Eel Lake Hike

By Don Luce

This is just a nice hike for an early spring day.  We started the day driving toward dark clouds and hit heavy rain and (was that snow?) on the drive up.  Our persistence was rewarded with bright sun and blue skies by the time we made it to the picnic area and our starting point for the hike.  It was like the whole outdoors decided to get cleaned up in preparation for our tour.  Gigantic specimens of Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock and Red Alder dripping wet from their recent shower lined the trail as Bob Golden and myself led us on the 6 mile round trip hike along the south side of Eel Lake.  

Bob identified the trees and shrubs along the way and told us a bit about how they were used by the native peoples who lived here before the rest of us arrived.   Bob reminded us that we were in natures hardware store where everything a person needed was provided if you knew where to look.  I plan to try out the Spruce cone pot scrubber the next time I go camping.   The sky decided to alternate between sunshine and gentle rain for the rest of our hike.  That didn't seem to bother anyone and we walked under the shelter of the big trees from one beautiful view of the lake to another.   The Osprey that usually sound off from their perches along the lake were silent today.  We can only guess that the rain kind of ruins their fishing by making the fish hard to see beneath the surface.  There were a few Wrentits that made themselves known with their series of bouncing ping pong ball chirps.   Bob had us all taste the Redwood Sorrel which is natures sour pickle. Now if we are ever making a sandwich in the woods and need a pickle we know where to look.   Next we just hiked for a while and let nature do the talking.  There was a spot where the whole bank above us was lined with the bright three-petaled faces of the Western Trillium.  Bob got us all to stop and enjoy the rain and sunbeams that streamed down from the big trees. I don't know about everyone else but it was a nice serene moment for me.     

We stopped on a bridge about half way through our trip where a nice marsh was exposed and took at little time to notice the bright yellow flowers and big green leaves of the Skunk Cabbage.  I told everyone a little story bout the Skunk Cabbage that had been passed down through the oral histories of some Pacific coast tribes.  Now everyone knows that before the salmon showed up the skunk cabbage was feeding everyone and they were rewarded for their service by the salmon with Elk skin cloaks and war clubs along with prime real estate in the lush freshwater marshes.

 Bob and the rest of the group headed on from the 2 mile mark while 10-12 of us headed back.  We took at little time on the trip back to look more closely at some of the plant life along the trail.  We spotted Bracken fern, Lady fern, Sword fern, Deer fern, Licorice fern and even Maidenhair fern.  Yup - 6 kinds of ferns and we learned a little bit about how to tell them apart.    We found out that the "moss" hanging down from the limbs of the trees is really a lichen and was usually either Methusela's Beard, Fishbone Beard or Fish Net Beard.  We took at closer look at the more common Methusela's beard and found out that it has a rubberlike cord running through it which helps explain how it can hang 10-20 feet down from the trees without breaking. There is a closeup of this on the main page.  In addition to the usual plants and flowers we usually see on the trail, we spotted a couple of things we don't usually see.   Wild Ginger was running down the bank with it's bright round heart shaped leaves.   Pacific Waterleaf covered the bank near where a stream crossed the trail.  I had previously pointed it out as Creeping Buttercup.  So we can expect little lavender colored flowers there in a few weeks.  The leaves of both plants are pictured on the main page. 

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed myself and hope that everyone else did as well. 

There was nice company, good exercise and the promise of lots of flowers coming right around the corner.

This is the whole group next to the lake.  A little fuzzy, but the clearer photo caught everyone in those expressions people have when unexpectedly photographed.