New Paint

5:30 PM Wednesday evening 10/10 I hiked in on the NW Trail to refresh paint blazes. NW trail to the N. Loop jct; then N. Loop to Isd Crossing and south back to the east end of the NW trail; then west back to Hackberry Alley; south to Tall Stump; west on the EW Trail to the SW Trail and back out along the W Trail to the NW entrance again by 7 PM. The Woods were still, as if waiting for a storm. Very little evidence of animals stirring. No deer, no turtles. One more medium large tree down across the NW Trail east of jct Hackberry Alley. The trail had lots of smallish branches down across the trail, as though lots of partial canopy die back from summer 2011 or summer 2012 was coming down in small bits. Not much of anything in flower along my route.. lots of light-brown, dried ash seeds newly down. Luxuriant growth of Polygonum knotweed along the trail where elms had recently died and opened up the canopy, by Grandfather Cottonwood and at Butterfly Corner. These patches were beginning to thin. Heather M's plant ecology and other botany classes have been using the Woods - very good news. Heather's thought about water quality in the wash and if toxic to trees is a good one.