Life on the Outer Coast

Indian River Falls

Jeanne Stolberg and I went on our annual hike to Indian River falls. Typically we go during spring break, but weren't able to do so this year. I may opt to permanently move the traditional hike to June as today was especially nice.

We started out around 9:30 in somewhat cloudy, but warm weather. Made reasonable time to the first bridge, then started ambling a bit after that. We didn't see anyone else on the trail until 3/4 of the way to the falls.

The slide area about 5 minutes from the falls has had some recent activity. The relatively unvegetated area of the slide is about 60ft wide, full of snow and covered with dirt and some plant debris. Haven't been able to determine when the most recent slide occured, not that I've asked too many people.

There are more Polystichum andersonii along the trail than I remembered, but it has been awhile since I've been to the falls in the summer. Maybe I've only been to the falls once in the summer? Anyway, several of the P. andersonii had growing buds at the end of last year's fronds. Most of the bud fronds were less than an inch tall, did see one about 4 inches tall. Not sure if more than one bud will grow from each frond or if the first to grow excretes some sort of chemical to inhibit growth of the other buds. Could easily envision a population of P. andersonii colonizing an unoccupied space, each old frond producing a few new plants around itself. It would be interesting to see if one could start a colony from one or two plants. According to FNA, P. andersonii is an allotetraploid resulting from P. munitum and P. kwakuilti. There seems to be a certain amount of variation in the division of the pinnules of the fronds, but I haven't been able to conjure any of the local ferns into P. kwakuilti.
The Polystichum (at least braunii and andersonii) have an interesting way of developing. Like Lady ferns, they start as a fiddlehead, but go through a bit of a backbend phase before they become totally erect. That is the base of the fronds is erect and the tips are reflexed away from center and the tips are curled up in a fiddlehead.

The falls, like the river had alot of water. Where we have eaten lunch the last few years was under water. There was a debris dam across the river below the falls. Thought that a dipper was using the dam as a nest site, but didn't watch long enough to be certain. Also saw a winter wren and a Hermit thrush on the dam. The snow was gone around the falls, the Ribes bracteosum was blooming on the slopes around the debris dam.
Only looked briefly at the mosses near the gravel bar; lots of Hypnum dieckii, Codriphorus aciculare, C. ryszardii and Oligotrichum aligerum on the shady side of a rock.
Did find Nephroma bellum on an elderberry growing in the gravel bar where we ate lunch.

After lunch, we decided to explore the forest between the slide and the falls. This stand has escaped recent slides (at least a couple of hundred years?). There are blueberries (well chewed) and a variety of herbs in the understory. Memorable was the abundant blooming Streptopus streptopoides and Listera cordata. I haven't seen S. streptopoides blooming for a number of years. Probably just haven't bothered to turn over a leaf at the right time of year.

Collected Amphidium lapponicum from a boulder on the falls side of the slide on the way back. It is a small clump forming moss with capsules somewhat similar in form to the more familiar Orthotrichums and Ulotas. At maturity, this moss has a ribbed capsule that is flared at the mouth and lacks a peristome.
On the way down stopped at a small muskeg uphill from the trail. It was kind of an odd looking place. There were areas that looked like Trichophorum/Carex dominated muskeg and others had more grass (Calamagrostis), Viola, Chocolate lily and Shooting Star. There were a few alders and some Cow parsnip as well. The muskeg wasn't quite divided in half between meadow and muskeg, however there was a clear division between the areas. THe meadow areas had exposed ash in a few spots. Makes me wonder if depth to ash is controlling the water table. Yes, ash can be used (inapppropriately) to explain everything. Anyway, why on a similar slope is one area typical muskeg and the other areas more meadow like? Need to take the shovel next time and look at depths of organic matter.
The Shooting stars were blooming and the fragrance was rather pleasant. Okay, I couldn' t keep myself from sticking my nose in many flowers. It is one of my favorite fragrances, intense, but not cloying. Also was treated to bumblebees pollinating the flowers. Buzz pollen removal is kind of an interesting thing. Vibrating the pollen loose from the anthers makes a kind of a buzzier buzz sound than the usual bee noises.
The Violets are making me a little crazy. There are four species of blue violets included in Hall; langsdorfii, palustris, adunca and selkirkii. V. palustris has stolons, V. adunca has more oval-elongate leaves, V. selkirkii has hairy leaves and lacks hairs on the petals. Doesn't seem like V. selkirkii is an option for our area, so stolons and leaf shape seem to be the important characters to notice. Admittedly I could be missing the stolons, but the violets in the meadow look like V. langsdorfii or Alaska violet.
Also abundant and blooming in the meadow was Coptis trifoliata, Trichophorum caespitosum and a few Vaccinium caespitosum. There were Equisetum arvense fruiting as well.
There was a small rill running through the muskeg with Skunk Cabbage. In a few of the old leaf bases was a small ascomycete, Mitrula (elegans or borealis) or bog beacon. It is a very small (1.5-2 inch tall) stalked fungus. I'll discuss this one further in another entry on spring fungi.

Collected a few aquatic mosses from the small waterways near the trail; Chiloscyphus polyanthos and Jungermannia (still haven't decided which one), and Hygrohypnum ochraceum. There may have been a bit of Campylium stellatum (very squarrose) in the mix, but I haven't relocated the strand to verify.
We did see/hear several Sapsuckers, Varied and Hermit Thrushes, Robins, Dippers, Winter wrens, and chickadees along the trail.