Wintry Woods

5 PM as the sun was setting in a wintry western cloud bank I entered the SW Gate to see the Woods. There was a light sleet falling after the very light few hundredths inch of rain this afternoon. The Woods by the gate, had a delicious smell, two parts decaying leaves, one part wine under the big bur oaks. I wandered up to the lodged green ash and thought how it had done well, despite having fallen partially over. Its upper branches were still supported 30 feet up, hung in another good sized ash.. and its roots, partly tilted out of the soil in the beginnings of a mound, were raised a critical few inches above the flood level. When the surrounding forest had all of its roots drowned, some of the roots of this tree would still be able to breathe.
i walked down to the Grandfather cottonwood following the dark soft soil swept clear of leaves along the main channel of the floodwater; then south on the W Dune trail to the odd grave-like pit by the redbud. There I decided to try forging north in search of Carpenter's steel stake 200 feet north. The briars were a thick curtain; but I had clippers and slowly made progress through.

I was struck by the way in which the Smilax greenbriar were densest beneath the branches of the junipers. Birds, waxwings and others recruit to the branches of the cedar to feed on the ripe cone/ berries in winter. They poop out the seeds of Smilax they have also consumed. They shelter for the cold night in the evergreen where the boundary layer effect of the foliage buffers a space against the wind and cold. The greenbriar, growing thick as a wall beneath and up into the branches of the Juniper provides a thorny fence against herbivores that might otherwise chew the bark or rub antlers there. All parties benefit in a mutualism built on several functions, food and shelter for birds, dispersal of seed and support for vine growth for the greenbriar, dispersal of Juniper seed and protection of tree from large vertebrates capable of damaging it.

I clipped my way westward to the end of the dune and escaped northwest to the Main SW Trail. It may be tough to find that particular steel post. The whole area is densely covered in briars growing over standing and fallen junipers.

I walked east along the E-W trail to the Wash. There was plenty of water, but the Elm Bridge area was dry. Up around the Tree Loop and by now it was quite dark. A full moon lit the sky but its light was obscured by solid clouds. I walked the trail down to Island Crossing testing my ability to pick out enough features in the dark to keep on the trail. Some of the light blue blazes were faintly visible as slightly lighter shades on the bark of the trees.

Heading west I heard large animals (deer, I assumed.. or racoons, skunks etc.) moving in the dark but could not see well enough to see any. I imagine they were surprised to discover a human wandering along the Woods' trails at night. This is their normal visual world.. dark or twilight. They must be able to navigate, find food and run fast to escape danger in the darkened woods.
The west walk back across the Woods was quite dark and gave me a tingle of adrenaline struggling to discern the trail. I reached the SW Gate and paused there reflecting that here was a new way to know the Woods.