Midland Hikers

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...

We get to live here! Good morning, hikers! Joyce had the idea to create a blog for our Midland Hikers group. Given that I have some time on my hands, I thought I would create this blog for us to share hiking plans, ideas, needs, information, awareness, photos, videos, and more. Here are Deb and our daughter, Caitlin, illustrating "social distancing" a while back on the beach in California. Yes, I know, not quite far enough apart, but almost! I will try to post each day, and if any of you want to "guest post" please email me the text and a photo, and I'll get it posted.  Please be aware that I will be learning as I go with this blog, having never done this before, so please be patient with my inexperience! How is your social distancing going? Does anyone need anything? All the best to you, friends! Michael