Spinyurchin Nature Notes

Aspen Trees = Sneaky Trees

As we know, aspen groves grow from one seedling and spread by means of root suckering. So, it's not like an oak tree whereby one acorn=one oak tree. It's one seedling and then a whole grove, or colony, some trees suckering out some 40 meters from the parent, making you think it's a whole new grove...but it's not, because they are sneaky. Moreover, while the trees themselves have a life span of 40- 150 years, the root system underground can live for thousands of years. EEEeee. Yeah. I know, a whole new perspective on these trees eh? Apparently, there is a colony in Utah that they estimate to be 80 000 years old.The grove even has its own name for crying out loud; "Pando", which means 'I spread' in Latin.

Oh my, the things they've seen (say in a high-pitched British old lady voice).

So this painting is misleading because there are no aspens here in the Vancouver area, being too warm and wet for their growth. This painting is from a pic from, yes, the Utah holiday. Moreover, the leaves weren't quite changing for the season, sadly, as that would have been something to see. Perhaps it is a good job as I might never have come home, just camped out like some crazed hermit under the aspens, slowly becoming introduced to the colony. I would always be considered an outsider of course, but they would come to accept my human ways.

30th Annual Mushroom Show

The Vancouver Mycological Society had their 30th Annual Mushroom Show at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens on Sunday so we went for a quick look around before it got too crowded. Last year we got there in the middle of the event and you could barely see the table displays due to the crowd that was...well, crowding. This time I could get a closer look, which is nice, especially when you are short.

 

Below is a large tray of coral fungus in a wide range of colours. Always a crowd pleaser them.

 

And time enough in the afternoon for a painting, inspired by all those changing fall colours in the botanical garden.

Mushrooms in Stanley Park

The weather these days are very typical for autumn, one day pouring rain, the next as sunny as can be. We spent the afternoon in Stanley Park, enjoying the aforementioned sun. With all the rain the mushrooms were exploding out of the ground.

and it took all my restraint not to yell, "Smurfs!" when I saw this nice little collection of Amanitas muscaria.

Below is a pencil sketch of Beaver Lake in the Park.

Lower Calf Creek Falls (Escalante National Monument, Utah)

We are really having a gorgeous autumn with the leaf colours. I think the fine weather in the earlier part of this month really enabled the trees to show their best hues. It also helped that the rain started later in the month so as not to knock everything off into the gutters below in a mucky brown mess. I shall get about doing some autumn paintings very soon.

This painting has nothing to do with leaves but I thought I would post it since it is what I have been working on lately. It is "Lower Calf Creek Falls" in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. A spring somewhere seven miles distant, provides this flow of water that makes it way down through the desert, eventually dropping 126 feet over the sandstone cliff edge. You can't see the falls until the very last step of your hike. You turn the bend and there it is, in all its cool emerald and honey-toned glory. The heat from the canyon does not enter here as the finest mist, more felt than seen, blows through the shady cottonwoods that surround the falls.

 

The pool of water is fuh-reezing in a scream-in-your-head kind of way, but still a delicious swim after a hot 5.5 mile hot hike through hot sand and hot rock in hot air.

Zion National Park

In Zion, the campsites are located right in the park, on the floor of the canyon itself and the view all around you is one of magnificent cliffs that soar straight up for thousands of feet.

Fortunately the canyon floor is not a narrow one so the campsites are quite sunny and cheerful with the Virgin River that cut the canyon (and still cuts it) running through the length of the park. There are many black poplars that grow throughout the canyon floor, irrigated by drainage ditches and pump systems, providing shade. It is a busy campground but worth it to be in the heart of the matter. A fantastic backdrop to our campsite in Zion is the picture I painted here of "The Watchman". This is a huge chunk of sandstone, the highest elevation point being 4419 feet. At sunset it would catch the golden rays and look very majestic.

To get a quick idea of what Zion National Park is like, check out this link which has a good representation of views you would see in any area of the park.