Field Notes From the Green River Gorge Mountains to Valley Greenway
Viewing entries tagged
Green-Duwamish River
The Grand Canyon National Park is an example of a conservation success that most people will be familiar with.
Closer to home, in our own backyard, is the Green River Gorge. While the Gorge isn’t on the scale of the Grand Canyon, it is, in its own right, a unique river-cut gorge.
The rain is coming down in the Pacific Northwest in sheets, for days, and is unrelenting. The grey skies threaten to send us into hibernation. We sit inside, in our warm houses, threatening to sit on the couch until spring. It’s winter here and, well, it’s depressing at times.
If you are willing to brave the weather, grab your umbrella and raincoat, then venture out the Green River Gorge or the lower Green-Duwamish River and step into an otherworldly riverscape.
Snow has a magical way of transforming the stark bareness of a winter landscape. A white blanket of snow covering the ground hides the decaying leaves and limp brown grass. The bare branches of trees dramatically contrast against the white. Red berries hidden in dark shadows of winter bushes pop as the shadows are now brightened by snow. The forest canopy is renewed below dark snow laden clouds. Quiet lingers between crunching sweeps of footsteps through the snow...
My time in the river helped me learn more about the rhythm of the river. The Green river isn’t just a river. It is a multi-layered story of currents, water, seasons, shorelines, habitat, stone, fish, wildlife, forests, and humans. All the elements that make up the watershed create the river. The story unfolds in the myriad of springs and streams that flow from drops of water that begin as snow or rain. The springs and streams flow into the river giving it shape and form. The water forms the carved sandstone edges, the forest around the river, and the currents that follow the channels downstream.
Through my passion to promote conservation of the Green River Gorge Greenway I developed a love of conservation photography. I bought my first digital camera in 2001 and began documenting the unique beauty and wildness of the Green River Gorge. It has been 18 years and I'm still surprised by something new or something that has changed along the river corridor. I've changed cameras over the years but not my mission to document and preserve the Gorge.
What do orcas and salmon have in common?
Hungry beaver along the Green River…
Where the trail meets the river a giant rock spirals out of the deep green water like a whale. White foam speckles the surface of the deep green color of the water. At low water in July and August a rocky beach frames a deep green pool beneath the Whale rock. A large flat rock sits in the middle of the pool. Great for soaking up the sun on a hot day.
The road winds down a long hill. As it turns it passes a couple of houses, a spring spilling out of the hillside and what looks like an overgrown R.V. park. The blinking light is a stop sign to either stop or go for cars on either side of a one lane bridge. Only one car from either direction can cross the bridge at a time. The Green River Gorge Road (or Lawson Road as it is known in Black Diamond) crosses over one of the most beautiful sections of the Green River Gorge…and one of the more accessible areas outside of Washington State Parks.
Why is it called Hanging Gardens?
"Hanging Gardens is was so aptly named by Wolf Bauer because of the native vegetation perched along the edges of eroding sandstone. Small Cedars along with other smaller native plants cling to their narrow purchase".— Lisa Parsons, local river conservationist
Snow has a magical way of transforming the stark bareness of a winter landscape. A white blanket of snow covering the ground hides the decaying leaves and limp brown grass. The bare branches of trees dramatically contrast against the white. Red berries hidden in dark shadows of winter bushes pop as the shadows are now brightened by snow. The forest canopy is renewed below dark snow laden clouds. Quiet lingers between crunching sweeps of footsteps through the snow...
Today, with gratitude, I'd like to share some of the small things I've discovered in the Green River Gorge that affirm that life continues in the rhythm of seasons, cycles of life, and that everything has it's place and time.
The Green River Cleanup on May 6th was a successful event with high flows through the Green River Gorge and lots of participants helping to cleanup the Green River Gorge! Check out our run through the legendary rapids Mercury, the Nozzle, and Lets Make a Deal at 3200 c.f.s.
I was honored this week this weekend to receive the John Beal Environmental Stewardship award at the Duwamish Alive event on Earth Day this Saturday for my conservation work as a founder of Middle Green River Coalition and my conservation work in the watershed including the Green River Gorge Greenway.
The Power of Place • Conservation and Travel Photography Exhibition
Photographer: Lisa Parsons
Come See the Exhibit at the
West Seattle's Art Walk
https://wsartwalk.org/about/
April 13th, 5:00—9pm.
Exhibition April—May 2017
Join the Black Diamond Historical Society. They are conducting the final tour of the year of the former coal mining town of Franklin on Saturday, March 4.
Franklin was a company-owned coal mining town in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The town site was nestled alongside the Green River Gorge and has many cement foundations, a 1,300-foot coal mine shaft, cemetery, and other reminders of what it was like when coal was king in the King County area.
The first exhibition from my Green River Gorge Greenway documentary in Enumclaw Washington on Friday February 3rd was a success.
The City of Enumclaw’s Gallery 2017 presents:
Photographer: Lisa Parsons
Green River Gorge: A Visual Journey
February 2, 2017 through February 28, 2017
Join Photographer, River Conservationist and Adventurer
Lisa Parsons
for a Gallery Opening
on Friday February 3rd from 3—5pm
Brilliant autumn color in western Washington is never a guaranteed as it is in other areas of the country on the drier side of Washington state. No autumn is alike due to the influence of factors such as temperature and moisture before and during autumn.
Who knew? Guest appearances by two of our local otters in the Green River Gorge.
