Walks with Moss

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Duckabush

The head is not really buried, the elk was on its side

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

2012 stats

P value of .03 shows that longer hikes tend to involve more elevtion gain while R squared value says that the length of the hike does not predict the elevation gain.

algae, lichen and moss oh my!

	White: Very Low Algae, Moss, Lichen and Fungus Growth
	Yellow: Low Algae, Moss, Lichen and Fungus Growth
	Blue: Moderate Algae, Moss, Lichen and Fungus Growth
	Red: Severe Algae, Moss, Lichen and Fungus Growth

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Vulpicida canadensis lichen made of algae and fungi

Vulpicida canadensis grows mostly east of the Cascades so I have never seen it before. I was excited to discover it at Hydro Cushman park. There is actually quite a lot of it there. This lichen is bright yellow. Even the medulla (middle bits) of the lichen are yellow. The yellow color of the fungal hyphea (this lichen is made of a fungus and an algae) is yellow and that makes it easier to see. Unfortunately the lichen disintegrated when I put KOH on it. But that made the algae easier to see.

http://www.sharnoffphotos.com/index.html has a lot of great lichen photos for sale. Remember, just because it's on the Internet that does not mean it's free!

This image is created by user Jason Hollinger (jason) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images.

Algae surrounded by see through fungal hyphea (the filaments are fungal hyphea)

Cross section of lichen apothecia (basically a lichen flower) showing
spores inside of asci

Close up of ascus with spores in it

Fungal hyphea their natural color in the middle of the lichen

This is a colony of bacteria that was living in the lichen. Scientists do not know for sure what these particular non-photosynthetic bacteria do in lichens. Are they harmful, helpful or indifferent for the lichen? Nearly all lichens have them.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

South Mountain Inversion

Inversion layer forms a wall

Headed up South Mountain to get some exercise and to get up into the sun. It worked. The inversion layer is really low. At home there was fog, clouds and stale air but at the South Mountain the sky was blue and the air was fresh. South Mountain is a very ugly slog on Green Diamond aka Simpson lands. But the view at the top almost makes the slog worth it. With 2,400 feet elevation gain in 8 miles round trip, it's a pretty good winter time work out too.

The gate was above the inversion and we had blue skies for the entire hike. We headed back down just before the sun set. Niether of us wanted to go back into the clouds and the smog, so we drug it out as long as we could.

The snow started about 1/2 way up and it was compacted and a bit icy. I wore my hiking crampons, my partner work his microspikes. There was a warm summery breeze coming off the snow, it was amazing.

The summit was windy and cold as usual but it was also sunny. The ugly cities and most of the ugly clear cuts were below the clouds, but the mountain tops and the ocean were in view. That's just how I like it.

On the way down the sun was very low and briefly it hit the inversion layer just right so I was able to get the shot above. F8 and be there! Well actually it was 1/30 sec; f/7.1; ISO 400. I had to take a lot of shots to get one that was not too blurry with that slow shutter speed.

8 miles with 2,400 feet elevation gain