Day 3-Serendipity, Ignorance and the Peeling of Tree Bark

Today's walk was COOL. I mean, really cool. I was driving down a road I never drive down. The plan was that I would get to the end (we live on an island, so there are lots of road ends) and then the pooches and I would get out and explore. However, there was a park sign on the way to the road end, so we turned in. Manzanita Park. Two things you should know about this park if you go.

One--it adjoins a saddle club, so your dog CANNOT be off leash. Sorry. However, the proximity to the saddle club more than makes up for the fact that you have to follow the law, because there are some pretty cool features. You'll see.

Two--If your dog likes horse poop, then beware. There are piles everywhere. Fresh, stale, tartare and poached, it's a poo-eater's paradise. Betty the Dog, a practitioner of coprophagy (poo-eating), was beside herself with glee as we embarked on Day 3 of Walk the Year in this new place. Dogs Tootie and LaRue are not regular scat-chompers, so their focus was on the trail, not so much the copious piles of BM. But Betty...I think I could've cut off Betty's two front legs and she still would've been pushing herself frenetically through that forest with her hind legs, trying to gobble dooky like a deranged canine wheelbarrow.

Dung aside, this was beautiful. Winding trails that let you get lost quickly, ages-old overgrown and mossy equestrian hurdles and props, and the smells of green everywhere. I will be going here at least twice weekly--that's how cool it is.

There was so much rustling in the bushes as we roamed, that the dogs kept getting distracted, even Betty. Critters galore, scampering through the forest. Then I heard some bigger crashing, and I thought, "Doh! Sasquatch!" My heart even jumped a little, and I'm a fairly stalwart gal.

No. No Sasquatch. People. Of the Native American persuasion. Peeling BARK OFF THE TREES!
Like this...

So, I sort of backed into the bushes and snapped some pictures surreptitiously--VERY Nancy Drew--thinking I would catch some bad guys. After I snapped some shots, they saw my flash. NOT very Nancy Drew. I had to step forward and show myself. Asked them if they were peeling bark off the trees.

"Yes. For baskets. We make baskets."

Oh. Asked them if it hurt the trees.

"No, it grows back. Eventually."

Really?

"Yeah, eventually."

Sigh. So, I didn't want to be an uppity, uninformed person. I don't know if it grows back. I'm getting online to research it, though. You bet I will. I walked away, feeling vaguely sick that maybe I should've known more so I could stop someone from hurting trees, but then I thought, maybe I shouldn't be getting riled up about some Natives getting the supplies they need to make some traditional crafts. Ignorance is such helplessness, sometimes. Unless you're walking in a poo forest with Coprophagous Betty. Then it's probably best to not know what she's munchin'.

 

I hope you enjoyed your walk today, 

Dani