FEMALE FORESTER FOREVER

Sure enough the rain started just as I finished my last plot. Knowing my vehicle was a couple miles away across country on the other side of a large creek was not real encouraging. The vehicle was probably safe, but I wondered about wadding across the wide and open creek and gambled on my probable safety. There is a certain lag time between when the rain hits the hillside and when it ultimately spills into the floodplain, and I gambled this storm would be hard and fast but not long and lingering. The rain fell hard, like standing under a waterfall. I could not see very far ahead, perhaps about 30 feet. The slope became very steep as I descended to the valley. Wet sticks on the forest floor are as predictable as an oil-slick road in a light rain. A girl could find herself landing unceremoniously on a bed of wet leaves. Bad as that was the lightning was intense. If I knew then what I know now about lightning and the precarious position I was in, I would have fallen to my knees and prayed. Ignorance and stupidity go hand in hand. I made it to the narrow valley between two ridges. There a small creek was tumbling and rushing to empty into the large valley where my vehicle was waiting. The creek did not look threatening, it was just a summer thunderstorm, so I took refuge under a rock outcrop next to a large tree stump. Had I considered that the old tree with the protective 3' wide, 6' tall stump had probably been blown apart by lightning some decades ago, I might have changed my mind. No, probably not. The storm was raging, with violent flashes of lightning and ear-splitting thunder. Summer thunderstorms are fierce but typically of short duration, so I just enjoyed the show. The lightning lit up the valley like some crazy out-of-synch strobe lights. Thunder crashed and growled. The dead tree stump protected me from the sideways slant of the rain. The beauty of this valley and forest in the throes of this violent summer storm was overwhelming. The storm slowed and I emerged from under the rock ledge beside the tree stump. I followed the noisy stream down the narrow valley in the direction of the large creek bed. My boots splashed on the wet, rocky ground. The rain-swelled stream tumbled along the rocks in the narrow valley keeping me company. Patches of sunlight began to show through the trees tops far overhead. Then I stepped out of the woods into the wide valley where the small stream rushed into the creek bed, its load of water quickly lost in the wide gravel bar. As I sloshed across the creek to the vehicle, only slightly deeper at this time, the sun shone warmly on me, pulling the water from my wet clothes. My boots were hopelessly soaked. Though somewhat remarkable for the grand show nature presented, it really was just another spectacular day in the life of a forester."