A Gorge in the Gorge

Now that our first real cold snap of the season has come and gone, it's time to ruminate about hot summer days! One of my favorite hiking and photography places within an hour's drive from home is the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area. Although I seldom visit the Gorge in cold weather, it has a unique beauty all year. If you've lived here for any length of time, chances are good that you have hiked a few of the waterfall trails and/or taken visitors on a tour of the old scenic highway. And with 80 miles of river and hundreds of trail miles to explore, you won't run out of destinations.

From a botanical point of view there are several unique and interesting places to land for a fun and rewarding day trip. In summer, my favorite mini-destination is the venerable Oneonta Gorge. It's basically a half mile long slot canyon that runs due south from the Columbia River on the Oregon side. It's narrow, deep, and a cool water creek runs through it. In addition, it can be a beautiful photography site - if you manage to get there when no other humans are around. And like many places in the Columbia Gorge itself, it is being loved to death, so to speak.

But I'll be the first to admit, trekking into the Oneonta Gorge on a sweltering August day is nothing short of bliss. The combination of the narrow 300 foot high basalt walls and cool ankle deep water of Oneonta Creek drops the 90 plus highway temperature at least 15 degrees. The real challenge and fun is to reach the end of this mini-gorge where you can swim in a deep pool below a 100 foot waterfall. But to reach it, you have to scale a huge log jam, walk a 1/2 mile in the creek, and wade through a deep spot that can reach your neck. On a hot summer day, this becomes almost like a pilgrimage along with your fellow travelers; the mood is upbeat and festive. People bring their dogs, kids, and food.

In spite of the hoopla, Oneonta Gorge remains a botanical marvel. Outside of July and August, few people venture into this unique spot. Oneonta Creek runs crystal clear and supports a variety of small fish, frogs, salamanders, and snakes. The basalt walls along the entire half mile are literally covered with moss and are teeming with ferns, woodland plants, and lichens.

For waterfall lovers, the Oneonta Creek trail takes you to three of the four waterfalls along the creek. The Lower Falls shown here is the fourth one and is visible only by walking through the Oneonta Gorge. We have made the loop trail in the summer many times, topping it off with the cool walk into this slot canyon. These trails are well documented by most Gorge hiking websites and guidebooks.

As the human visitors parade by, this Pacific Giant
Salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus) watches
 calmly from his little cave.

The photography aspect of this site is also fascinating. Although the slot canyon was surely known to our native Americans of the area, the first white man to photograph it was Carleton Watkins around 1865 while visiting from California. He was born in Oneonta, N.Y., so he named the spot after his hometown. Watkins was an accomplished photographer who spent many years capturing images of Yosemite National Park with his large view camera and a "stereoscopic" camera. He became well known and had his own gallery in San Francisco.



To close out this post, here's a look at the current conditions in this spot. We visited several places along the old scenic highway on January 8th. Earlier in the week, snow and below freezing weather made its way in. We look forward to spring!

     

Skeleton Crew

Just think, if the ancient Romans still ruled the world, we would not be celebrating New Year's Day until March 1st. That seems a bit more logical as it is close to our Spring equinox. But leave it to a politician to fix it: around 150 B.C. two more months were added to the calendar; and then in 46 B.C. our pal, Julius Caesar implemented the so called Julian calendar, which was more useful because it was based on solar movement. Prior to that, the Roman calendars were following the moon and became inaccurate over the centuries. January 1st became the start of the new year at that point because new Roman consuls were elected on that day.

In the middle ages, religion stepped in to reset things; January 1st fell out of favor with Christians in Europe because it was thought to be too pagan-like. Dates like Easter or Christmas were used instead. Finally, in 1582, the Gregorian calendar restored January 1st as the start of the year. But of course there was one large outlier: the U.K. and colonies still used March as the start of the year and did not adopt the new improved calendar until 1752.

# # #

Returning to the present, it's that time of year again here at wildflower blog central. The volunteer staff has the next couple of months off, but not to worry, yours truly will be here to monitor our busy inbox and to keep those lenses polished and camera batteries charged up. Meanwhile, between sips of black coffee and green tea, planning is underway for next season. And since Santa did not bring us a drone, we will be earthbound for another year.

But seriously, we do have a backlog of posts to release throughout this time period, so be sure to stay tuned and keep your subscriptions current. The skeleton crew will be busy researching new places to visit and explore as the long winter nights nip at our toes. If you have any ideas, be sure to drop us a line* as they used to say in the olden days.

Meanwhile, to round out this post, here are some photos from the past year that did not make it into a post. So many photos and so little time.**

January 2015

Left: Thimbleberry branches in sunset light at Bald Peak State Park.

Right: Shelf Fungus at Cooper Mountain Nature Park.

     

February 2015

Left: Turkey Tail fungus at Rood Bridge Park.

Right: Winter Aconite at Cherry Street trail.

     

March 2015

Left: Trout Lily at Jenkins Estate.

Right: Western Trillium colony at Jenkins Estate.

     

April 2015

Left: Wild Iris (aka, Oregon Flag, Douglas Iris, Iris Tenax) at Cooper Mountain Nature Park.

Right: Dove's Foot Geranium at Champoeg State Park.

     

May 2015

Left: Koi and Yellow Flag Iris at Dawson Creek Park.

Right: California Poppy and Bee in our yard.

    

June 2015

Left: Tooth-Leaved Monkeyflower at Drift Creek Falls.

Right: Foxglove at Gales Creek.

     

July 2015

Left: Streambank Arnica on the Mary's Peak road.

Right: Oregon Silverspot butterfly on Oxeye Daisy, on Mary's Peak.

     

August 2015

Left: Sharp-shinned Hawk waiting for a squirrel on Laurelview Road.

Right: Western Gray squirrel laying low in the Columbia Gorge.

     

September 2015

Left: Cosmos at Riverbend Park in Bend.

Right: Sunflower at Riverbend Park in Bend.

     

October 2015

Left: Sweet Alyssum growing in the sand at Oceanside.

Right: Spotted Knapweed at Henry Hagg Lake.

     

November 2015

Left: Red Osier Dogwood leaf at Tualatin Hills Nature Park.

Right: Vine Maple leaves at Tualatin Hills Nature Park.

     

December 2015

Left: Himalayan Blackberry Leaf in our yard.

Right: Leafless Willow stalks at Dawson Creek Park.

   

* This phrase has its origins in the mid 1600's and generally means "a few written words." Amazingly this can apply to today's text message or email.

** Another well-used phrase that may date back to Roman days and highly adapted into multiple languages thereafter. Even Mae West used it to lament about her male suitors.

Winter Solstice

Here at wildflower blog central we are out and about looking for that last leaf of the season. Which is to say, the flowers are gone, it's getting colder, and our daylight is slipping away like coins left in a pay phone. We don't get paid for ruminating about the weather though, so the cameras keep clicking away even though our blog topics may lose some nutritional value as we plod into winter. But there is some positive; when we do have a sunny day, the low angle of the sun makes for some good photo ops, either natural or man made. So stay tuned for some of those in the weeks ahead.

And, just to expand a bit on that "dwindling daylight" topic, have you noticed how there is a hiccup in the winter solstice concept. It's not an obvious thing, but if you have an astronomy or meteorology bent you may have noticed that the earliest sunset (4:27 PM) of the year happens in mid December, not on the solstice day, which this year is December 21st at 8:49 PM here in our area. Likewise, the latest sunrise of the year (7:51 AM) comes for about a week in late December and early January. But, not to worry, the two shortest daylight dates this year are December 20th and 21st, providing an anemic 8 hours, 42 minutes, and 11 seconds of the good stuff. From there we add a few seconds to daylight each day, even though our sunrise times keep getting later until early January.

The short explanation for the difference is that solar time and calendar time are not exactly synchronized and you can't just go adjust calendar time every year to fix it. The sync problem seems to be due in part to the earth's tilt (23.5 deg.) and our elliptical orbit around the sun. If you want more detail, there are reams of articles out there to read on the subject. In any event, no matter how you slice it, December is a bad month for solar panels...

In other news, we are starting to see more of those shady lowlifes loitering about on local trails. Of course I am talking about our fungus friends, that show us not all plant life has to be colorful! One of my favorites, is the delightful turkey tail fungus which can be found on just about any dead log in western Oregon.

My fondness for mushrooms does not extend into the realm of hunting and picking them. I'll leave that to the experts and continue to enjoy the culinary side of fungus in the kitchen.

And speaking of the kitchen, a cup of that hot green tea is calling me. There's probably a cookie in there as well with my name on it. So to close out this post, the staff here at wildflower blog central sends best holiday wishes to you and your loved ones. May the new year bring many new opportunities to enjoy the natural world.

Finding Ferns

As we walk around the forest trails in search of wildflowers, birds, and the occasional animal, we sometimes overlook the unsung heroes of the understory: ferns. Here in western Oregon there are plenty of forest understory trails to visit, so you are going to see ferns just about any time of year. Ferns don't have flowers or seeds, so it's easy for them to fade into the green background, going unnoticed.

Even though they may look delicate, our native ferns are quite hardy. Most are able to withstand bitter freezing temperatures as well as extended hot summer dry spells; about half are evergreen. These ferns are descendants of ancient tropical plants that thrived in the time of large reptiles.

In our area, there are half a dozen common native ferns that you can see on just about any forest trail on the west side of the Cascade mountains. Sword ferns and Maidenhair ferns are probably the most easily identifiable ones. Ferns were used for a variety of purposes by our indigenous peoples, including insulation, bedding, food, and even games for children. Here's an overview of the most common ferns in our hiking area:

• Western Sword - Polystichum munitum. Evergreen. 
• Maidenhair - Adiantum aleuticum. Evergreen.

Maidenhair and Sword (upper right) ferns near Gales Creek

Sword Ferns and Firs in Tillamook Forest in June

New Sword fronds emerge in April

Maidenhair Fern near Gales Creek

Sword Fern at Rood Bridge Park

• Licorice - Polypodium glycyrrhiza. Evergreen. They are commonly seen growing on trees and stumps.

At Rood Bridge Park in November

Licorice Ferns bottom view

• Deer - Blechnum spicant. Evergreen. Resembles the Sword fern, but narrower with darker stalk/axis.

Deer Ferns at Drift Creek Falls trail June

Deer and Sword (top left) ferns

• Oak - Gymnocarpium dryopteris. These are tiny ferns, up to six inches or so.

Oak Ferns with Oregon Oxalis

• Bracken - Pteridium aquilinum. Seen in foreground below with Cow Parsnip.

Bracken Ferns in May

Bracken Ferns in mid November

• Lady - Athyrium filix-femina. Seen in lower left below, along with Maidenhair (right side) and Sword (upper left). These were at the bottom of Drift Creek Falls in the Coast Range.

And if you made it this far down the post, here's your bonus fern!

• American Parsley - Cryptogramma acrostichoides. Although not uncommon, I have only seen this one a couple of times.

Parsley Fern on Saddle Mountain, 6-2014

Links:

Parsley Fern Page