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Sunday | June 26th

El Capitan Passage, Caves and Oyster Pick-up

I lead a couple of groups along the U.S. Forest Service trail to the caves. This is a great area to explain the hallmarks of a temperate rainforest, such as the presence of Sitka spruce, nurse logs, a profusion of mosses and ephiphytes, among others. We look at signs of a second growth forest such as trees of the same age and height class that grow so thick that sunlight cannot penetrate the canopy to reach the forest floor. The lack of sunlight leads to a paucity of herbaceous and shrubby plants that provide habitat or browse for herbivores such as deer.

It is obvious when we make the transition into an old growth forest. We notice lots of shrubs such as the false azalea, blueberry, and devils club along with ferns and their allies. Trees are of different age and height classes leading to a multi-layered canopy. Some of the trees are too large to hug with a diameter-at-breast-height or DBH of 30-inches. Nurse logs and snags are abundant, on the order of dozens per acre.

Old growth forests of several hundred years or more have a certain spacing between trees, perhaps 20 feet between each large tree, encompassing up to 400-600 trees per acre. In comparison, a second-growth forest will have several thousand trees per acre. Spacing is mere inches or only a few feet between each tree, leading to the lack of understory and little habitat for forest-dwellers. 95% of the forests in the lower-48 have been cut.

During the decades of the 60’s to 90’s, foresters bragged about more trees growing in America than at any point in our history. That is a true statement, but what is not mentioned is that the Department of Agriculture manages trees like crops and often have a mono-culture of single-species plots, leading to a much less bio-diverse ecosystem. Species such as the marbled murrelet and spotted owl were listed as threatened or endangered of extinction. Court injunctions followed and tough times for loggers because the industry saw it cheaper to ship raw logs and jobs overseas. Management strategies and forestry practices have changed for the better...

I spot a family of woodpeckers nesting in a large snag. The sapsuckers were busy flying to and fro to feed the noisy young inside of the tree. The sallying forth for arthropods such as flies and moths was entertaining as we rested to catch our breath about half-way up the 367 stairs.

At the El Capitan Caves, we are greeted by two National Forest Service rangers.

We learn about speleothems or stalactites and stalagmites and how they are formed. A graphic was passed around with the chemical equation for the process: Ca2 + 2HCO3 CO2 + CaCO3 + H2O.

A popular shot for photographers is the sign at the entrance to the caves. It reads: “EL CAPITAN CAVE. Danger! Hazardous conditions exist such as falling rocks, unstable footing, deep and sudden pits and sudden flooding. Cavers should be experienced and prepared with numerous light sources, technical climbing gear and survival gear.”

Our National Forest Service guides pass around some interesting photographs HERE