June 22, 2004
Tangled Up in Blue

My first night back at the Forest Rescue Station. It'd been a while, so I chose to spend it up in Blue, the old growth douglas fir tree that plays host to the spacious treesit. When I went to sleep the sky was clear and the stars were amazing; it was a perfect Southern Oregon night.

Sleeping up in a tree platform is always a wonderful experience, the tree was slowly swaying back and forth, it was like being rocked in a cradle. The creatures of the night were performing their usual symphony, the rain drops tapping out rhythms from the sky.

When I walked out of the forest and onto the road I discovered that it hadn't rained at all on the ground, in fact it was totally dry. Then I realized that the night before, water from what was actually just thick fog had been condensing on the needles of the trees and eventually started to fall as rain.

Its amazing how old growth forests can create their own weather; it was more than a microclimate, it was a pico-climate. It was Blue.

by frank