Trail Talk – June 2023

Sitting on the Vulture’s Roost bench on the Lower Twin Peak hiking loop trail in Jacksonville’s Forest Park in mid-May, I was pleasantly surprised by a loud rustle of large wings. An early morning hike had brought me to this vantage point in time to catch our resident turkey vultures as they dried their wings in the early morning sunlight, looking so much like statues atop the old snag. The signature rustle of the wing primaries as they swoop out and down from the ridge to catch the day’s first thermal heating is a sound of the changing season. Spring has come and wandering feet are tempted to venture forth in search of each day’s adventure.

The relentlessly restless weather of our recent months has resulted in a rare juxtaposition of annual events in our local woodlands. The early blooms of hound’s tongue and shooting stars are gracing the hillsides even as dogwood begins its glorious flowering. Honeybees buzz noisily in the late-blooming manzanita while being beckoned by the sudden outburst of big-leafed maple blossoms. Adding to the cacophony of the honeybee choir, those lumbering bumblebees, dormant in their lonely burrows but a month ago, are seen bumbling about, as is their wont, in search of the bright sprays of Oregon grape.

Such a Spring. White trillium along the creeks and seeps fades toward lavender and magenta even while calypso makes what seems an early appearance, modeling this year’s latest fashion in fancy slippers. Red bells showed some courage early, before the cool weather stunted their progress, choosing to blossom later than sooner. Washington lily now promises to bloom soon, its fragrant blooms certain to sweeten the late Spring air along our local trails.

When even Mother Nature seems to be in a contradictory mood, it’s easy to forget our responsibilities as visitors to Her world. In the confusing logic of some trail users, there appears to be a destructive streak that threatens to destroy the integrity of many of our local by-ways. Energy drink cans and energy “goo” packets are carelessly dropped, apparently becoming far too heavy to carry once they are emptied. Shortcuts are opened, exposing sensitive soils to heavy erosion, and often bypassing necessary “choke points” that are designed to slow traffic for visitors’ safety.

And in the most ironic twist of all, trees have been cut along multi-use trails. Why ironic? One must wonder that in trail systems labeled, “The Woodlands” and “Forest Park” we have vandals who consider trees as an impediment to their enjoyment. Who’d ever think that a Forest Park might have trees growing there? It would make far more sense for folks who have little regard for the very nature of the place they choose to pursue their hobbies to simply go somewhere that provides for their “needs” without ruining such local, well-loved places for the vast majority of park patrons.

Let’s remember that these places are to be enjoyed, not “conquered,”, or “shredded.” Our legacy is to leave it better than we found it.