Journal Entry #5 - April 28, 2012

Mount Baker National Park - Big Four Ice Caves
Snohomish, WA

Weather: cold, cloud cover, snowpack, no rain.
Soil conditions: wetland area.

Upon arriving to Big Four Mountain, we encountered approximately 1½’ of snow inhibiting the trail to the ice caves. The road was blocked and we departed on foot throughout the snow, very ill prepared at that! I was not expecting there to be such extensive snow on the ground and because of this we could not access the ice caves as we wanted. The area was very beautiful and provided habitat to a wide range of species, and there appeared to be old growth trees in this hemlock dominated forest. I observed many areas were beavers were slowly taking down very large trees, and was surprised by the size of the logs they used. We saw many beaver dams along much of the South Fork Stilliguamish River and Ice Creek and the presence of fungi was noted. Abundance of Cedars was noted along the river’s edge and patches of skunk cabbage were prevalent in riparian zones. I only observed one bird, a raven, and he was quite big. There was also an abundance of coltsfoot and willow in areas with wet soil conditions.

Posted on May 1, 2012 03:38 AM by jmarcello1