Friends Who Clean Boulders

What's clean and freshly done today in this wet moist rainy western Oregon zone will -- in just a few years ahead (1-10 years) -- often will become a renewed moss covered heap of stone virtually appearing as if it were never touched by human hand before.

So if you know various local bouldering teams that go outdoors frequently to their favorite bouldering haven to unearth various new bouldering problems -- we recommend that you set yourself into a pattern of follow that team.

As they unearth a series of boulders, whether a few stones, or a dozen stones at an entire boulder zone, make plans to visit those same bouldering zones in the next few short years just after they had progressed through that zone, because those freshly unearthed stones will still be quite clean (i.e. moss free) for only a short time thereafter.

Now is the time to retag some of those cool ascents without all the extra effort to re-clean de-moss those stone many years later.

Luckily not all boulders re-grow a moss carpet at the same rate. A lot depends on the stone characteristic nuances (surficial features) like grittiness, smoothness, and its compositional makeup (basalt, andesite, dacite, etc). Moss tends to cast new spore seeds in tiny niches of the rock surface, the the seeds sprout (after it becomes moist) in the tiny rock vesicles, usually from a high spot, then progressively down the boulder over a period of years (moss hangs ya know!).

Max vs Buster

No matter where your at, whether it's out rock climbing at the local crag for the day, or out day hiking, it just seems to repeatedly happen. 

One time it might occur during or just after a day hike. Another time it was a day when my friend was up on the sharp end of the climbing rope leading a 5.4 rock climbing route, and his dog begins to roam around the neighborhood near the base of the crag sniffing various artifacts and other peoples stuff in search of who-knows-what. Then . . . .

Dog #1 meets dog #2. After a sniff or two as each dog checks out the opponents backside, one or the other gets into a mental pickle, an invisible overreach has occurred, as one or the other lil mutt has simply gotten too close or looked at the other 4-legged creature with that sneaky sideways glance, then . . . an explosion of fur, barking and dust, and both dogs have erupted in a typical snarling politically motivated dog turf argument. Rufus vs Riley, Max vs Buster, Droolius Caesar vs Fido, Expo vs Sparky -- yep, you get the picture. That's life!

Fir Needles

Did you know that tree fir needs follow a harmonious pattern on the water surface of a slow moving creek or river.

The wind that gently blows across the surface of the water tends to control the pattern of how each fir need lines up (with each other nearby fir needle) by effecting the lighter higher stem end of the needle.

The heavier dark root base of the fir needle sinks slightly below the surface of the water and is controlled by the gently flowing creek water current.

Thus each fir need tends to line up and follow the one before it - all in a slowly curling orderly procession of fir needles, each following its lil' bro' across the water surface, guided by the movement of water and by the gentle touch of a slight breeze disturbing the water surface - kind of like a series of boxcars on a railroad train - or like a string of pearls.