17 July 2009

Medicine Bow

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We went camping. We camped in a lovely high (9200ft) mountain meadow in the Medicine Bow National Forest with tons of alpine wildflowers in the meadow: penstemon, lupine, mountain aster, yarrow, flax and wild strawberries. The average daytime temperature was about 72 degrees F and the nighttime temps dropped to about 38 degrees.

The face of the forest is changing and it is sad to see. The grand sweeping green vistas are now mainly brown because of the pine beetle; every now and then the green of aspen trees pops up. The western lodge pole pine forests are dying.
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8 comments:

  1. Nana's Quilts9:01 AM

    Oh wow! Great photo looking out to the mountains, but yes, if you look closely you can see the demise of the old forest growth. Sounds like a fabulous camping adventure. Perfect temps. We are off camping this week-end but it promises to be hot (for us) daytimes about 85` and it only cools to the 60's at night. But the grandkids love it!
    M.

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  2. Libby9:03 AM

    Hopefully it will come back. Alaska had a similar problem with the birch bark beetle. I think they are starting to see some recovery. Of course it takes a long time to get the really big trees. But at least there is green.

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  3. Michele Bilyeu9:53 AM

    Fabulous vistas! I didn't mention it in any of my posts on the Sisters Outdoors Quilt Show, but we had a forest fire take out over 600 acres only 7 miles from town. When it started raining during our Gwen and Freddy and Gee's Bend Quilters lectures...we were thrilled. It all but put the fires out. But the devastation we see everywhere is as equally heartbreaking. Still beautiful though...all of God's special places on earth!

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  4. limpingalong10:25 AM

    So sorry about the forests -- we saw some of that years ago and had hoped that something had been done to stop the infestation but I see it is still happening.

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  5. Marilyn Robertson6:03 PM

    Great photo! I would enjoy the daytime temperatures, but hmmmmmm the nights would be a little chilly!

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  6. Evelyn aka Starfishy7:48 PM

    Sounds like perfect camping weather if you have good sleeping bags! I hear you about the trees... here the pine trees are all dead and brown from mid-Maine all the way into Nova Scotia in parts. I love camping - I bet you had a great time!

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  7. knittingdragonflies2:18 PM

    Looks like a lovely place to camp. We just came back from a trip to the woods.
    The pine beetle is terrible little pest. Hope the forest will be able to recover in time.
    Vicki

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  8. julieQ1:17 PM

    So beautiful, and I have camped there too when I was growing up. I am sorry for the devastation of the forest, it is in New Mexico too.

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