olympia, april 28, 400tx.

I was about half a mile from my home last week and as I walked by a gate I got curious. There are no signs warning NO TRESPASSING and all I could see was an access road for power lines. I decided to go up the road and was surprised by what I saw. A Park. A Park where dirt bike riders had lots of trails and hikers had good access also. The area is hidden from the outside. You would never know it exists.

The park was not empty. There were numerous people, mostly kids, and young men, riding their bikes up and down. Some of the trails were very steep. They told me the area has been used for ages and was a secret at one time but most everyone knows about it now.

After hiking the area for a couple of hours I realized it must be about a mile square at least. I have ordered a custom topo map and am going back to detail every corner of the place. What I most enjoyed was the quiet places it contained where the forest dominates. At one time the trees were harvested but that no longer occurs. Except for the trails, the area is allowed to grow and create its own natural chaos.

You will find original stumps from the old-growth forest that existed here.

The map I ordered should be here in a couple of days. I will determine how many acres the area contains and check out a cemetery Google says exists there. I did some research and found out the cemetery was used primarily in the 19th century and has been vandalized to the point that now it is hard to find evidence it existed. I will find something. I used the Nikon FM3a with the 50 1.8AF lens attached. I developed the film, Kodak 400TX, in HC-110(1:31) for 4 minutes @20C.