On 9/3/2011 11:31 PM, Chris Barker wrote:
> Thanks, Moose. They, with their surroundings, do make good photo subjects.
>
> And the surroundings look spectacular, from the little that I can see.
On 9/4/2011 4:42 AM, Brian Swale wrote:
> Moose wrote
>> These were in a State Park bog preserve, so no domestic
>> plants were at risk.
> Nice shots; looks as though it is an interesting area for botanists/zoologists
> :-)
Thanks for the comments, guys.
We found it a very engaging place to visit.
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=California/Sonoma_Mendocino_Coast/Van_Damme_State_Park>
Van Damme State Park is an interesting place. It has a well known Fern Canyon
Trail, a particularly nice example of the
sort of canyons that have been created by the streams and rivers running down
from the range along this coast in
conjunction with its weather.
It also has the largest of a few pygmy forests unique to Northern Calif. I
think this would be of particular interest to
you, Brian. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_forest>
Both of those features, along with a great cove and beach and abalone fishing,
are well known and talked about on the
park web site.
Typical of us, I suppose, this trip we visited the least known part of the
park, the Bog Trail, where Little River has
created a boggy area where the land turns almost level just before reaching the
sea. Like most such areas, it is
visually rich, but really hard to capture in any but an intimate way
photographically. The view is mostly blocked by the
rampant vegetation. Where there is the occasional relatively unblocked vista,
while beautiful in person, it is
relatively unremarkable when photographed. This is the one I managed, looking
across the bog, N to S.
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=California/Sonoma_Mendocino_Coast/Van_Damme_State_Park&image=_MG_3004oof10.jpg>
The condition of the trail may be a chicken or the egg question. Was it
unpopular, so scarce maintenance funds went
elsewhere, or has the perennial underfunded state of our parks and the high
maintenance nature of the area led to such a
poor trail that few visit it. Could just be the name, I suppose, although it
attracted us. :-)
The North side of the loop is mostly dry ground, and in decent shape. The other
side is on and over bog, and thus far
more interesting, visually and biologically, and in far worse shape. I didn't
photograph the bridge that slid off one
end of its foundation, another partly rotten, the one over the stream, which is
tilting to one side, or the many places
where boardwalks have rotted into the mud. I did take a pic of the most
interesting blockage before wriggling through.
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=California/Sonoma_Mendocino_Coast/Van_Damme_State_Park&image=_MG_3003oof20m.jpg>
Bog Moose
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