4/29/23
Changes
With the ebb and flow of water level, the land bridge is only sometimes traversable. More recently, due to the snowmelt, the water levels have been at their highest, limiting the walkability of the bridge. Of course, the most obvious change must be stated: Through the seasons, most of the trees lost their leaves, and have recently started to bud new leaves. This base level of change ripples out to the types of life that can accompany the phenology spot through the winter. However, I would say the largest change is in myself. I have noticed more and more aspects over the months of visiting Salmon Hole. At first I just noticed the Heron and the Beeches, but now I notice even the variety of lichen and mosses that find their way on the surface and in the cracks of the stone. I would break the location up into a few segments.
Using my original sketch of the location, there are a few clear parts. First the island in the middle of the page. Then, moving down the page, the land bridge, which only sometimes is above water. Continuing down to the right is a flat raised rock shelf past which is forest. Instead continuing down to the left of the land bridge is more of a sandy forested area. However, the most notable parts are the melding edges of these places. Different types of mosses and plants are found at the edge of the different parts, such as dogwood and Woodsy Thyme-moss.
I still would not count myself as a part of my place. For that to be true, I would have to be be going to Salmon Hole for a few years. I have only really seen a handful of times. And I don’t mean simply looked at it, I mean times where I could see it a whole made up from all of these complex interwoven parts. I am still just someone that visits the place. Yes, I know more than most about Salmon Hole, but I don’t know close to everything. If I were able to compare this year’s phenology to previous ones, then maybe I could consider myself part of the place, a sort of ambassador of Salmon Hole. But for now, I am just one of the many people that crosses paths with it.