feet of mud, rocks, and tree debris. Very heavy rainfall started early on October 1, and the first debris flow occurred October 2 between 10 and 11 p.m. A succession of debris flows moved down valley during the night ending at 8 a.m. October 3. An estimated 40 million m³ (52 million yd³) of debris was deposited in a fan along the Nisqually River that extended up Kautz Creek valley northward across the highway."

Although eyewitness Assistant Superintendent Harthon Bill reported "logs were striking the abutments and flying right over the bridge," some trees were left standing, doomed to suffocate in the mud. Their silver snags can be seen as you hike the first mile of trail from parking. Near the edge of a channel carved by another flooding event stands an old friend I call the Keyhole Tree, waist-deep in the historic mud which cut its life short. I cannot tell you why it branched to form a curl. Nor can I tell you its species. I just know it as a landmark, part of the songline which takes me through an area seemingly scant of vegetation, but looking to the ground, I see recovery at work. A long process, to be sure, but the lichens and mosses and pioneer forbs are hard at work here, rebuilding a forest into which one day the Keyhole Tree will be reabsorbed.