A Rainy Forest Journey with Avery

When the rains come each winter, all is illuminated in the wooded hills of the east bay. Here are a number of images from a short trek into Joaquin Miller Park as the rain was still lightly coming down. Though we huddled here and there in protected hollows during brief stretches of heavier rain, it was, for the most part, an easy drizzle.

The indefatigable little man, Avery, passing by the bulbous and richly adorned trunk of a large California bay. Always looking back to see that I'm not too far behind, lest he realize he's gone too far and is now alone, forced to contend with all manner of unknown beasts and uncertain prospects for food.

English ivy, Hedera helix, an exotic so prevalent in many of the east bay canyons, nonetheless looks perfectly at home as it encircles the mossy trunk of a Monterey pine tree.

The mosses clothing the trunks of the oaks, bays, and pines seem to instantly remember their radiant, buoyant selves with just a bit of water. The overcast light from above is soft and even, and all the wet leaves and stones glint in the shadows. The accumulated mantle of summer dust and pollen has finally washed away. Everything feels freshly bathed and quiet.

Thank you chlorophyll for reflecting all that green light, for it pleases and eases our souls.

Avery scampering ahead, leading the way, but always looking back to make sure I'm following. Here is a dark slope of almost solid ivy, the path undulating and winding above the creek downslope. Redwoods closer to the creek bottom, bays and oaks tending to be a bit further upslope.

Here the last remnants of golden leaves of the small understory hazels seem to float around the larger, moss-covered trunk of a California bay tree.

Avery pressing along beside me though his wiry coat be wetter and wetter...

Off ahead he goes, but always looking back! The bays all emerald green, and the dark straight trunks of the redwoods springing up from the creek below.

The ivy creates an almost continuous carpet on the forest floor along some stretches of the canyon. The creek steps down in numerous small falls, flowing heavily as it is in rainy weather.

The unmistakable gnarled and complex lines of the coast live oak, here reaching out over the descending ravine.

The gently coiled fiddlehead of a California polypody, Polypodium californicum. May you unfurl and spread your spores!

With a weary, yet stalwart glance, Avery bids farewell to this green and damp wonderland of trees and mosses in the Oakland hills. Until next time!

And thus ends this outing into the hills of the East Bay!