Back on track???
Hmmmmmm..... I seem to have gotten a bit off track with Episode 5, but I haven't figured where my track is supposed to be going anyway so I guess that it doesn't really matter....
Since I was telling you about the history of Cedar Hill before I was so rudely interrupted by that ice storm, I guess I will just continue
where I left off....My property is situated on top of a hill
(elev. 1000 ft), nestled in next to Mount Haystack in the foothills of the Cascade mountains.
I first discovered Cedar Hill in 1976, four years after the loggers had finished making their mess. The loggers hadn't done any cleanup whatsoever and the property was covered with heaps of loggers slash and four years growth of brambles and brush.
Going for a walk in the woods always included a lot of hacking with a machete
(or a chainsaw), but I still fell in love with the place and made the decision that Cedar Hill would someday become my home!
For the next few years, we mainly camped here on the weekends and for a few weeks each summer. Slowly but surely we managed to beat back enough of the wilderness and created a few trails and clearings so that we could actually go for a nice long walk without a lot of effort and work.
The property is covered with a wide variety of deciduous and evergreen
trees. I know of five different varieties of maple
trees, as well as alders, three different
willows, and wild cherries. There is an abundance of Red Cedar, Western Hemlock and Douglas Fir
trees, some of which have now reached ninety feet in height. Several species of ferns and wildflowers, as well as many different wild berries also live and thrive here.
Although the populations of wildlife has decreased with every increase in the human population, I still enjoy watching all the critters and creatures that inhabit the hill and forest with me....
(Deer, bear, bobcats, cougars, porcupine, coyotes, racoons, flying squirrels, and many species of birds... just to name a few)
Yep... I think I may stay around here for a while longer.....