Week #3

The "Dead Ash" is Actually an Elm and north may be further to the right

Week #2

For this weeks phrenology visit, I went at night to get a sense of what my place was like at a different time of day. Being in the woods at night is always a really amazing experience and the contrast of stepping off the well light street and onto the dark path was intense. Since it was so dark I didn’t really focus on specific things I could see at my spot but instead just tried to be aware of the different mood of the forest at night. Being deprived of your main sense makes you acutely aware that you are out of your element in the forest, especially knowing that for many of the unseen creatures around you are more comfortable in the dark. It is unnerving but I also find it thrilling, a sort of return to a more primal condition, when there were things out there to be afraid of in the dark. Walking to my spot I found myself stepping carefully and as silently as possible and straining to listen to the sounds around me. In the rustle of the trees in the light wind I imagined unseen movement in the shadows around and startled at the sudden creak of a branch. My spot is in a fairly open area and as I stepped out from the tree line I saw how much my eyes had adjusted, as the snow gleamed white under the stars that seemed so much brighter than they had under the streetlights. I stood for a while at looked for constellations but I don’t really know any and only recognized Orion above the jagged tops of hemlock and pine swaying in the wind.

Week #1

My spot is in centennial woods on the west side of the stream to the north of the bend. I like this spot because it has a view up and down the wide swampy meadow that surrounds the stream course. On the day I went on a day when it was very sunny in the afternoon after a dusting of snow in the morning. I could see the new snow still sticking to the dark green hemlocks on the opposite bank of the stream, but on the stream in the direct sun, the snow was melting and forming a layer of water on top of the ice. As I watched this pool of water spread, melting more snow as it flowed around oxbows into more shaded parts stream. I saw a few fresh rabbit and squirrel/chipmunk(?) tracks but the only boot prints I saw near my spot were older. It was nice to know I was the first person to be out in that particular place enjoying the way the sun sparkled on new snow. I explored a little around my spot and found an interesting ravine that cuts through the main stream valley. There was a tiny frozen stream in the center that cut around rocks and fallen white pines. I am excited to watch as this stream changes and grows with melt water as the spring progresses.