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October 6, 2007 : Skagit Valley Provincial Park
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Keywords: Hylocomiaceae | Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) B.S.G. | Skagit Valley Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada
I made my annual trek yesterday to view the autumn colours (particularly Acer circinatum) in Manning Provincial Park and the adjacent Skagit Valley Provincial Park. In my opinion, the colours were average or a bit better along the Highway 3 roadside, so not as spectacular as the previous two years. On the hiking trail I went on, though, the colours were non-existent to below par. Admittedly, the trails don't seem to be as good as the highway roadside for colour, but the trails have the distinct advantage of being away from wind-causing, noisy highway traffic.
After a brief bit of disappointment regarding the maples, I mentally switched gears and started to photograph other things, like this scene from the Skagit River trail. There are two or three spots along the first 6km (3.75 miles) of the trail where the floor of the forest is dominated by the moss shown here, Hylocomium splendens for stretches of 50m (160feet) or so. Invariably, these are areas shaded by coniferous trees and therefore with acidic soils, but that combination of factors is present elsewhere along the trail where the moss isn't found in such quantity. So why only in these brief stretches? I don't know. If forced to make a guess, I would suggest two possible reasons (or a combination thereof): marginally increased local humidity or that this is a successional stage in the re-establishment of plants after a rock and mud slump. The latter strikes me as a good possibility; the ground beneath the thick layer of moss was quite rocky and, after the heavy rains of last year, a new rock and mud slump occurred elsewhere along the trail — approximately 50m wide!
From the Bryophyte Flora of North America entry for Hylocomium splendens, we learn that stair-step moss or stepped feathermoss is “one of the most common and widespread mosses of the circumboreal forest and Arctic tundra, which covers huge areas of Alaska, Canada, northern Europe, and Siberia” and also present in northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. To view more photographs of Hylocomium splendens, visit the Bryophytes of North America photo gallery or the Northern Ontario Plant Database (the latter has a description of the moss and more resource links.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 6, 2007 7:20 AM
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Posted by: Lucia at October 6, 2007 9:04 AM
Gorgeous shot today! Looks so lush.
Posted by: Tina Trivett at October 6, 2007 9:43 AM
So no coincidence that the 2-years-ago photo is the PNW's fall color star, Acer circinatum?
Posted by: Andrea at October 6, 2007 10:19 AM
Oh, my gosh! This one took me clear back to 1950, when I visited the Olympic Mountain area, and was overwhelmed by the moss and the trees and the dead logs and branches. It was beautiful then, and this is beautiful now. Thank you for giving me a visit back to when I was 10. Great picture!!
Posted by: Sue at October 6, 2007 11:28 AM
this is the forest primeval the murming pines
and hemlocks---bearded with moss and in garments
green -- indistinct in the twilight stand
the druids of old
our american poet longfellow
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at October 6, 2007 12:10 PM
I have never seen such lush and large areas of Moss. What a delight. I have never seen this in Massachusetts. I have always seen mosses in an acid soil places. I really am impressed by the wonderful Photograph. I am thinking that the trees may be Oak or one the of the acid loving trees.
Thank you for all I learned today,
Margaret-Rae
Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at October 6, 2007 12:29 PM
I read in George Schenk's Moss Gardening that it is the absence of vegetation that encourages moss growth. At least that is what I remember now. This is such a beautiful picture and I would love to be able to visit it someday.
Posted by: Bobbie at October 6, 2007 5:59 PM
Hi Daniel, Fabulous picture. Would you be willing to share how you took it? I have tried more than once to get this effect on trails in the northeast and have failed totally. Thanks for all the info, too.
Posted by: deb lievens at October 7, 2007 6:29 AM
Thank you all. Deb, this was taken with a wide angle lens. Careful attention was paid to finding a site with a small open area so that a nearby tree wouldn't dominate the photograph (as so often happens with wide angle images in forests, at least for me). I actually walked by this site where I took the photograph, and then backtracked about 40m to return to it, since I thought to myself that it was a relatively rare find to locate a spot with an open area (after considering it while I was walking).
As for the technicals, hmm... f/13? f/16? Something like that. I didn't have a polarizer on the lens. No wind, so I used iso 100 and whatever exposure time was required (sorry, I don't recall). Lastly, and this perhaps quite important, is that this photograph was taken looking up a fairly steep hill (15 degree incline?). This allowed me to get the camera almost as high as possible on the tripod (nearly on tiptoe to use the viewfinder) and shoot with the camera angled slightly downward to eliminate the high-contrast, milky sky, filling the frame with forest.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at October 9, 2007 10:00 AM
So who cares if there are no fall colored leaves present. This is just beautiful.
Posted by: Donald DeLano at October 6, 2008 10:49 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Daniel, when I saw the picture immediately I thought about the local humidity ... Beautiful place and bright change mental! The colors of the fall will arrive!