Marquam in the Snow

 

The eve of Snowpocalypse 2014 was cold and clear. Before scurrying on to some place warm, I stopped by Eagle Point, a mysterious spot and unsigned park.

Notice the rhododendron leaves above my bike - they're tucked down and curled under - yes, it was very cold.

Next afternoon the snow started to fall. And actually stick. And build. Here we see cars flooding down the hill from OHSU, getting out before steep hill roads grow more difficult.

 Immediately adjacent to machine madness, Marquam was calmly taking on the light dusting.

Usually bright, smiling, and green in cool, wet winter weather, licorice fern curled up in the cold. Was it simply drying out, or utilizing dry weather for spore dispersal, or both? Anyway, check out those sori!

 

 The next day, we had accumulation.

 Mini-mountains of snow mounded on spiky holly leaves.

This is a snow-topped, ivy-covered snag of some sort. Strange beast.

On Monday, things began to melt. Sheets of ice were slipping from the Marquam shelter roof.

And by Tuesday, the snow had its sentencing - warmer temperatures were in. Many urban streams were running chocolate-mud brown.

A record of strong foot traffic was kept by the snow... despite, or because of, the snow.

This 'sneckdown' shows there could be room for a bike lane or sidewalk (or raised bike path-sidewalk combination) along the short section of SW Sam Jackson Park Rd leading to the park's main entrance. More space allocated for bikes and pedestrians here would make accessing the park by non-car a lot less sketch.

Winter Woods

On December 10th of last year I had the pleasure of visiting a small patch of forest in Washington's southern Cascades.

There were snow-topped shelf mushrooms,

the recent work of a Pileated Woodpecker,

and a Western Redcedar (Thuja plicata) growing in a unique way.

The crunchy snow underfoot had lain for quite some time, with conifer seeds accumulating on its surface.

These seeds are winged, and spin down from the trees like maple seeds. The largest is in the center right, but the smaller brown specks are also seeds (along with a few shed needles). Probably, the large one is from a pine (genus Pinus) and the small ones from Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla).

A month later I revisited the Cascades when fresh snow was falling. In the morning I went for a walk through the powdery snow that was nearly flawlessly white, yet here and there a seed had fallen. I thought of the crusty, older layer of snow below with its seasoning of seeds, and how this fresh snow would be after a couple weeks of collecting everything that fell from above. Now that's cold stratification!