Journal Entries

Journal Entry #1
October 13, 2012
12:01 p.m.
66 degrees F
Clear skies and sunshine 
Sitting location: Large fallen tree on the right side of the trail

• Hearing
• Birds chirping
• longer connected calls
• shorter staccato notes
• high pitched/medium range
• Rustling of plant leaves
• Rustling of trees
• Crunch of leaves on ground
• Airplane flying overhead 
• Grasshoppers chirping
• Twigs snapping
• Branches knocking against each other in the wind
• Light hum of insects 
• Feeling
• Dry smoothness of leaves
• Rough/dry texture of bark
• Wiry and spongy moss
• Hard and rigid sticks
• Dusty and grainy dirt
• Slight fuzziness of leaves 
• Smooth texture of leaves
• Seeing
• Ground covered with dead bay leaves
• Gray/brown dirt
• Large amount of fallen logs and sticks
• Bunch of cut/broken tree limbs
• Large variety of mosses and fungus
• Majority of trees seem to have their top leaves missing
• Cluster of bay leave trees has heavy green moss covering
• Trail cutting through site seems to be of fairly even width
• Trail is of almost even descent
• Area on sides of trail much steeper grade
• Lichen seems to cover a very large portion of fallen logs and branches
• small/medium (several inches long) lizards dart along trees/trail/fallen logs
• Lizards blend in well with branches and logs
• Spider webs stretch across logs to other logs and trees
• Spiders are not visible
• Do spiders hide in logs?
• Not a great deal of movement visible upon first glance
• An occasional yellow moth/butterfly will fly by
• Tree canopy covers majority of left side of trail
• There is a lack of canopy covering the right side of the trail
• The leaves flutter overhead when the wind blows
• Low to the ground plants also flutter when the wind blows
• The majority of the plants low to the ground are leafy and green
• Plants are angled towards the opening of sky between the canopy, where the main source of sunlight is
• Broken trees have jagged, unclean edges
• Perhaps struck down from storms? 

Journal Entry #2

October 28, 2012

3:38 p.m.

75 degrees F

Clear skies, maybe an occasional cloud, sunshine 

Sitting location: Top of the slope to the right of the trail

• Hearing 
• Bird calls
• High pitched
• Low pitched
• Short to longer frequency 
• Beak on woodpecker? 
• Wind blowing through leaves 
• Tree branches knocking together
• Twigs snapping
• Soft rustling of branches
• Crunch of leaves
• Far away footsteps
• Airplanes
• Insects humming
• Unknown crunching- animals eating?
• People talking in distance 
• People laughing in distance
• Feeling
• Dry, crumbling dirt
• Small rocks and harder particles in dirt
• Rough/scratchy rocks
• Smoother rocks
• Moss covering rocks
• leafy/soft/spongy 
• Dead leaves: rough, slightly scratchy 
• Freshly fallen leaves, more smooth and waxy
• Flakey bark breaks easily 
• Hard/brittle sticks
• Seeing 
• Larger amount of fallen leaves than last visit to site
• Bay leaves? 
• Large piles
• Moist soil, small possible mud patches
• Recent rainfall?
• Moss amount has also increased
• Greater amount of dark green/spongy moss that covers trees
• Ground covering composed of green ferns, small bushes, and longer grasses
• Heavier vegetation located further downhill 
• Vegetation increases in density and concentration as one moves away from the trail cutting through the site
• Undamaged trees farther away from trails 
• Footprints in trail 
• Leaves still angled towards the opening of the tree canopy through sunlight shines through 
• Small insects moving around under top layer of soil 
• Ants crawling across bark on trees
• Ants are very small and shiny, black and brown in color 
• Small black beetle walking across dirt/logs

Journal Entry #3

November 18, 2012

2:15 p.m.

70 degrees F

Partially sunny, intermittent clouds

Cooler due to recent rainfall

Sitting location: Collection of logs and fallen trees 

• Hearing 
• Faint water rushing
• Creek flowing faster due to recent rainfall?
• Wind rusting through trees
• Wind rustling through bushes
• Wind rustling through glasses
• Branches of trees knocking against each other 
• Twigs being cracked and snapped 
• Dead leaves being stepped on/crushed
• Previous two observations: signs of animal activity? 
• Higher pitched bird calls
• Middle ranged bird calls
• Lower pitched bird calls 
• Rustling of wings
• Wings flapping 
• Distant laughter
• Distant talking
• A plane flying overhead 
• Sound of my own breathing 
• Creaking of pile of logs that I'm sitting on 
• *smells of fresh rain, slightly muddy and earthy 
• Feeling
• Moist soil, does not crumble and blow away easily 
• Dead leaves are slightly damp, still break under pressure, but do not snap
• Rough bark of logs I'm sitting on 
• Soft, spongy moss on logs 
• Cool and dry reed stalks of grasses
• Sharp and hard rocks on ground near logs
• Smooth and hard rocks on the ground near the logs
• Smooth, yet still dry texture of wood found underneath the rough and scratchy layer of bark 
• Smooth, waxy surface of living or freshly fallen leaves
• Small, thin, rough sticks found on the ground near the logs 
• *everything touched has a moist quality to it from the recent rainfall 
• Seeing
• Dirt is darker brown in some areas saturated with water from the recent rainfall
• Greater amount of fallen and yellowed leaves on the ground 
• Increase in dark green soft and spongy moss found on the trees 
• Trees appear to be more green, or more green than usual 
• Due to sunlight paired with rainfall
• Grasses still have their yellowed color 
• Now weeds have sprouted from areas near the bases of trees and fallen logs
• Small lines of ants on logs
• Clusters of maggots/larvae on exposed areas of log without bark 
• Birds flying around trees 
• Tree branches moving in slight breeze
• Empty spiderwebs
• Leaves falling from trees
• Human footprints in soil 
• Tree canopy of bay tree less full due to falling leaves 
• Small black beetle on log
• Grasses moving in slight breeze
• Hikers crossing through trail that comes through site
• Overall "watered" quality to the site

Journal Entry #4

January 27, 2013

4:22 p.m.

47 degrees F

Sunny, but with a definite chill

Slight breeze

• Hearing
• My own breathing
• Pencil on paper
• Slight rustling on trees
• Snap of twigs
• Very, very slight (possible) sound of running creek 
• Bird call (very long and even tone)
• Large swoop, large bird flying overhead 
• Heavy flap of wings, falcon or large raven?
• A car from back up at the parking lot 
• Airplane overhead 
• Heavy breathing of runner running down the trail
• Heavy footsteps of that very same runner 
• Swishing of runner's clothing 
• Soft sound of leaves hitting one another 
• Feeling
• Soil is moist, yet still crumbles through fingers
• Small, sharp pebbles found in the dirt 
• Decomposing leaves in the dirt
• Fresh leaves found in the dirt
• Soft grasses 
• Rough texture of moss sprouts on logs
• Different types of moss, more spongy and bendable 
• Rough outer texture of of logs
• Hard twigs 
• Seeing
• Great increase in the amount of greenery 
• Great increase in amount of grasses on the site floor
• Overall site looks very green, lots of vegetation
• Soil a darker shade due to rainfall 
• Branches of trees sway lightly in the wind
• Leaves rustle slightly in the wind
• Far off movement amongst tree canopy of park
• Footprint in dirt trail, appears to be a type of athletic shoe 
• Pile of brown horse poop, looks old due to dried out and fibrous quality 
• Moss activity and growth has increased as well
• Increase in spanish moss/old man's beard on fallen logs and trees 
• Moss pulls apart into two different sections when broken, the inner fibers, and outer casing
• Greater area of land covered by grasses, no longer completely bare dirt or topsoil 
• Small earthworms in dirt below surface
• Small invertebrates found underneath bark after pulling it off trunk 

Journal Entry #5
March 3, 2013
2:00 p.m.
55 degrees F
Clouded skies, slight wind chill 

• Hearing 
• Woman talking on phone
• Pencil on paper
• Horses walking 
• Horses stepping on branches 
• Birds singing 
• High and melodic bird chip
• High and staccato bird chip
• Mid-tone crow squawking 
• High whistling/chirping 
• Heavy wings flapping while flying: possibly a hawk?
• Wind rustling through trees
• Twigs snapping 
• People laughing
• Airplanes going by overhead 
• Very distant cars perhaps from the parking lot?
• Leaves brushing against one another
• Child talking 
• Horses breathing and snorting 
• Large bug flying by my ear
• Unknown type of scratching 
• Bees buzzing
• Heavy clunking of some kind
• Horses walking on rocks
• Touching 
• Pencil
• Paper
• Moist dirt
• Soft/fuzzy body of caterpillar 
• Moist/rotted tree bark and wood 
• Soft and slightly slimy texture of tree fungus
• Dry, crumbled tree bark
• Hard/dry texture of different 
• Slick yet sticking texture of the grasses
• Soft and fragile blue flower petals 
• Webbed gills of underside of a wild mushroom 
• Dry and crumbling dirt
• Soft fur of horses
• Wet and soft nose of horse
• Hard body of camera
• Smooth shell of beetle 
• Rough bone fragments on the ground 
• Soft and spongy tree fungus 
• Seeing
• Variety of black/grey lizards and geckos moving about dead tree branches and trunks. 
• Black and yellow fuzzy caterpillar on green leaf
• New purple flowers from green spinach looking leafed plants
• 2 small possibly rib sized bones with meat still attached to them
• Left behind from another animal, or from a human?
• New type of fungus conk coming from decomposing trees, darker brown and orange. 
• Small, cylindrical mushrooms growing out of decomposing trees, light pink in color
• Reddish brown hark circling above
• Pile of logs has spread out to cover more ground
• Human interference? 
• Large log I usually sit on has been broken 
• General amount of greenery has increased, and the site looks very green 
• Variety of fungus also seems to have increased 
• Large and small flies buzzing about in random patterns 
• Small dwarf like ferns growing out of topsoil
• Many horses and riders walking through trail, I think I counted 9?
• Trail has more debris strewn across it
• Shadows grow increasingly larger on trail