October, 2024
My last full day here for this camping trip. I’ve been camping on Whidbey Island before, back in 2017 and in 2021. And I lived on Whidbey from 11 years old to 18 years old. And I’ve been all around Whidbey with my two boats many times. But I’d never even heard of an ancient tree, much less seen it. So when I saw a sign about an ancient tree in the area, I sure paid attention. I asked a Park Ranger who said indeed that tree is there and she told me how to find it.
So I walked from my campsite out to West Beach where there’s that long bit of land that separates Cranberry Lake (on the left) from the waters of the Pacific Ocean (on the right). The ancient tree is in those woods just south of the “clubhouse”.
Cranberry Lake water level is a bit low this time of year because of less fresh water coming in, but also the tide is out right now while I’m standing there taking these photos, so there’s less salt water coming into the lake underground.
I walked past the clubhouse and headed down the paved path towards where I believed the ancient tree is. I sure hope it’s there. The Park Ranger told me the tree is approximately 850 years old. Wow.
With the winds and storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean, and sand for the ground rather than dirt, and salt water rather than fresh water, it’s a tough life for all plants here.
To my right along that walkway are piles and piles of driftwood blown in from ocean storms. The driftwood helps keep the sand from blowing away, and as the driftwood decomposes it becomes fertilizer for other plants and trees and helps retain rainwater/freshwater.
On my left is lots and lots of sand dune grass, then evergreen trees (mostly fir) further back from the ocean.
Every once in a while something different appears … like the mushroom(?) below. I can’t find it online. What is it? The dark stuff in the middle on top of it is sand that was blown onto it.
And then I found it! That 850 year old tree is in the woods, right at the end of that path in the sand through the grass. I couldn’t quite pick out which tree it was, but up that path I went. I was the only human being out here.
Photo below. There it is. Just past the fence. I felt so many things as I walked towards that tree. 850 years old! I hoped it felt ok with my being there. I felt a little bit like it wanted to give me a hug … and if it had tried to, I would have let it.
That small fence surrounds the tree and has numerous signs telling people to stay out, stay away from the tree, do not touch the tree, do not carve your initials in the bark, stay out!
Look at this old, old tree! 850 years old.
Do you see the one-eyed deer near the top of the trunks? I’d guess that the top of the deer head was about 12 feet above the ground.
This tree has lived through 850 winters here … storms, lightning, monstrous winds that blast salt water everywhere, where branches and limbs from other trees have broken off and fallen on this tree, where whole trees next to this one blew down and landed on this tree in gale force winds. Look at the trunks and branches on this tree.
What a miracle. And … then I looked up and noticed the other part of this miracle and that is that the top of this tree is truly, wonderfully healthy. It’s full of hundreds of branches full of rich green needles and hundreds of seed cones. So most (all?) of the other Douglas Fir trees in this area are likely descendants of this one tree.
I stood with this tree for a long time. When I first approached it, I felt as though I wanted to bless it. But I hadn’t been standing there very long when I realized that I was the one who felt blessed by the tree.
And, sigh, eventually I walked further south down that paved path. Not very far away from that ancient tree were two other really old trees. The one below is supposedly around 400 years old.
And the twisted one below is supposedly around 300 years old. I bet both of these trees are descendants of the 850-year-old tree. I bet they talk with each other.
And a bit further down the path, I found this tree (below) which I assumed would be about 10 years old. It is about 8 feet tall. I was told it is about 80 years old. The weather here is REALLY tough on plants!
Further yet down the path I went, and found a boardwalk that led over to a viewpoint out over the ocean water.
What a view! In the photo below, way far away in the distance on the left is the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Way far away in the distance on the right is the south end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Right smack in the middle (it’s a tiny, tiny dark line on the water in the photo) is Smith Island, a National Wildlife Refuge, which houses a lighthouse and radar reflectors so boats and ships don’t run into it at night or in the fog. What a glorious day this was! Look at those clouds.
Then it was time to head back. Rather than head back on that same sunny path that followed along the ocean, I chose to follow a path that led through the dark woods. It was kind of spooky.
Do you remember this song … If you go down in the woods today, you better not go alone, it’s lovely down in the woods today, but it’s safer to stay at home, for every bear that ever there was is gathered there together because, today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
Well, I always thought teddy bears were my friends, so off I went! Besides, I had Little Towhee, that stuffed towhee bird, along with me and SHE wasn’t afraid of teddy bears.
It was dark in there, with huge trees of all sorts, probably hiding all sorts of bears.
These Madrona trees were gorgeous.
And the evergreen trees were full of moss? lichen? Does anyone know what this stuff is? It wasn’t much on trees or plants when there was full shade, but in full sun there was LOTS of it.
Little Towhee was fascinated with it too. She flew up into one of the lower branches that had some of that stuff on it. She sniffed it awhile then had a little bite of it and said it didn’t taste very good, and then said it’s “probably not good for birds.” Then she jumped down and hopped and skipped on up the trail. I hurried to catch up. I sure didn’t want to be in these woods alone!
Eventually, the path opened out just south of that clubhouse. Felt good to see the sunshine again, it really did.
What a lovely spot. Cranberry Lake on the right, the water of the Pacific Ocean on the left. That tree-covered low island on the left is Deception Island. Deception Pass is off to the right of Deception Island.
Rather than take the paved path back to the roadway that led back to my campsite, I clambered over the driftwood and walked on the beach. Gosh this world is wonderful.
Thanks to all of you for coming along with me today. Your company made those deep dark woods a lot less scary! And I know that ancient tree loved our visit. I can still feel the hug from that tree.