Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest by Amanda Lewis
Author:Amanda Lewis [Lewis, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nature, Plants, Trees, Biography & Autobiography, Environmentalists & Naturalists, Travel, Special Interest, Ecotourism
ISBN: 9781771646741
Google: U4iKEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B0B6MMW2GN
Barnesnoble: B0B6MMW2GN
Goodreads: 61728670
Publisher: Greystone Books
Published: 2023-05-30T05:00:00+00:00
â 10 â Slow and Low
GRAND FIR
âDonât get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you canât do anything, donât get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before itâs ready to come undone. You have to realize itâs going to be a long process and that youâll work on things slowly, one at a time.â
HARUKI MURAKAMI, Norwegian Wood
I SLOWED MY CAR AND STOPPED. A thick sheet of gray and blue ice covered the access road curving out of sight. Kate and I still had about seven miles to go before we hit the trailhead that would bring us to a grove containing the largest grand fir in BC, which officially made it the grandest. The Chilliwack Giant was 7 4 meters high with a DBH of 2 .16 meters and crown of 11 meters, which Randy Stoltmann had come across growing along the Chilliwack River in the 1980s.
The sun was angling low over the hemlocks of the adjacent provincial park, and weâd eaten all the dill pickle chips. Weâd spent the morning at a gold-mining conference in downtown Vancouver. Kate had a press pass to attend, as she was researching placer mining in northern BC. I was there for the gold-panning demonstration and the freebies, loading up with pens and an all-weather notebook. Weâd worn matching green plaid Patagonia shirts for the occasion, mine a gift from Kate, and were both feeling dressed up in our Patagucci.
âIâm not so sure Trouble can make it down here,â I said to Kate, staring at the ice sheet, my left cheek ablaze with a rainbow Iâd had painted on in the kidsâ zone at the conference.
âIt will be fine, Sappy Pants,â Kate said. âJust put on your chains.â Kate, who biked the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk before they built an actual road, moved to Atlin after falling in love with the landscape at a glacier field school. She was used to wheels on ice. Iâd earned the name Sappy Pants after sitting on a sap-covered bench while bike touring with Kate, forever marking my fleece camp pants.
I hadnât expected snow and ice in the Fraser Valley at this time of yearâyou know, January in Canada. I groaned. âI donât have chains.â Weâd driven almost three hours, screaming along with Beastie Boys most of the way, and Iâd expected the search from here to be a cakewalk. We even had a map to the tree courtesy of Stoltmannâs hiking guide.
I tried driving forward on the gently sloping hill and started sliding. âNope,â I said. âIâm not getting stuck down a remote road on a Sunday evening.â I steered for the rough shoulder and reversed Trouble, letting out a heavy sigh.
âI would have done the same thing!â said Kate. I didnât believe her.
Giving up on the tree for that day, we parked next to the gates to the provincial park. Whiskey jacks hopped from branch to branch, hoping for handouts. I held on to Kateâs arm for balance as she skate-stepped toward the lake, green and clear.
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