Into the Woods at Swan Mill Pond with Washington Outdoor Women
An enthusiastic group of adventurers headed into the wilds, accessible from Mackworth Forest, where Swan Mill Pond Loop, on Tulalip lands, offers a good look at local wetlands, mixed forest ages and stages, and some challenging water crossings that change with the rain forecast. The weather held for our hike, and just the right amount of misty forest magic fell, glistening in the branches and on the mossy rocks along the trail. Late winter seems like a sleeping world outside, and though many plants lay dormant, some Spring buds, flowers, and leafing edges were just starting to emerge. Someone asked about the moss types and what they can be used for. In emergencies, packing a wound, cooling a burn, or as a menstrual pad are some options. Another curious lady pointed out turkey tail mushrooms, and we talked about fungal forms and certain family characteristics to look for when identifying. Though many types of fungus and plants we talked about can be used medicinally, it is best to connect with a certified herbalist and your doctor before taking wild medicine.
Our group sampled the taste of a few wild edible plants, from blackberry buds to crane's bill leaves- eating invasive plants is always helpful to the environment. We talked about forest age, human altered landscape, and what kind of ecology was present. Reading signs like this when in a survival situation helps us know what to expect in the environment. Mapping our trail with landmarks and ecology shifts helps us to familiarize ourselves with typical timber plantations, and the water systems running through that might lead us back to civilization if we get lost. There were countless topics covered, and plenty of input from the group too. It's great to go out together, learning and sharing experiences in the landscape, as well as on it. The established trail was an easy three-mile walk, and we took our time, identifying important elements that could support our needs, from materials to shelter spots, what the important key points of survival are and how to address them in the field.
It was a wet day too, both in the stream crossings we completed, muddy parts of the trail, and the constant mists covering everything in this vibrant temperate rainforest. Everyone kept in good spirits, and all found a little edge in their step as we navigated a log jam crossing at The Swan Mill Pond outflow. The old log crossing has split in recent floods, so the old jam was the new trail forward. With the aid of a few fallen branches, we poled across the chaotic timber pile up, checking to make sure logs were still and our steps balanced on mossy wood. Everyone did a great job supporting each other as we moved across, and the whole group ended up on the other side without slipping in. It's collaborative moments like this that add extra adventure and camaraderie to these women's wilderness wanders. It's such a good feeling to encourage and be encouraged, surmounting obstacles together, trusting the group, knowing the risk is wet feet or bottom, minimal discomfort in a day outing into the woods.
Survival is finding the comfort in discomfort, and we all experience it from time to time in our daily lives, but in nature, the discomfort brings great reward, like tasting the first blackberry buds in the rain, laughing with others as we dip and hop across uneven logs, or standing quietly together listening to the trilling call of a Pacific Wren. This collective dirt time is priceless, sharing the living world and questing for a closer connecting to each other in nature feeds community and self. Naming our food growing wild in the hedges, understanding the age of a forest and which mushrooms grow there, seeing the human influence in our natural places- both devastation and restoration, we humans do both; this expanded awareness of place and time, our relationship to nature, how it feeds us physically, emotionally, and mentally, is the best survival skills we could hope for.
Author - Liz Crain, Leafhopper Farms
