22: details

Dear Friend,

What are you up to today? Patching the holes in small watercraft? Creating new ways to cook zucchini? Anxiously awaiting the arrival of houseguests? We hope that you and yours are doing well.

Last week we were camped in the Tahoe National Forest at a ‘family’ campground. The nearby lake is fed by two fresh water springs, dammed to create a reservoir. It’s a beautiful place with a lot of thriving plant life. If you look closely, you can see signs of fire.

Old growth trees have survived for hundreds of years, younger trees, madrone, incense cedars, tall pines and fir trees, manzanita, wild flowers… a wonderful forest for deer, fox, bear, squirrel, song birds, woodpeckers, osprey, eagles… and, because the forest grows around a lake, the geese and ducks enjoy!

As I mentioned in my last letter, we went there to meet up with our friend, Kevin, (and his dog, Sasha), whom we first met in 2023. At that time, he was the camp host at a campground up in Oregon along the Rogue river. It was good to visit with them again.

Kevin is interested in the history of his surroundings. He digs deeper than Google for his information. He learns the back stories from local experts and residents, families that have lived in the area for generations, and reads detailed accounts written by explorers and guides.

Along with Sasha, Kevin explores the land, noting important features that would have given indigenous people reason to linger or to move on. He has high regard for accuracy and is patient as he seeks to learn what we weren’t taught in school. It is his joy to put the pieces together, to understand the significance of natural resources in historical relationships between peoples and their environments and he enjoys sharing his discoveries with others. Good conversations!

It’s summertime so the fresh water springs are at a trickle.

Kevin showed us this fossil that he’d found in the creek. A plant, maybe a type of fern, was captured in the sediment thousands of years ago.

Kevin has a working relationship with the Forestry Service and helps out, especially in the area of Fire abatement (not a small task) and education. While we were camping last week, there were no campground fire restrictions (a seasonal, no-fire restriction will be implemented soon). The forest floor is dry, a tinderbox. It was unsettling as, even on windy evenings, most campers used their fire pits. Is it possible that making smores is one of the top reasons for families to go camping together? Fires do break out and sometimes there are agencies or even local residents that can keep the fire from growing out of control. But fire is a thing.

As a camp host, Kevin is encouraging, reminding campers, one campsite at a time, that every fire must be supervised and then doused-to-completely-cool before abandoning. Kevin is fair and friendly, safety is everyone’s responsibility.

We hope to visit Kevin and Sasha again before the end of the year. As you can see from Frank’s photos, there is much to enjoy about that forest, and there’s a lot more to explore!

Speaking of Frank’s photos, I enjoy seeing the tiny details, little bits and colors that I’d miss without magnification.

And it seems that life is like that, bigger things made up of details, many of which, bunched together to make up the busy day, are easy to miss, but each one on its own can be beautiful.

This week, Frank and I are dog/house sitting Maia, a Labrador retriever, at her home and will be leaving mid-week. We’ll miss Maia, she’s such a sweet girl!

As always, we are grateful to you for being here to read Tracks by the Post. Thank you! Please don’t hesitate to Write to Us and let us know how you’re doing, it is always great to hear from you!

Take good care, and may small, beautiful details decorate your week ahead.

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank