Hiking in local forest – Lament for sequoias – A bold dwarf amid cowering giants – Evening statistics
Today I led an official Wanderbirds hike. There were sixteen of us in all, and we went on the Lake Fairfax Loop, a very pleasant hike that, without affording any spectacular views or offering any significant physical challenge, meanders through several miles of quiet woodland whose tranquility contrasts vividly with the crowd and bustle of communities such as Tyson’s Corner and Reston just a little distance away. We were fortunate in our weather. It had been dry for the past several days and, as a result, the areas that commonly become muddy on the Cross-County Trail under ordinary conditions were fairly firm underfoot, with only one rather marshy area. We saw numerous birds, including several cardinals and the occasional blue jay. Towards the end of the hike we saw a red fox as well. And afterwards, as is typical for a Wanderbirds hike, we feasted together, using the picnic tables close to the Visitor Center just beyond the park entrance.
I have heard news that a hiking venture I did just a few months earlier may have been completed just in time. Kings Canyon and Sequoia Parks, which I visited in June, will be forced to remove 10,000 giant sequoia trees damaged by a combination of the recent wildfires, age, drought, and disease. The wildfires impacted 27 groves of sequoias within the Sierra Nevada range; there are only 70 existent groves in all. The wildfires of 2020 and 2021 may be responsible for a loss of as much of 20% of all giant sequoias.
Lithuania has dared to do what many larger and more powerful nations are too fearful to attempt: it has recognized the independence of Taiwan by allowing the latter nation to open a representative office in Vilnius. The Chinese government has shown its displeasure by expelling the Lithuanian ambassador and reducing the level of its diplomatic relations with Lithuania to below ambassador level. The Lithuanian government, while well-aware of the sullen resentment of the Jinping administration, is by no means willing to be guided by it, and is further displaying a blithe disregard of Chinese interference by planning to open an office of its own in Taipei. One wonders when other countries will attain a degree of self-confidence to emulate the resolution of a country comparable in size to West Virginia and containing less than 3 million in population.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 257,820,862; # of deaths worldwide: 5,167,758; # of cases U.S.: 48,592,810; # of deaths; U.S.: 793,651. At this point over 14.5% of Americans have been afflicted by the virus, more than one-seventh of the national population.