Today was the last day that Zach would go back to his phenology site this semester. Though it was far and it required effort he always found himself enjoying going. But even so he thinks in the future he will try to get himself to go for other reasons, just to see what it was like again. As for now though, he decided to look back and see how his site has changed over the weeks. I noticed immediately how different it was, the tall colorful maples he experienced on his first time through were now bare and woody. While possibly not as comforting as they were previously, they still provided a sheltering feeling that he couldn’t shake.
Though he was met with mainly sticks, he found many of the parts of the park with needles still on their branches. The conifers despite the empty foliage of their fellow trees still provided a over-story filled with greenery you may not expect to see every day.
This greenery followed him all the way to his spot, where he found another interesting aspect to his location, wind. The wind when it hits a cliff such as the one at red rock billows and shoots over the edge of the cliff at such an amplifying speed, though the other days he had gone were windy, they were not like this. He particularly took intrest in one tree which seemed to show the wind very well. While at the front of the tree all the needles were being blown and tossed around, closer to the back they were barely disturbed. The interesting patters of wind and how trees deal witgh that just goes to show how marvelous of life forms these things are.
This wind, however did not stop him from enjoying his spot. He looked around and found it interesting that not much had changed. The mossy ground, ferns and cedar trees all around his spot persevered through the cold, and the only evidence of decay he found were strewn about leaves and a few ferns plagued by some type of disease.
This perseverance he perceived made him realize how special his spot was, that it wasn’t just a cool place among the many in red rock. But it’s own little cliff side sitting spot, where even the plants there could enjoy it through thick and thin. He’s found himself enjoying the rather non-changing spot he discovered, it makes him see that even in the coldest harshest times, some things won’t change. Some things he can go back to and enjoy again. He enjoys the clumsily placed cedars trying to survive among the eroded cliff face. He enjoys the soft moss overtop the under-layer of hard rock with which he finds himself sitting on. He enjoys the view of the cliff that he can go to and see the lake in all of it’s glory. And he enjoys feeling like he can be there and not have to worry about all of the obligations back at school.
But those obligations come, and he must get back to them. This has been a wonderful assignment that I took advantage of too early on, I may have been late with some postings but I did really enjoy getting to make myself at home among the foliage of red rock. I will be going back to my spot, maybe not as frequently as I would like, but frequently enough. This has been Zach’s Red Rock blog post. Thank you.
