Virtual Hike
Good morning, Midland Hikers!
Have you ever wondered about the trees and shrubs that we pass as we hike along? Let's take a short virtual hike across the river from town and check it out.
Once you leave town, you cross the narrow riparian ecosystem right along the river. Trees and shrubs that "need their toes in the water," or need ground water accessible to their root systems all year, grow along the river. It's a beautiful assemblage of narrow-leaf cottonwoods (Populus angustifolia), willows (Salix spp.), and an occasional river birch (Betula spp.)
You can identify the river birch by its white marks on very dark bark:
Heading up the hill, almost every trail ahead of you winds through what some call a "pygmy forest."
We're lucky here in the Upper Arkansas Valley to have a wonderful example of a pinon-juniper woodland right outside town. Pinon pines (Pinus edulis) dominate the lower slopes of Midland Hill, with the shaggier, but less common, Rocky Mountain junipers (Juniperus scopulorum) filling in as well.
Pinons have needles in clumps of two, with a distinctive cone that contains an edible seed, if you can get to them before the squirrels and birds!
Junipers have scale-like needles with berries that some of us enjoy as a flavor for gin!
If you climb higher on Midland Hill, you'll notice ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) starting to take over as the dominant tree in the forest. These tall, stately pines have long needles that come in groups of three, with a distinctive large round cone that some of us kick down the trail ahead of us!
The trail ahead crosses several ravines and gullies, and on the south-facing side of each gully, look for yuccas (Yucca glauca) to predominate...they are everywhere on sunny slopes!
You'll also see yucca growing with its two best buddies, mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) and rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa...crush some and smell it, and you'll understand where the scientific name comes from!)
Also living in these ravines and gullies you'll find currants (Ribes spp.) and their cousins, gooseberries! They are in the same genus, but you can tell them apart because gooseberries have thorns. Those of you who joined me to bushwhack up Little Cottonwood Creek down by Ruby Mountain a couple of years ago learned the "fun" of charging through gooseberry thickets!
Then, stop a minute and breathe, realizing that we get to live here with wonderful friends.
Enjoy this beautiful day. Virtually celebrate your friends and family. Rarely do we get so much time to be introspective about our lives and our community, and I'm hoping this "re-boot" will eventually lead to positive change for all of us.
Have you ever wondered about the trees and shrubs that we pass as we hike along? Let's take a short virtual hike across the river from town and check it out.
Once you leave town, you cross the narrow riparian ecosystem right along the river. Trees and shrubs that "need their toes in the water," or need ground water accessible to their root systems all year, grow along the river. It's a beautiful assemblage of narrow-leaf cottonwoods (Populus angustifolia), willows (Salix spp.), and an occasional river birch (Betula spp.)
You can identify the river birch by its white marks on very dark bark:
Heading up the hill, almost every trail ahead of you winds through what some call a "pygmy forest."
We're lucky here in the Upper Arkansas Valley to have a wonderful example of a pinon-juniper woodland right outside town. Pinon pines (Pinus edulis) dominate the lower slopes of Midland Hill, with the shaggier, but less common, Rocky Mountain junipers (Juniperus scopulorum) filling in as well.
Pinons have needles in clumps of two, with a distinctive cone that contains an edible seed, if you can get to them before the squirrels and birds!
Junipers have scale-like needles with berries that some of us enjoy as a flavor for gin!
If you climb higher on Midland Hill, you'll notice ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) starting to take over as the dominant tree in the forest. These tall, stately pines have long needles that come in groups of three, with a distinctive large round cone that some of us kick down the trail ahead of us!
The trail ahead crosses several ravines and gullies, and on the south-facing side of each gully, look for yuccas (Yucca glauca) to predominate...they are everywhere on sunny slopes!
You'll also see yucca growing with its two best buddies, mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) and rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa...crush some and smell it, and you'll understand where the scientific name comes from!)
Also living in these ravines and gullies you'll find currants (Ribes spp.) and their cousins, gooseberries! They are in the same genus, but you can tell them apart because gooseberries have thorns. Those of you who joined me to bushwhack up Little Cottonwood Creek down by Ruby Mountain a couple of years ago learned the "fun" of charging through gooseberry thickets!
Then, stop a minute and breathe, realizing that we get to live here with wonderful friends.
Enjoy this beautiful day. Virtually celebrate your friends and family. Rarely do we get so much time to be introspective about our lives and our community, and I'm hoping this "re-boot" will eventually lead to positive change for all of us.
Love it! I can hear the rushing river and wind in the trees.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking us on this informative virtual hike. I'm enjoying the photos and poems too.
ReplyDelete