We start at Concreek for this particular post: Mossy Falls. I’ve begun to walk Concreek again after basically ignoring it since last summer. The water flow pattern is quite different now.
A beach has formed in The Dark that I don’t remember being there. I’ll have to check old Concreek photos soon (perhaps today!).
Dry Falls (The Open): no longer dry. We’ll see how long Concreek goes with the flow this year. Last year I believe it was dry at this point by about June. But we’ve had a lot more snow and ice this year to build up the ground water. Very curious to compare.
A quite interesting irregularly shaped red rock in the middle of that beach pictured above. I’m tempted to call it the Red Herring, but actually it looks more like a pork chop. Nice contrast between its rough red texture and the recently sprouted, smooth and mottled green growth next to it.
At the edge of The Final (see Concreek map in link above) we have Damsel Island, a name, like most of those connected to Concreek, established last summer. Connected as well to Damsel, Missouri. Lately I’ve just been using it as a convenient way to cross Green Stream and head to other destinations…
… like The Land of Purple and Blue. Here’s one of the first indicator that we’ve moved into a different space independent from Concreek: a blue soda can. This would be about 100 yards above Damsel Island, perhaps.
A shot of the old blue can (foreground) with a log bridge in the background (not the arched one, but the straight one just below it) that’s been dubbed The Bridge of Blue and Purple. Appropriately we have this blue can on one side of it, and about the same distance on the other side (closer to Damsel Island and Concreek), a purple soda can. I’ll have to go back (perhaps today!) and take a closer look at these equidistant containers.
The Land of Blue and Purple, as I’m currently interpreting it, is technically entered by re-crossing Green Stream via the log bridge mentioned above (equidistant between the blue and purple cans, once more). A clear area in the mainly rhododendron clogged region marks the location; all you have to do is cross the bridge and walk uphill a bit to reach it. But in truth the Land of Blue and Purple seems more a red herring, for the actual focus of this bridge appears to be The Totem, followed from the opposite direction. Appropriately I may call the capital of the Land of Blue and Purple Red Herring, and even mark it with that red rock I found in Concreek this same day of picture snapping. But let’s move to the area of The Totem, a quite mysterious object indeed.
But it was only on the following day of exploring, where I descended Concreek once more, that I found the actual totem. This day I discovered the purple fungus on a log just beside it, attracted to a flat clearing underneath rhododendron branches between 2 stream flows opposite Green Stream in the open area there.
This probably has something to do with the Land of Blue and Purple don’t you think? I’ve recently discovered this same kind of fungus, apparently, in Whitehead Crossing, but there it took more of a red or maroon cast.
Nearby is this rock that I think could have been placed here on purpose — not natural, as it were. The rock will probably garner a name soon. It lies near the head of the smaller of two water flows in this area, as yet unnamed as well — let’s call it Silverberg for now, partly because The Totem reflects a silvery hue.
A green soda can then seems to mark the upper limit of Silverberg, ending the influence of blue and purple here.*
* If this place truly is named Silverberg, or was in the past (future?), then Monkey City may also be involved. See: Head Trip.
Sunklands 