The Unexpected Death of a Chistmas Tree

Last December 11, I wrote a post about a trail side trimming of a trail side Christmas tree:
http://thorodinview.blogspot.com/2012/12/walk-by-trail-side-christmas-tree.html

Well, I'm sorry to report that the tree is no more.

Over the last two weeks, a group of about 4 lumberjacks hired by the forest service came through and did a massive amount of thinning of the sunny side of Winiger Ridge.

When it was all done, I noticed that the "Christmas Tree" had been cut down and chopped into pieces.

Here's the scene:



All of this thinning is supposed to reduce fire danger.  But it comes at the price that the thinned forest looks like destruction zone for a while.

Mosquitos!

It's finally happened.  All the monsoon rains have made it wet enough that the mosquitoes are making it up from the valley floor to my home's higher location.

Darn!

Fortunately, they have not yet made it to the top of Winiger Ridge, although there are plenty of less hostile insects there.

Pine pollen season over

The ponderosa  pines release their pollen on the first hot spell of the summer. This started about 10 days ago and ended about 3 days ago, at the start of hail season.  What I mean is that it was sunny and hot for a week, without any precipitation. This allowed the pollen to coat everything with a yellowish coat of pollen dust.  Then, 3 days ago, it started hailing every afternoon. This quickly washed the pollen off of everything the hail hit.

Sometimes, a gust of wind will pick up all the pollen at once.  This gives a curious image where a yellowish green shadow of a tree will suddenly drift downwind from the tree that gave rise to it.

At times the pollen in the air will get so thick that you can see waves and waves of it drifting across the country side. Distant mountains will disappear behind clouds of yellow green pollen.

Look carefully at this video and see what I mean:

Hungry Bears Will Do Almost Anything

I recently found a 3 foot half rotten log all torn up right at my favorite hiking spot.

As best as I can figure, a bear tore it up while looking for insects.

The Spring Elk Herd is Frequenting My Yard

Yesterday a herd of about 24 elk came through my yard again. This is likely the same herd that came through on April 22, during a heavy snow.

That dripping sound in the video is caused by melting snow dripping from my roof.

And here is a video of a young one.

Speaking of snow, I've never had a winter/spring season like this one for snow.  There have been more x-c ski-able days this year then I've ever seen, and I've been up here since 1998.  The newspaper mentioned that this has been the snowiest April ever, but may is shaping up for a lot of snow and rain as well.

Elk and Coyotes

A few years ago, I witnessed what I thought was a real "National Geographic" moment when I saw a lone coyote approach a whole herd of elk on Stilson's Meadow. (mile 5 on Magnolia Rd)
I was just driving by, so I did not get to see how it all turned out.

This morning, I got to see what can happen. I saw a huge elk on hot pursuit of a lone coyote.  The coyote looked like he was running for his life. 

Victory For Local Environment

I personally attended and spoke at the meeting with the Boulder County Commissioners on Monday evening.  It was a loooong meeting, which I was not quite prepared to endure.  However, it was all worth it because the commissioners understood that expanding Gross Dam is a bad idea and that there is not nearly enough compensation for the hardship that local residence will endure.

http://www.tegcolorado.org/news/64-boulder-county-drains-moffat-project.html