Old Survivor - Feb 2020

What a great day it was in Leona Heights Park despite the change in weather from the previous week. The troupe was eager from the start. There was twentyone Explorers total with plenty of new faces but all of us shared the goal of finally meeting this legend of the Bay Area.

To better know the forest and the park, we started a transect up along Horseshoe Creek. It was going to be a challenge to find all 16 items on our list, but we started off strongly with the sighting of a thorny bush. As we stopped every 20 or so feet, we kept on appreciating how the forest changed. The pathway eroded from time to time making it treacherous to walk and do stellar Cartography, but Lark kept her wits about her, avoiding the narrow path and steep drops. Some of the highlights we found were a tree that had fallen over and across the path, necessitating that we hunched below to get past but otherwise it seemed alive and well. There was also a surprising number of stumps with shoots growing out of it (counting these shoots was a bit difficult as we kept getting over 100 but losing track of which ones we'd counted after that). We were a bit uncertain if we'd ever escape the sound of the city, but we found a nice little spot right between two waterfalls to enjoy the sounds of nature. We completed all 16 items and thus claimed success in our challenge.

After our success with the transect, we stopped briefly by the creek for a bite to eat and some water. Here we also got to marvel at a rare albino redwood. Some speculated that it was frightened or a ghost redwood, either way, we paid our respects and stayed the course in search of Old Survivor. We also commemorated the space with a panoramic group photo in an effort to capture us in the majesty of the forest.

Energized, the troupe made its way to the lookout where we would finally meet Old Survivor. Up on the fire road, Old Survivor stood with the backdrop of the San Francisco skyline behind it. We read aloud a bit of its history, then stood contemplating how much its seen in 500 years. We could have stayed there for hours but a wind kicked up and I suggested we move along. As we descended the mountain I marveled at how such a wonderful place felt so hidden in Oakland.

We had our final reading of Semper Explorandum and looked forward to the next time we would all meet again. It was an excellent day in the woods.