A walk in the dark

 I've been on the move a lot this week. Under a blazing sun, I returned to the wharf to look at critters under the floats. I went to see cliff faces beside Upper Campbell Lake below cotton-puff clouds. And in the pouring rain, I drove north to Hoomak Lake, and walked down sodden trails under dripping, gloomy trees.

I've been sorting and processing photos in no particular order, as the whim strikes. These are from the Hoomak Lake trails.

(I've been here before, in January of 2019. Posts here, here, here, here, and here.)

It stopped raining as I parked, but the sky was grey, the ground slippery, and raindrops, delayed by the branches overhead, gathered and dropped, making plopping noises.

First viewpoint over the lake. Rainy day lighting. 4:30 PM.

It was dark under the trees; the only light came from far, far overhead, through the leafy, needled canopy, or from narrow gaps in the vegetation along the shore. But where there was light, it was all very green.

Creek near the shore. Brown, rusty water.

The trails branch off; last time I took the "Short Trail". This time, I went down the long trail until I found another leg, going uphill and back. Longer than the short trail, but quite a bit shorter than the other.

Part way up the hill, I came across this sign:

The sign as I found it. With the lighting as the camera saw it. Facing the "lighter" part of the forest and the shore beyond.

I straightened the photo and cleaned it up a bit to make it easier to read. And this is the lighting as the automatic photoshop program thought it should be. Not how I saw it on site.

"Forest Vegetation" sign

Text: Forest Vegetaion:

While it may seem quite light in the forest around you, (because our eyes adjust) part of this forest is actually too dark for many plants to live in. Notice the densely vegetated area ahead of you. When trees die, fall down or are cut down, they create openings that let in more sunlight and allow more vegetation to grow. The area behind you (no photo) contains very little vegetation by comparison. This is because tree crowns and branches are blocking out a large amount of sunlight. As a result, few plants are able to survive in this darker environment.

And of course, it was much darker this afternoon, because of the clouds overhead.

These little cardboard signs have been added since I was here last. Most are nailed to trees. This one had fallen, and ended up propped soggily in a rotting stump.

This trail went uphill, back down, back up, across several bridges and many informative signs, and finally joined the old Short Trail and went back to the parking lot. I'll post bridge photos tomorrow, some plants next.

Looking straight up from the hillside.

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Esta semana he estado en muchas partes. Bajo un sol abrasador, fui otra vez al muelle para mirar las criaturas que viven bajo los flotadores. Fui a ver las grandes rocas que bordean el Lago Upper Campbell, bajo un cielo de nubes de algodón. Y fui al norte, al Lago Hoomak en una tormenta de lluvia, llegando al estacionamiento justo a tiempo para caminar en una pausa de la lluvia.

He visitado este lago anteriormente, en enero del año pasado. Arriba hay enlaces a lo que escribí entonces.

Era una tarde muy oscura, sobre todo bajo los árboles. Árboles mojados, todavía dejando caer grandes gotas de la lluvia retenida. El suelo estaba empapado y algo resbaloso. La única luz venía de muy arriba, o entre ramas, del lago.

Hay muchos senderos aquí. La última vez tomé el "Corto". Esta vez empecé en el sendero "Largo", pero luego vi otro que subía el cerro y lo seguí.

Encontré un letrero que habla de la oscuridad del bosque y sus resultados.

Cuando no hay suficiente luz, hay poca vegetación. Los árboles aquí, muy cerca el uno del otro, corta la luz. Hacia el lago, hay más plantas; en el cerro, pocas plantas pueden vivir.

El caminito subía y bajaba y volvía a subir. Cruzó un puente tras otro; hay muchos pequeños riachuelos en este bosque lluvioso. Mañana subiré fotos de puentes, y luego algunas plantas interesantes que hallé.