Today’s photo is another one from Sunday’s walk down the mountain and through the valley. This one was taken in a more open area, where the forest isn’t as dense as it is along Beaver Creek or even as dense as most of the mountain. The little woods road itself partly to blame, but it’s not just that. The trees grow further apart and are fewer and smaller right in this spot than elsewhere. In a few steps, in fact, you can even see where the forest grows denser again up around the slight curve.Through most of the forest, the undergrowth is so dense that I couldn’t walk through it during the green seasons without a machete or the old woods road to follow. So I am grateful for the woods road, which allows me to walk easily through the forest and explore its many delights. To be politically and environmentally correct, I should probably lament the existence of the road, but I can’t bring myself to do that.
I know I would not explore here if I had no path to follow, except perhaps in winter. I can’t see myself armed with a machete or bushwhacking my way through this much underbrush, ripping my clothing, getting scratched, stumbling over uneven ground and rocks. And missing the riot of growth and ferns and birds that thrive in this density of greenery would be a pity. How would I ever know the pleasures of the forest if I couldn’t walk through it and explore it for myself? So I am grateful for this little road that lets me explore easily and at my leisure.
The photo is already "old news," I'm afraid. The rain is back, dropping another inch on Tuesday, half an inch yesterday, and the forecast is promising another 1-1.5 inches today and tonight. The moisture-loving plants must love it. I, however, am not a moisture-loving plant and could use a bit of a respite from the 2 a.m. storms and the rain. This forest is already green enough, don't you think?
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3 comments:
I share you opinion and pleasure in walking the old tote roads…and never forget that many plants and wild things do, too. You'll see more ruffed grouse there than in the deep untrammeled woods. And a mature climax forest is not the paradise—though far easier to negotiate afoot—of a mixed hardwoods, still maturing, with "edge" as well as underbrush.
Sunny here today. But rain last night. And cold enough that I had a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off…
Ahhh, spring!
There is nothing more beautiful than a lush green forest,all the different shades of green from mosses & different trees to the glossy leaves of the mountain laurel...heaven on earth...,but I agree with the scribe,I could use a log in the fireplace today myself.phylliso
It is a lovely green. Your description of pushing through the scrub sounds exactly like most of the hikes in my woods.
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