March 30, Following My Nose

 Today dawned sunny, crisp and cool. It was below freezing last night, but not by much, high 20's.  It should reach almost 60 degrees today.
Out the "West Gate," as we call it, are numerous trails, just west of our housing development.
I started out on a well defined forest road, past this pleasant little stand of Aspen.    This is probably all one
tree, for as you probably know, Aspens send out sideways roots, which pop up into a new vertical trunk.  When you see a stand of aspen like this, it is likely all the same tree. For this reason, Aspens are the largest living organism on the planet. They can cover entire hillsides.  Coming up, I hope to show you my very favorite stand of these lovely white trees, but not today.
At around 8,000 feet elevation, our forest can vary greatly in small micro-climates.

South and East facing slopes are generally all Ponderosa Pines at this  elevation, with open grassland under the canopy.  This provides great habitat for elk, who are grazers, like cattle.  This photo shows a nice healthy stand of Ponderosas.

They are pretty tall.

On the other side of my road, however, is what we call a "dog hair" forest.

These pines are WAY too crowded, like hairs on a dog.  If a fire started

in this patch, it would jump easily from tree to tree, and all the small branches close to the ground ( "ladder fuel") would bring the fire up into the canopy and it would spread quickly.  It really needs to be thinned.  Contrast the healthy forest. If a fire started, it would burn along the ground, charring the lower trunks (which the tree would survive) and burn the grasses, making the ground even more fertile.  Not here. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

By contrast, north and west facing slopes are more bio-diverse.  These small blue spruce are one of my favorite trees.  

 Though hard to see in this photo, I am standing now at the top of an outcropping of boulders, looking down into a deep gully.  It's probably about 150 feet down.  I decide to follow my nose and see what's down there.

looking back up the slope about halfway down.  Just a scramble, nothing tough. I actually had some video, so you could go down the hill with me, but the computer will not load it.  If I can, it will be added later.

Further down, there is an obvious animal trail. You can see it running there in the rocks. There were lots of rocks! Some of our best adventures have been following faint animal tracks.  Since wildlife always move with a purpose, I suspect there will be something rewarding at the end of this little gully.

I keep moving through all the debris and downfalls. Can you hear what I hear?

And I do find a treasure. A beautiful clear riverbed, bounded on either side with steep boulder outcroppings.

And a lovely patch of new watercress there along the bottom edge.  This is edible. It tastes great added to a salad, and our little chickens love it too.  Nature has such bounty, if you know where to look.  I learn more every day.

I want to come back and explore more of this section of river.  Maybe when the water isn't quite so cold!