[Quark]

I bailed on a trip with Yumi and Opus ‘cause I have to go into the office tomorrow. It was best anyway; ole Quarkie ain’t been feeling so hot lately - I could barely do 5 miles flat today. But that's another story. I wanted to get out, so I combined a trip to the Hometown Bakery and Pizza shop in Darrington (in order to purchase the book, “Two Voices,” by the Bedal sisters) with an easy stroll of the Old Sauk Trail. This trail continually gets hammered by floods. It’s beloved, and the re-routing of the trail is easy, so it continually gets repaired. I was expecting a regular walk in the forest; pretty and nice. But I always seem to find really cool, unique stuff on simple little hikes. Read on. First the obligatory photos of Old Sauk trail (pardon the imperfections - I don't have photoshop or any other software, these are straight out of the camera - will get software next week!):

Feather and fern

Fern frond in fall

Old Sauk trail

Indian pipe

Old Sauk Trail

Leaf skeleton in water

Old Sauk trail

Sap

Then this: I was on my way back when I noticed a stick with a ridge of silt underneath it.

Silt and stick

I have seen this before; it’s when something falls on top of silt, and the silt around it wastes away with rainfall, but the silt underneath the item remains because it’s not as affected by rain hitting it. Cool, says I. Then I realized the river is about 100 feet away, and about 25 feet downslope. Wow! This baby really expanded and deposited this load this far away! I then noticed the surrounding tree trunks had a tell-tale measure of silt on them.

Silt pile at base of tree

This how deep the silt deposit was

The silt deposit had been this deep! I imagine a lot of this came from the far riverbank – about 1/8 of a mile or so and 50 feet high fell into the river – probably created a silty tidal wave onto the banks this side of the river, and came up to where I was standing. I then saw stacks of stick on the “windward” side of several trees – this debris was checked by the trees and held in place.

Sticks deposited by floodwaters

Pile of debris on "windward" side of tree, deposited by floodwaters

Lo! I saw lots of these intriguing formations. PLEASE OPEN PHOTOS TO GET A BETTER VIEW OF THESE DELICATE BEAUTIES!

Silt and cottonwood leaf2

I had seen these on the Suiattle River bank recently, and other places here and there, but here are multitudes! I walked carefully to preserve them so that others can see them if they wish to. I don’t think they’ll last through the winter. My guess is that this silt came from November 2006 floods.

Preserved pattern of leaf

Silt deposit and preserved fern pattern.

Silt and pattern of 3 cottonwood leaves

To see these wonders, walk the Old Sauk trail til you see the huge slope failure on the far bank. I was going so slow I don’t know how far in, but I guess 2.5 miles, maybe less. When you see that, look around and find these silt deposits and beautiful leaf formations embedded in them. It’s amazing to me that the same raging waters that can create this:

The Sauk River is in another bed to the left. This one is full when the floods are raging.

can also create this:

Ghost

[Tazz]

You don't need software! Sap and fungus are incredible! Good stuff!

[Quark]

Thanks guys. Isn't that the coolest stuff? Those leaf patterns blow me away. I saw a man taking a nap in the soft, deep moss above the river. A little while later, I did the same - I layed down, and listened to the river and the wind rustling the cottonwoods. Across the river, the wind was making the tall cedars and hemlocks gently sway back and forth, rythmically. One group of hemlocks was adorned by long, long tails of silvery-green moss that slowly fluttered out from the branches with each soft gust of wind. God, it was beautiful. I forgot to mention that Home Town Pizza is open til 9 PM. Closed Wednesdays. They do not take credit/debit cards. Cash only. Good pizza, good service, excellent iced tea. I got a humongous pizza (8 slices with 5 toppings), a bodacious salad, tea, and 2 cupcakes for about 20 bucks. The lady there said if business keeps up the way it has, they will continue to remain open til 9 through winter.

[JimK]

That fern found in fall is fairly fantastic. Fine fotos. Glad to see you managed to get out even when not feeling great.

[Matt]

Great sap, Quark.

[Quark]

[More Cowbell]

Wow, you must have set your camera to the "stunning" setting today. I went somewhere that I love today but there wasn't anything photo worthy (but I did discover, summit and name "Elk Latrine Hill").

[Hiker Mama]

Very nice, Quark. I always look forward to your reports and what you will notice. We didn't see those cool silt deposits when we went a few months ago. I don't think we made it as far as you did, tho. Good for you to get out even tho not feeling great. I hope you felt better afterwards!

[Quark]

HikerMama, those silt sculpture thingies aren't easy to see. I didn't notice them til on the way back, when the stick caught my eye, then the tree trunks. I thought about that cute pic of the kids in front of the trailhead sign that you posted, and imagined the little ones having fun on the trail. There are several smooth portions of the trail where I kid can run and "play airplane" and run with wild abandon.

[Magellan]

You have such a great eye for detail. I would never have seen that cool stuff. I woulda stomped right past it, wondering where the hell the summit was. Thanks for slowing it down for me.

There are lots of great pictures here, but this is the one that really grabs me. It looks haunted, but alive.

[Matt]

Quark, At first I didn't look closely at the silt photos. Wow, it's amazing how the shape of the objects is preserved in the raised silt. I even made my kids come out and look at your photos, and my teenager even admitted that it was "kinda cool."

[Yet]

It's like someone used cookie cutters and went to town. Very cool!

[bobbi]

hope you're feeling better! most excellent photos. PS is overrated! thanks for reminding us that we should look down for the unusual photo ops! mother nature is amazing!

[cinnamon]

[Stones]

If you can imagine badlands topography or the mesas of the Colorado plateau shrunk down to Quarkian scale, it's the same processes at work here with an erosion-resistant layer (e.g. a leaf or a layer of hard sandstone) protecting a softer erosion-prone layer (silt or shale). Cool stuff.