The boulder uphill has an unusual white stripe through its center, created when molten quartz forced its way into crevices while the rock was still deep within the earth. Instead, look and listen for signs of their presence. Deer tracks in soft soil and the sounds of red squirrel and winter wren are common. Fall brings scarlet berries that turn black as they ripen, providing food for many birds. On steep, exposed slopes it will thrive on little soil, where other shrubs would die.
Mosses are abundant due to high moisture and deep shade.
Lichens, with their combination of food-producing algae and fungus that support the plant, can live where no others plants can. In time they will be shaded out by other plants. On sunny, warm days the fragrant aroma of nearby firs can be sensed all around. Its growth is fast and its life is short, surviving long enough to act as nursery cover for the spruce and fir seedlings to get a start. Whether growing as a shrub or a small tree, the June-ripening berries provide food for a wide variety of wildlife as well as man.