Talk of Trees: A staff-led meander through Moran State Park

Twigs crunch underfoot and sunlight dapples the forest floor as we trudge up the Cold Springs Trail in Moran State Park on Orcas Island. Five of us — a young couple from Vashon Island, their parents from Jersey City and I — trail behind Park Aide Allie Ellis, who leads us on a guided hike through this iconic park in the San Juan Islands. Old-growth Douglas fir and Western red cedar pock the forest, their canopies floating in the clouds. Glancing at their fire-scarred bark, I wonder what these battle-weary sentinels, who’ve spent roughly 500 years on Earth, have witnessed.