There is news in the neighborhood. Spring again. Early blueberry is blossoming. Skunk cabbage is poking up for a peek. It won’t be long before devil’s club blossoms unfold their guarded pink. I’m trying to get my heart and spirits to rise to the occasion. That is never a problem for the heroine of our little lack of a story here.

(Above…climbing gear in the geocache tree [left], and our intrepid climber [right].)

The first part of the news was a little bit funny. A neighbor, Michelle, discovered climbing gear set in the trunk of Tim’s geocache tree… maybe the largest of the trees on our trail route. Kurt, who keeps the trail passable for all of us with chainsaw and endless energy, set up a game cam to try to identify the “climber.” The image he got was of an older man with a beer belly, gray hair, and stubble — a doctor known to many in town. He was chastened by the neighborly concern and removed the gear voluntarily, but not before Michelle reached out to Richard Cartsensen, local genius, and Landmark Tree project coordinator.

Carstensen sent some communication suggesting that a stand of trees (based on LDIR imagery, whatever that is) up the hill from the Big Tree Trail may in fact be the most massive in Southeast Alaska. What this means for the safety or notoriety of our little center of the universe remains to be seen.

Note the “extraordinarily dense stand of spruces more than 200′ high (in red).” (Carstensen.)

Meanwhile, though, the conversation has reinforced how precious our backyard forest is to many of us. And so, I’m inspired by this special place to reopen the blog for occasional offloading of words and thoughts and hopes, I guess. Cedar sighs a big “whatever” and begins to settle in until the next walk.