And then I got lost...

Last year I got the opportunity to traverse the huge landscape that most would call the Willamette Valley and Cascade Foothills. I was pretty restricted in my duties being that I was an intern. However this year my boss has been urging me to get my feet wet in all the different departments including those of mining, monitoring, fire fighting, mushroom hunting, etc. With 4 resource areas, covering 860,000 acres of land, I have a lot of options. On Tuesday, May 3, I got offered the chance to go on a hike with Botany Bob. Botany Bob is one of those characters that, just as myself, never in a million years  would have thought he'd be working for the government. Well, we both concluded that not many people would pay us to do what we do... and what is it that we do?

Well, we get lost in the woods. 

Why were traversing land that hasn't seen a footstep in over 50 years?

Because we can. 

Bob told me it was going to be an adventure. I didn't realize that his definition of adventure encompasses near death. His first words to me as we started hiking were "Man, you must really trust me if you're willing to go into this..."

Not something you want your guide to say... I just stared at him blankly until he said "Alright, lets go!"

and so we began our adventure.

Overall, we hiked on some of the steepest land I have ever encountered. I was impressed by our navigation skills. With a GIS countour map and aerial photo in hand we utilized GPS coordinates and a compass to find the "best route". The "best route" involved scaling rocks and bush-wacking through dense stands of pine undergrowth and spiny interior live oak trees. Basically I hated life for a good majority of this.

But alas, we made it to our destination. A small unit about maybe an acre big. Why the fuck did we do all that for this? Because it was one of the few remaining old growth forests on BLM matrix land. Matrix land is land dedicated for logging. We were there to survey the biota for foresters to later evaluate and perhaps determine it's "worth". 

Species found:

Calypso bulbosa (beautiful orchid found in the understory of large pine forests)

Corallorhiza striata (another strange orchid found in the understory of forests. It's presence usually signifies Matsutaki mycelium). 

Aulacomnium androgenum (androgynous moss)

Dichranum tauricum (another weird moss)

 Mushrooms (I have no idea any of the names... sorry!!)

As we headed back.. trying to navigate the ridge line, there were definitely moments where I looked around and thought. Shit. We are never getting out of here. We had no radio. No one really new where the fuck we were... I didn't even really know where the fuck we were. And neither of us had signed out on the In/Out board, a system used to track the whereabouts of people like us. 

We made back to the truck. A sight for sore eyes. Once we were actually in the truck all we could do was reflect on the fact that this hike was fucking epic. 

Thank you Botany Bob, for allowing me to check "getting lost in some steep ass fucking unit with no communication and near death tumbles down a fucking hill" off my list.

 We went somwhere in there....

 Botany Bob attempting to get through the thicket of Madrone and Oak. Can you even see him?!

 Our prized unit. These were some big trees. Pseudotsuga menziesii.

 Botany Bob standing not so tall against the giants.

 Calypso bulbosa

 

Aulacomnium androgenum 

 Sedum

Whenever I see a clear cut it makes me think of a spotty wax job.