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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 2018)
4A ܂ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 ܂ APPEAL TRIBUNE Life in the Valley Wolf Rock is the largest monolith in Oregon. PHOTO COURTESY OF BOBBIE SNEAD The Naturalist Eye: Wolf Rock Bobbie Snead Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Change is constant in nature. Noth- ing ever stays the same. As a lifelong student of the Cascades, I have always been fascinated by the process of change that is continually on display in our mountains. Wolf Rock, near McKen- zie Bridge, is a great place to ponder nat- ural changes on a grand scale. Wolf Rock is the largest monolith in Oregon. A monolith is a geologic forma- tion that consists of one single immense rock. Wolf Rock towers 900 feet above the forest floor. By comparison, the famous Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach rises a mere 235 feet above the sand. The powerful forces of glaciers, wind and water exposed the gigantic Wolf Rock massif as erosion slowly worked away at the surrounding softer landscape. Consisting of a very hard volcanic rock called andesite, Wolf Rock is the re- sistant plug of a 40-million-year-old stratovolcano that may have been as tall as Mt. Jefferson. The volcanic cone dis- appeared bit by bit over the millennia and the huge solidified magma core is all that remains. Despite its size, this mega rock is not known to many besides a handful of rock climbers and a few Forest Service employees. If you were to ask most Ore- gonians if they’ve ever heard of it, you would probably be met with puzzled looks and blank stares. Wolf Rock is one of Oregon’s best-kept secrets. No signs direct drivers to it and there is no park- ing lot or gleaming restroom waiting for visitors. Its remoteness has kept its se- cret safe. A trail of billowing dust follows my car as I navigate the maze of gravel roads to the base of Wolf Rock. I catch a tantalizing glimpse of its prominence through the windshield but it immedi- ately disappears behind a curtain of trees. I still can’t see the rock when I stop and get out of the car but its hulk- ing presence is almost palpable. I walk a short way along the road and come to a break in the trees. Above me towers an enormous verti- cal wall. Ages ago a huge slab broke away leaving a 60-foot overhanging arch as a façade. I find the trace of a rough trail and it leads me up past a ta- lus apron of boulders and rubble to the base of the wall. Here, I feel a bit like a flea on an elephant’s toe. I know I’m on something enormous, but it’s impossi- ble to see its true magnitude from here. Rock becomes soil The rock is warm and rough to the touch. Lichens cover the surface and contribute to the process of turning rock into soil in their small but important way. Lichens are crusty growths that can sustain themselves without soil. As pioneering organisms they are the first settlers on the frontier of bare rock. They secrete acids that crumble the rock’s surface and create tiny pockets of poor soil. Moss can then gain a foothold. As some of the mosses die, organic ma- terial is built up. Soon a seed bed is cre- ated for larger plants. Eventually, trees take root and a forest is born. Frustrated with my inability to see all of Wolf Rock at once, I decide to head for nearby Carpenter Mountain. That sum- mit will provide the vantage point from which to see the rock in its entirety. The Carpenter Mountain Trail is just over a mile long. I make good time up the Garden advice: Gather ye rose hips Gardening Carol Savonen Guest columnist Question: Is it better to leave the large rose hips on my roses or should I prune them off? Why do some roses have big lovely hips and others don’t? Answer: Technically, rose hips are the fruit of the rose plant. The fruit is made up of a fused floral base of the rose, which contains small dry fruits each containing a single seed. Rose hips are most often red to orange in color. Large rose hips are most common in wild and close-to-wild, old-fashioned rose varieties such as the shrubby, thorny rugosa roses (also known as beach roses in New England). So I as- sume you have a rugosa rose or some other old-fashioned variety if you are seeing large hips. Modern, fancier roses, including the hybrid teas, floribundas, and grandiflo- ras, often bloom throughout the grow- ing season, especially if fertilized and deadheaded (the spent blossoms are removed). So deadheading is important with these modern cultivars to keep them blooming. Deadheading wilder shrub and old-fashioned garden roses isn’t necessary, because they have only one flush of bloom during the growing season, then they are done. The hips on many of these modern roses are not as large or showy as in old- fashioned or rugosa roses. Modern va- rieties sometimes have so many petals that pollinators can’t get in there to pol- linate the flower, which is necessary to set fruit and form hips. The simpler the rose flower, the more likely it will be pollinated and will form nice hips. Singles and semi-doubles are best for hips. These varieties of rugosa roses (Rosa rugosa) are among those known for their lovely large hips: 'Alba', 'Frau Dagmar Hastrup', and ‘Scabrosa' and ‘Hansa.’ The sweetbrier rose (Rosa rubrifolia) and many other shrub and old garden roses have lovely hips as well, including the cultivars'Adelaide Hoodless', 'Champlain', 'Henry Kelsey', 'Jens Munk', and 'Morden Centennial'. Heirloom Garden Roses in St. Paul, Oregon has an extensive list of roses that produce larger more lovely hips at https://www.heirloomroses.com/info/ care/roses/roses-with-hips/ Lovely points of color in the winter garden, rose hips are good food for wildlife, especially birds. High in vita- min C, rose hips can be gathered (as long as they haven’t been sprayed) for making jelly, jam, or teas. They are also an attractive addition to an arrange- ment or wreath. During World War II, when citrus fruits were largely unavailable in Brit- ain, the government encouraged volun- teers to collect wild rose hips to make rose hip syrup as a source vitamin C for children. Native Americans ate rose hips wherever the wild rose grew. Rose hips also contain other benefi- cial vitamins and are a good source of pectin. Rose hips are used in folk reme- dies to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Go to any natural food or vitamin store and you will see that rose Large rose hips are most common in wild and close-to-wild, old-fashioned rose varieties such as the shrubby, thorny rugosa roses (also known as beach roses in New England). hips are in a wide variety of natural products, from tea to cold remedies, from diuretics to cosmetics. Harvest rose hips when they turn red and soft. Waiting for a frost to pick them encourages them to sweeten. But in our maritime climate, rain often comes before frost and make encourage mold growth on rose hips. So gather ye rose hips while ye may. Apologies to 17th century English poet Robert Herrick, author of "To the Vir- gins, to Make Much of Time" which be- gins: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles to- day Tomorrow will be dying.” Carol Savonen is a naturalist and writer. She is an associate professor emeritus at OSU and tends a large gar- den in the Coast Range Hills west of Phi- lomath with her husband and dogs. She can be reached at Carol.Savonen@ore- gonstate.edu or c/o: EESC, 422 Kerr Ad- min. Bldg., OSU, Corvallis, OR 97331. well-defined route, stopping only to sample the huckleberries from the bushes that line the trail. Halfway up I traverse a steep meadow marked with tiny blue flags denoting scientific study plots for botanists and entomologists working in this research area. One switchback turn through the forest brings me to a view of the lookout build- ing perched on Carpenter’s rocky sum- mit. Scrambling up the boulders cover- ing the last few yards to the top, I am fi- nally rewarded with an unobstructed view of Wolf Rock. It rises above the thick forest like a tall ship anchored in a dark green sea. A long vertical crack di- vides the western end of the rock from its main body. A line of maturing firs marches up this narrow cleft. The huge arch that I stood under earlier is a tiny pockmark on the rock’s lower surface. Wolf Rock is a colossal monolith. Gazing in wonder, I think about how long it will take before this massif is re- duced to soil. As the relentless forces of time take their toll, this citadel will be reduced to a rounded mound of forest duff covered in tall trees. Change is con- stant in nature. Nothing ever stays the same. EXPLORE OREGON PODCAST South Falls at Silver Falls State Park. JOE JOHNSTON Silver Falls has a wild history Zach Urness and David Davis Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK In this episode of the Explore Ore- gon Podcast, outdoors editor Zach Ur- ness and producer David Davis uncov- er the wild history behind this beloved Mid-Willamette Valley destination. Learn what happened when a dare- devil turned a trip over the falls into a money making opportunity and find out why Silver Falls isn't Oregon's sec- ond national park. We'll also tell you about different ways to explore the ten waterfalls and learn about backcountry trails that go overlooked by most visitors. Subscribe for more: Listen to the entire episode below or find us on Ap- ple Podcasts or Google Play Podcasts and subscribe on your platform of choice to get future episodes. Ready for more? Check out more episodes at StatesmanJournal.com/explore
