Wednesday, June 3, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Black Butte hike reveals extent of pine pollen
By Craig F. eisenbeis
Correspondent
Certainly, the annual bliz-
zard of pine pollen is annoy-
ing when it turns my red car
yellow or coats my front porch
with that yellow dust ready
to be tracked into the house.
Still, I didn’t fully recognize
the extent of the pollination
in progress until I hiked to the
top of Black Butte last week.
Looking down at Sis-
ters Country from more than
6,400 feet, we saw a haze over
the local forests. At first we
assumed it was smoke, and
we could see some controlled
burns, so that seemed to be a
logical assumption. Then, we
noticed a few nearby billow-
ing plumes of the stuff, and we
wondered if there were fires
starting up all over the area.
Looking closer, however,
we saw that these new plumes
of “smoke” had a yellowish
cast to them; and we realized
that what we were seeing were
massive plumes of pine pollen
stirred up by just the slightest
breeze. In fact, it soon became
apparent that much of the vis-
ible haze over the entire area
was actually pine pollen.
According to Forest Ser-
vice information, ponderosa
pine pollen is shed from May
25 to June 15; so, I guess it’s
right on schedule and we have
a couple more weeks to go
before it subsides entirely.
Unlike the more reactive
juniper pollen, I’ve heard
many people comment that
they are surprised not to be
suffering from any allergy
problems — in spite of being
doused with the stuff. In fact,
according to www.pollen
library.com, “No allergy has
been reported for ponderosa
pine.” I know, of course, that
photo by lynn WoodWard
Nature’s painting: pollen puddles cropped up across Sisters Country.
$
10
OFF
somewhere, someone is suf-
fering; so don’t write me to
complain. I was surprised,
however, to discover that ben-
eficial health effects are often
attributed to pine pollen!
I’m not suggesting that you
go out and intentionally try to
eat and breathe the stuff, but I
found some sources that sug-
gested doing exactly that! In
fact, I found several places to
buy pine pollen for benefits
such as perpetual youth, boost-
ing testosterone, enhancing
“bodily functions,” reduced
cholesterol, stronger libido,
“extraordinary increases in
stamina,” improved immune
systems, and....well, you get
the idea.
So, if you’ve given up try-
ing to wash your car three
times a day, at least take some
solace in the idea that there
may actually be benefits to
being exposed to this stuff.
Most everyone seems to agree
that there is more pollen this
year than most; and scien-
tists have noted that there are
unusually active years in the
ponderosa reproductive cycle.
So, this may be one of those
years.
Anyway, getting back to
the subject of hiking, which
is what I was supposed to
be writing about in the first
place, it probably comes as
no surprise to anyone to learn
that Black Butte is entirely
photo by craiG F. eiSenbeiS
this year, Black Butte, always a popular local hike, is also a good place to
observe the vast clouds of pine pollen currently being shed.
snow-free. This might not be
noteworthy except for the fact
that I’ve often encountered
snow up there well into June,
but we all know what a hor-
rible snow year we’ve had.
There were plenty of peo-
ple up there, with more headed
up as we were heading down
— in spite of the fact that
thunder and lightning were
beginning to build. In gen-
eral, those hikers were more
pleased with the fact that the
unsettled weather was cooler
to hike in than they were con-
cerned about being struck by
lightning.
Another interesting feature
of the hike is the rather aggres-
sive golden mantled ground
squirrels at the summit. They
harassed us unmercifully
while we ate lunch, and one
even jumped into my lap in
anticipation of a free meal.
Now, I know that Jim Ander-
son will tell you that they
carry everything from rabies
to the plague; but you have to
admit that they are pretty cute.
The round trip from the
mid-mountain trailhead is a
little under four miles, with an
elevation gain of something
on the order of 1,600 feet. It’s
a great hike for conditioning,
and is often a social event. I
rarely hike that trail without
seeing someone I know.
The improved parking
area, complete with toilets,
means that this is, of course,
a fee area. So, if you do not
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