Strange things found in the woods

[fishpoem]

For kicks I went out to where I remember finding this. I'm sure it's still out there, rusted down into the moss somewhere. I could estimate the location to within a few acres, but to actually find something again out in that dense coastal undergrowth would be a miracle.

There was also a small shack way back in the woods on the property, that supposedly some old guy used to live in, back in the '50's. I found the remains of the roof sometime in the '80s, but any and all remnant of it has long ago been swallowed by the woods, and I could estimate the original location now to within maybe 50 feet. If it were still there, it would be in this photo:

View attachment 710217

Cool photos. Good ole fog-drenched Oregon wetlands. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sobo]

I can't afford to have a girlfriend... I'm married!

It's easy! You just have to make sure the two never meet...

 

[sobo]

View attachment 710217

I see it! I see it!

 

[jbett98]

Anymore, I'm finding the strangest things on the city streets in Portland.

 

[sobo]

And in Seattle!

 

[CamoDeafie]

It's easy! You just have to make sure the two never meet...

Unless you're fortunate enough that your wife lets you have a mistress (Yeah.... no. Lets not go there)

 

[sobo]

I'm thinking of a number... It's between two and four...

 

[The Heretic]

Abandoned Japanese Village Discovered in Canadian Forest

 

[DeanMk]

Interesting.
I know, sometime around the turn of the century, there was a lumber mill on Bainbridge Island and a whole town sprung up around it.
It was all Japanese manned and only existed until sometime in the 20's or 30's.
There's a city park out in that location now and you can't even tell anyone ever lived there unless you hike up the hill and take a looksee.
I wonder if the two sites are interconnected, somehow.

Dean

 

[HaveGun]

Interesting.
I know, sometime around the turn of the century, there was a lumber mill on Bainbridge Island and a whole town sprung up around it.
It was all Japanese manned and only existed until sometime in the 20's or 30's.
There's a city park out in that location now and you can't even tell anyone ever lived there unless you hike up the hill and take a looksee.
I wonder if the two sites are interconnected, somehow.

Dean

That's one of the things that is unfortunate due to the climate and logging practices here; abandoned structures and homestead sites get swallowed up by the land or destroyed by logging within a few decades.

When I lived in Arizona, I could find and explore old mining and homestead sites from the 1800's that were remarkably well preserved.

 

[fishpoem]

Abandoned Japanese Village Discovered in Canadian Forest

Fascinating. Like those Russian dolls, a mystery within a mystery...

 

[DeanMk]

That's one of the things that is unfortunate due to the climate and logging practices here; abandoned structures and homestead sites get swallowed up by the land or destroyed by logging within a few decades.

When I lived in Arizona, I could find and explore old mining and homestead sites from the 1800's that were remarkably well preserved.

Only in Western Washington. Out in Eastern Washington, where the climate is similar to what you experience in Arizona, 150 year old cabin's can still be found dotted around the landscape.

 

[The Heretic]

Only in Western Washington. Out in Eastern Washington, where the climate is similar to what you experience in Arizona, 150 year old cabin's can still be found dotted around the landscape.

Two thirds of Oregon & Washington is an arid desert - more or less. More so Oregon than WA state

 

[sobo]

Shrub steppe, actually...

Wikipedia article

Rain shadow effects

East of the Cascades, a large region experiences strong rain shadow effects. Semi-arid conditions occur in much of eastern Washington with the strongest rain shadow effects at the relatively low elevations of the central Columbia Plateau—especially the region just east of the Columbia River from about the Snake River to the Okanagan Highland. Thus, instead of rain forests, much of eastern Washington is covered with grassland and shrub-steppe.

 

[The Heretic]

Shrub steppe actually

The further south you get the more arid it is.

 

[DeanMk]

Me pheasant hunting with my dad. Quincy/Ephrata area, probably 1978...



...looks pretty arid to me.

 

[sobo]

That's a classic example of shrub steppe terrain. Arid, no. Semi-arid, yes.

Ephrata

Semi-arid climate

 

[DeanMk]

...coulda fooled me. Even the nearby duck pond was a dried up mud hole.

 

[CLT65]

These are the coastal Oregon "fog drenched wetlands" (love that description) that I know so well, and grew up in. The underbrush is so thick that you can't get through it without a machete, and even then it's a lot of work.

They're full of Red Cedar, Port Orford Cedar, Douglas Fir, Alder, Oak, Maple, Vine Maple, Myrtle (all covered in moss), various ferns, skunk cabbage and cattails in the swamp, and a ton of other stuff that grows that I've forgotten about. There's a lot of overgrown blackberry brambles in the open areas, dense buck-brush and scotch broom in the reprod. People from the eastern side of the state are often surprised at how dense and impenetrable it can be. I used to love going out in the woods around my place with a chainsaw and clear out all the underbrush. It would takes days, weeks off and on, but I'd end up with a beautiful park-like setting under the trees.

Even years later, mostly all that grows back under mature timber is the ferns. I have very fond memories of spending a day with a saw clearing brush, then burning it in a bonfire and having friends over to sit around the fire for a nice evening until well after dark.

Added: forgot about the Oregon Grape, salal, salmonberries, nettles, red huckleberries, black huckleberries, how many types of ferns and how many types of blackberries... I could go on for a while. I'd forgotten how much I miss it.

Added again: my main point in this, before I got carried away reminiscing, was that in woods like these, stuff disappears fast. The hermit's shack way in the back was (I believe) in the '40s and '50s, with traces existing in the '80s. Now every trace has been swallowed by the woods. It would take someone with an exact knowledge of where it was, diligently digging and searching to find any sign of it. I looked about 20 years ago, and all I could find was some very old garbage buried in the dirt- some bottles and pieces of an old iron stove.

 

[DeanMk]

Weird. Looks a little like the woods here, behind the house.