Rockport State Park

Mid-June 2020

Old growth

The morning started with a loose plan; head north on I-5, exit and follow Highway 530 east along the North Fork Stillaguamish River valley, past the Oso landslide, through Darrington, then follow the Sauk River north to where it joins the Skagit River at Rockport.  Part of my loose plan was to walk walk-through Rockport State Park.

Rockport State Park

Rockport State Park is a patch of old growth forest that stands as a rare example of unbound lowland forest that once covered a vast area of western Washington.  The trees are stunningly large western red cedar, western hemlock, and Douglas fir; some over 600 years old and over 250 feet tall.  This forest is untouched by the cold steel of the saw.  The park covers 632 acres where you can walk among these giants along a network of several trails.  The trail I chose was the Evergreen Trail, a three-mile loop trail.  You can see my route on the Google Earth image.

Watch and listen to these short 20-second videos.  Is that not the sound of tranquility? 

I had read recently about the connection between salmon and old growth.  These trees have high components of nitrogen 15, an isotope of the element nitrogen found mainly in the ocean (technically, as I try to understand the chemistry, at a higher ratio N15/N14 in oceans compared to the standard, which is based on the N15/N14 ratio in the atmosphere pegged at zero).  Salmon leaving the ocean and swimming upriver to spawn are consumed by all manner of animals that eat both living salmon and the spawned-out carcasses.  The animals that feed on the salmon; the bears, the bald eagles, and even insects, poop and die which spreads the nitrogen 15 throughout the forest.  The trees then uptake the nitrogen 15.  It’s an amazing connection.

The forest floor is well shaded by the tall canopy of evergreens.  Broad swaths of vanilla leaf and western sword fern carpet much of the forest floor.

Vanilla Leaf (Achlys triphylla)

Western Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum)

Mosses of all kinds cover fallen logs and the forest floor.  Stairstep moss is abundant and easily identified by its stairstep growth pattern; each step representing one year of growth.

Stairstep Moss (Hylocomium splendens)

Thimbleberries were still blooming.  Salmonberries were ripening.  I found a patch of ripe blueberries.  I ate a few and left more for the wild animals.

Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus)

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis)

Blueberry (Vaccinium sp.)

Not many plants in western Washington forests can hurt you.  But there is one nasty plant, known appropriately as Devil’s Club, whose stems are covered in numerous small sharp spines that break off easily.  Don’t touch it.

Devil’s Club (Oplopanax horridus)

Even this native old growth forest is not free of a few non-native plants including Herb Robert, Creeping Buttercup, and several grasses.

Grass (Bromus sp.)

It was a most enjoyable walk in the forest.  The weather was clearing after an overnight rain.  I took Daisy with me, one of our two dogs.  We saw no one else on the entire walk.